ebb & grow systems

How good are these systems really? Anyone have any experience adding "extensions" to the unit (or even max out the 48 buckets?). Been reading up on a few of the systems out there, and ebb&grow is supposedly decent.

Hey, do the roots hang out of the first bucket, and into the 2nd bucket below? Are they constantly dangling into the residual water below or would this only happen towards the end of the life cycle (when roots are huge?).

Probably not the most interesting questions, but would help me a lot!

Yes, the roots are a problem getting stuck in the drain tubes. I'm still looking for an answer to this problem

what about using those 10" bucket net pot lids instead of the inner bucket? wouldnt it keep the root base higher than w/ the inner bucket that practically sits on top of the other. my thoughts im gonna build one and im just gonna buy the outer 5gal monster buckets cuz the inside is slanted and the drain hole is 3/4" rather than the 1/2" on the 2gal pots

I am running the ebb and grow system with 12 pots right now. There are some minor flaws with the system but overall I love it! I have a buddy on here...his name is Hellraizer. He posted some pics in my journal that had multiple buckets. He also switched out the hose for pipe. That is also what I want to do next grow is switch out the hose for pipe. The roots are out of the first pot. Right now the roots are about 2-3 inches thick at the bottom of the first pot. I am not having any problems with roots in the holes. You can check out my current grow...I have pics on there of the system and Hellraizer posted pics of an altered system.