Check Valves, Fluid Dynamics, and Current Culture for RDWC

Hello and thanks in advance! I could not find these answers by searching.

-My engineering friend (student) insists that I should use Check Valves. Is there a benefit for our purposes?
-He also claims I should step down from a 4" to a 2" and then a 1" for "Fluid Dynamics." I claimed the roots may clog 1", he disagrees and said Current Culture's 2" is overkill. It would be easier to do 2" or 1.5" all the way around. Is he wrong here?
-Current Culture H2O has a connection on the back end (the final two buckets are connected from behind). I would think a pump pulling through each row would be sufficient. Is this necessary/beneficial?

random3011 said:

He also claims I should step down from a 4" to a 2" and then a 1" for "Fluid Dynamics." I claimed the roots may clog 1

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he's never used a rdwc/undercurrent has he? 1" is way too small for a drain line. 4" is too big too. 1.5 or 2"

and undercurrent design of pipes on the sides could be better by having them connected via the bottom of the container. that way you can drain the complete system w/o leaving old nutes behind.

Your friend sounds like an engineer. Creating problems where they didn’t exist before. Go with what’s already proven. Don’t recreate the wheel.

Bigfries said:

Your friend sounds like an engineer. Creating problems where they didn’t exist before. Go with what’s already proven. Don’t recreate the wheel.

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I agree. I've noticed this pattern with other problems. He's had some great input on RDWC and other items, but I can't accept or discount it across the board. ‍