drip/ flood hydro system

can anyone give me the rundown of how these systems work and what it takes to maintaine them and the benifits of using it instead of soil grow.also any info on a flood system would be cool too

i like timed flood and drain the best, once you get all the bugs worked out you can leave it for a week at a time, ive tried a few diffrent ways im 2 forgetfull 2 maintain anything but flood and drain it takes care of its self,a friend of mine swears by 5 gallon buckets and a drip system but he has 2 check on them everyday and hes allways cleanin up spilled nutes, im 2 dam busy 2 baby set mine everyday, i love it when i havent seen them in a few days i see there progress

how many times a day does yours flood and what nuts do you use because i have no clue on how to use the ebb and flow system but want to get it

i feed 4 times a day when on 18-6 and 3 on 12-12, i set my pump timers first feed 2 start when my lights come on, my tables fill in 6 minutes, (example) first feed at 1130am off at 1136am, second at 430pm off at 436pm third at 930pm off at 936pm, forth 230am off at 236 am, dont feed when there asleep, only use expensive name brand pumps i use fish tank powerheads, if your pump burns out and you dont catch it your plants die (its happend 2 me), also your reserve must be lower then your table or it wont drain DONT use the barrels use the rubbermaid 1s with tops or the hydrostore 1s with tops, you can get every thing you need from a hydro store they have the tubing the nuts and the over flow pipes/screen tops, use the white trays the black1s are junk