dude if your going to connect those buckets heres what you will need to rember,if your going to pump into the first bucket and have that flow into the next bucket and so on make sure that you have a larger hose going out than you do going in and a ball valve to control the flow,I learned this the hard way,now I have 1/2 out of the res into my first bucket with a ball valve to control the flow and 3/4 and 1/2 lines going to the rest of the buckets and back to the res,it did work with all 1/2 lines but the flow was not fast enough for me so I added the 3/4, so it may work just fine with the 1/2 in and 3/4 out,I just left the 1/2 lines because I already had them in and didnt want to waste the barbed fittings and gromets,lowes has grommets up to 1'' but there pricey I also have my buckets wrapped in silver backed 2 1/2 insulation to help maintain steady temps hope this helps if you decide to link them togeather you can also set it up to pump out the buckets and res for changing your nutes or flushing,do your nutes have a bad smell?if not is your hydroton making your water cloudy just a thought on that issue I use small pea gravel it doesnt break down and its easy to clean and reuse. hope this helps good luck