I called Titan about there Oceanus and they were extremely helpful. They told me to feed them breakfast lunch and dinner. I have been doing that and it seems to be working good but I have been wondering if one or two more floods a day would be better because I always worry about the water that is left in the bottom of the buckets, that bugs me. Would like to refresh that water more often. I have the plants in the room lifted up a little higher then the control bucket. So it will drain more water, some is still left in the bottom it did help though. its getting to the point where the roots are touching that water at the bottom of each bucket (4 weeks veg). Also has any one else noticed how bad the buckets are at blocking light. I love the system don't get me wrong but i think i would like to customize it a little. Some things I want to do.... light proofing the buckets, figure out a way to make the buckets drain more or at least make it so the drain pump does not have to cycle on and off over and over before it is done draining, add a pump to circulate the res water, get a chiller, find a good way to tie the plants down to the bucket (I do LST), put in a place to easily connect a hose when filling the res, also a easy way to connect a hose to drain the res thinking a hose permanently connected to the very bottom of the res that i could run a hose to connect with a then open a valve to drain... some things I have done... upgraded the hosing the runs to the buckets did not like the stiffness of the stuff that came with the system, used a hot water heater blanket in insulate the res, works great.
I found Titan to be very helpful as well. I flooded 4 times a day in veg, but 3 is probably plenty. I never had any issues with the water in the bottom of the buckets. Also, I understand what you are saying about light, but in my first grow the roots were always bright white and healthy when the net pot was lifted out. As of right now, I have zero concern over light or the water in the buckets. I intentionally did nothing about the water in the bottom of the buckets, and had no problems - at least with the flood cycles I ran.
I keep my reservoir outside of the tent, in a room that is about 68-70f. Perhaps because the nutrient solution is spending limited time in the tent where it could possibly heat up, I had no issues with nutrient temps. In fact, I consider this one advantage this style has for me over DWC... If I were to do DWC the way I'd like, I think I'd need a chiller. But, I see zero need for it now because I'm able to keep the nutrients outside the tent the vast majority of the time... and cool without needing to be chilled. Not everyone has a 68f room, though, so I can envision someone needing a chiller perhaps. But, I doubt it would ever be quite as essential as it might for DWC. I did nothing but DWC until the Flo N Gro.
Draining the reservoir can be a pain. I made my own from Rubbermaid garbage bins, and I have 2 of them. While one is in use, I clean the other one, and fill it with RO water in preparation for the next weekly reservoir change. When I go to change the reservoir, I add nutrients to the reservoir with plain water, switch lids so that the "active" lid is on the newly mixed reservoir. I have utility carpet where the reservoirs are kept, and I have little teflon sliders on the bottom of them. When I want to empty one, I slide it to my utility sink, and scoop out the majority from the bin to the sink with a small bucket, until the whole thing is light enough to be dumped into the sink. It's not nearly as labor intensive as it sounds, in fact it takes about a minute. Once it's emptied, I clean it and start the cycle over. Everybody's situation is unique, but mine usually have ~20 gallons or so, and that system works for me.
I fill my reservoirs through an RO unit, and I use a float valve attached to my reservoir to shut it off when it's full. Was simple and works great if you have an RO system. At least it does with my homemade reservoirs.
For draining, a great way to go might be a bulkhead kit of some sort (they use them in boats for drainage and aquariums, etc.) in the bottom of the reservoir with a hose/tubing and a valve coming out of it for draining. I've done this before with Rubbermaid tote reservoirs for draining and it works slick.
Like this kinda:
Bulkhead Kit
Oh, and I do put a small water pump in the bottom of the "active" reservoir that just churns the nutrient solution continuously. I think this is another way that would help avoid a chiller perhaps, too. I don't think airstones in the reservoir are a good idea, nor do I think they are necessary in the bottom of the buckets to aerate that standing water. I do like the idea of keeping the nutrients recirculated and the pump churning thing has worked great. I just dangle it into the bottom of the reservoir through a hole in the lid that has a gasket to keep the light out.
That standing water in the bottom of the buckets serves a purpose, too, and it's intentional. If you have a power outage, it'll potentially save your bacon - which is why it's really like that. With even the recommended amount of flood cycles, I don't believe it will effect them -- it didn't mine.
For LST - I use those metal clips that clip paper, but are kinda like a chip clip - I clip them to the edges of the pots, attach twist ties or string, and LST that way. Seems to work pretty well.
Sorry for rambling, but I had a real smooth run with this and didn't see any problems from the issues you're worried about. Lightproofing might not be a bad idea, but I didn't have issues with that or the water in the bottom. Check out the grow I did with it if you haven't - link is in my signature. Sorry it's a bit long, but you can see some of the results at around page 89 or so if I remember correctly.
