450 gallon res? That seem right?

By buddy is running 10, 600 watt lights.

Under each light is 9 plants, in a 3x3 grid.

He wants to make a bucket style flood and drain.

So, 90 buckets, 5 gallons a bucket - that's 450 gallons.

Which is 60 cubic feet. Thats a 4x4x4 container -- it's damn near a hot tub.

When he had his tube garden, he was able to do the same light and way more plants on 100 gallon -- this just seems a little crazy.

That's a bit much. In 5gallon buckets you are only using just over 3 gallons to 4 gallons of water. And if there not on the same nutes you could do 3 55 gallon drums. 2 brain buckets each drum. Set at different times. Or if its all the same go with 2 drums 3 brains each. The water will need watched daily.

way too much.. lmao. do you know what 450 gallons looks like... ??

That could make one hell of a mess!!
It's one thing to do a Ebb and Grow system with 50 gal.......
Before going any further, I would be thinking about disaster recovery.
Hundreds of gallons of water on the floor is not fun. Ask me how I know.

^^ man got wise words for you...
plus seems inefficient using that much water in a setup. your calculations are off somewhere. very off

I would use 27 gallon tough box for a reservoir with a 50 gallon auto-top off system. With that much light and plants you will go through 25 gallons a day easy.