Interesting points. I had not put general husbandry of the buckets into consideration. Weeky cleanings you say? So you break your buckets down and wipe them weekly?
Ideally, yes, and it is what hydro fertilizer companies tend to recommend. To be honest, I most often clean the totes every other week and have not had problems with that and a lot of people recommend that instead of weekly. Longest I have ever put off cleaning was a month and, by that time, the EC for the solution was so drastically out of whack that it was causing severe nutrient imbalances and lockout. I know some will top off perpetually until harvest and if that works for them, then great. I have never been able to get away with that, though.
I take the lids (with plant still in them) and plop them onto backup/clean totes, put those into my cabinet, fill with fresh solution, reconnect the rinsed off airstones and then run the old totes in the dishwasher or clean them by hand. (I can run 2x 7 gallon totes in my cabinet and one will fit in my dishwasher, the larger 17-gallon tote has to be washed by hand)
I have a general rule of thumb when designing systems for myself or others: keeps things as simple as possible. As I said, RDWC will make your life so much easier if you have a bunch of buckets/totes, but if you only have a few then it may add more work and trouble. Leaks aren't an issue if you're in a concrete slab basement/warehouse with a drain, but if your grow is upstairs or in a carpeted basement/room, you can cause your ceiling's drywall to collapse and/or have to replace the carpet/deal with black mold infestation.
There is a tendency to only look at the upsides of a system, when everything is working optimally. I suggest people look at every element of their design and ask themselves, "how quickly and easily could I repair or replace that part and what damages could occur if it fails?" Never forget Murphy's Law: anything that can go wrong will go wrong.
I've messed with aeroponics, ebb and flow, RDWC and DWC and I find regular DWC to be the easiest and more manageable of the four. I also find DWC to be easier than soil when it comes to diagnosing issues and correcting nutrient needs. (eg: it's common to misdiagnose overwatering as a nutrient deficiency) This is just my opinion, obviously, and everyone's situation and willingness to put in the effort is different. I prefer to do as little as possible and worry about as little as possible, ensuring that if things do go wrong, then it doesn't cause any serious damage to my home.
