I'll chime in and try to help out while DDS is busy.
I had many of these same questions when I first looked into the mpb system and hydro in general...my lack of growing experience made me question everything. After doing a little more reading and a lot more growing, things are much clearer. What I discovered is there are many ways to veg just as there are many ways to flower. Which way is best is debatable and depends on your space, environment, funds, etc.
If you have a small setup, the 12 liter buckets with the 10" netpots have proven to work really well...as seen in the 42# grow at the Smith's place. If you're growing a lot of plants, that veg system isn't the most practical/economical. If you were to veg 50+ girls in 12 liter buckets, it would take up a lot of space and could be a lot more work. Of course, if you had the space and wanted to take that route, then you could. Last I read, DDS still uses the ebb n flow table for HIS grows. If you got a chance to read the old deleted posts, they were from grows setup by dds and grown by other people.
Galt, using the netpots in the 12 liter pails allows the roots to grow through the netpot and stay in the pail/bucket, allowing you to get a bigger root mass before going into the mpbs. This allows you to flower immediately once put into the mpbs. Cubes on the e&f table requires you to veg a little in the mpbs before flowering. Roots need to grow down into the mini-res...with the pails, they are already there! If you use just the netpots on the table, the roots will get air trimmed defeating the purpose. Also, very low risk of damaging roots as you just pick up the pail, take it to where the mpb is - pull the netpot out and place in the mpb. I'd think an 8 year old could handle that lol
I personall think the use of the different kinds of netpots/buckets may be personal choice just like so many things. Netpots with holes on the side will eliminate the chance of a blockage in the netpot but may increase the chance of getting a clog in the drain lines (due to roots coming out the side). Using buckets requires you to drill holes in the bucket...or you can just buy a nice strong netpot :)
Things change and DDS' system will evolve and get better just like anything else.
