I used simple vinyl eavestroughing, the "contemporary" style as seen here
http://www.ujr.ca/en/gsw_contemporary.htm
You just use one piece for the bottom of the trough and another piece inverted for the top part. There are little ledges inside the upper edges of the troughing, so you simply squeeze the top piece in and sit it on those ledges. You just drill stem holes in the top piece, 3/4" to1". You put end caps on the ends of the lower trough and drill a similar hole in the front cap so that the water level in the trough will be about an inch or so deep when it runs out the hole. You have to use silicone sealant inside the end caps or the troughs will leak sometimes. You cut little notches in the ends of the top trough where the end caps are so they will fit over the edges of the caps, because the caps extend slightly above the upper edge of the bottom trough. I just covered the ends of the top troughs with poly film taped across the end openings, because you can't fit end caps on both the top and bottom troughs because they will hit together. I made the plastic films extend down like flaps over the water holes to avoid the water squirting out. The flaps guide it straight down into the runoff troughs on top of the rubbermaid reservoirs.
So how did I anchor the plants inside the troughs? I rooted the clones in Oasis cubes right inside the assembled troughs. Three such cubes stacked together fit almost perfectly between the top and bottom troughs. I had to cut about 1/8" off of one of the cubes for a perfect fit. You want there to be just a little extra cube between the troughs so that when you assemble them you have to slightly squeeze them together to compress the cubes slightly between them for firm support. You then clamp them together with a plastic cable tie on each end. Now you stick the clones into the cubes through the holes in the top trough. You put poly freezer bags (just plain bags with no ziplock or anything) over the clones so they have high humidity while rooting. After the first week I would cut about an inch off of one corner of each bag to allow a little ventilation. I would use a smaller light for the rooting stage, I think it was a 250 HPS for a 3'x3' area. I used six of these troughs with six plants in each one at 6" centers. I would switch to 400 watters for the flowering.
As for pumps. You only need tiny ones. You just want a nice slow flow, not Niagara Falls. I used the smallest pumps available, they fit in the palm of your hand, made for small fountains. You can add aquarium aerators to the reservoirs if you want but I found that the dropping of the water into the reservoirs provided sufficient aeration. The clamped cubes provided very firm support, worked perfectly. Only thing you need to keep buying is cubes and nutrients. After harvest you just cut the cable ties off and disassemble the troughs and repeat.
