i couldn't see the pic's unfortunately
yes, plus, the bigger the pipe, the more head pressure you will have on your pump, you will get more gph flowing through and I used 2" last time* not 1.5, using 3" now
That defeats the purpose of building the system described by the op.Slower flow = less pull on roots. Add a few air stones per bucket to keep the roots semi-afloat. I think it'll work.
So you think my 5gal buckets with a 10gal res and 1" uniseals is too small???