First off, I would forget about dunking them in a 5 gallon bucket to water them.
2nd, I'm curious what kind of soil you have? what kind of mixture? How much Perlite? If you have no Perlite in your soil mix then I would say dunking them in a 5 gallon bucket prolly severely overwatered your plants & you need to give them some time b4 watering again.
As for when & how much to water.... well I would suggest picking up your pots regularly & get familiar w/ the weight of them (assuming they are the same size & soil mixture), by doing this you will get a feel for how heavy they are after watering (heavy) & how they feel when they need watering (light). There will be a significant difference in weight between a plant that needs water & a plant that has plenty of water in the soil. In fact I simply go by weight & I don't water all plants @ the same time, every time. You may have some plants that are taking up water & growing while others are not. & if you water all of them then the plants that didn't need water will then be overwatered & that will only hurt their chances of catching up to the plants that are growing. So in a small grow I say go plant by plant, judging by the weight. If you have a huge grow then that just turns into too much work & you need to make a rigid schedule. But I don't think that's the case in your situation. For now I say don't water, stick your finger in the soil & wait for it to get good & dry b4 you water again. & like i said, pick up your pots each day if you can & start getting a feel for what the pots should weigh.
Again... did you add perlite to your soil?
2nd, I'm curious what kind of soil you have? what kind of mixture? How much Perlite? If you have no Perlite in your soil mix then I would say dunking them in a 5 gallon bucket prolly severely overwatered your plants & you need to give them some time b4 watering again.
As for when & how much to water.... well I would suggest picking up your pots regularly & get familiar w/ the weight of them (assuming they are the same size & soil mixture), by doing this you will get a feel for how heavy they are after watering (heavy) & how they feel when they need watering (light). There will be a significant difference in weight between a plant that needs water & a plant that has plenty of water in the soil. In fact I simply go by weight & I don't water all plants @ the same time, every time. You may have some plants that are taking up water & growing while others are not. & if you water all of them then the plants that didn't need water will then be overwatered & that will only hurt their chances of catching up to the plants that are growing. So in a small grow I say go plant by plant, judging by the weight. If you have a huge grow then that just turns into too much work & you need to make a rigid schedule. But I don't think that's the case in your situation. For now I say don't water, stick your finger in the soil & wait for it to get good & dry b4 you water again. & like i said, pick up your pots each day if you can & start getting a feel for what the pots should weigh.
Again... did you add perlite to your soil?