OK, I'll break down your Q's.
Weight is Entirely dependent on you, and the strain. Here's 3 strains, with a small cookies to the way left. first on left is chem urkel, then a Sativa leaning Stardawg, then a really garlicy stardawg.
see what i mean?
Pump timing is based on size of plants, media, time flooded, etc, so many details. In reality, there is no answer, you'll just have to spend some time with your ladys, meaning wait till the signs to water. I look at the lower leaves, not the top of the plant. by the time the tops are wilting, full turgor pressure is lost. No biggee, but not good either.
I run hydroton. Let me say now that there are a bunch of types out now. Some types hold more water, they are real porous and misshapen. Those are better for flood and drain. Some types are more spherical, and don't hold water. These are better for top drip. That being said, I run top drip and ebb and flow with both types, and it works fine. Why do I run both? Cause I can't read packaging. I prefer the round hydroton, easier to clean, dries faster( you can water more often) When the hydroton mine stopped being the source(google it) many types began to come out instead of the standard stuff. The porous stuff does not float (mostly) and the spherical hydroton floats. blah blah
So for pump timing, I run no veg sog in 5.5 " pots, and flood a minimum of 5 times during flower. (every 3 hours starting at lights on, and last watering is 1 hour before lights off. This is with the porous hydroton that holds more water. For the non-porous hydroton, I was watering 8 times during 12 hours. Keep in mind larger plant, more watering.
The timer is the standard analog 15minute timer everybody has. Digital timers scare me for water applications.
For top drip, these numbers will apply to the porous hydroton. In veg I run 15 on 15 off. I found my rez got too hot running the pump full time. For flower, I run the same timing as my ebb and flow timing. I'm just getting adjusted to top drip, so this is not set in stone. Any hydroton top drippers feel free to chime in.
For rez size, top drip will not require nearly as much rez size as ebb and flow. For my ebb and flow set up I use the tuff boxes (27 gallon) and fill 22 gallons worth. 3x3 OD tray on top. I top off bout a gallon every 1.5 days. I only flood just about 3 inches, not much. That is about 12-15 gallons to fill. For a 4x4 tray your gonna need a Big rez. You can offset the need for a huge rez if you can fill in the remaing space in the tray. Here's my ghetto attempt at it with some tupperware, after harvest pics. This reduced my total flood volume from 14 gallons to 8gallons.
If I could go back, I'd have started with top drip, much less water to waste.
My stands are home built outta wood, then painted with kilz. Remember, water is about 8 pounds a gallon. Make em' strong! They're on casters, cause I rotate my trays every 2 days.
Here's a 3x3 ID tray with a 50 gallon rez. Notice the rez sits on a rolling tray too.
That's all I got conny, hope it helps, just trying to give back. I will say, the hydro section is weak here. Seems all the action goes on in UC or MPB, or coco. You know there's a ton of folks working with straight hydroton, just so easy peasy. I've been running the same 5 50 Liter bags of hydroton for the past 3 years. For a perpetual gardener, thats a huge savings. Wash over some chicken wire to get the roots and crap off, soak in a strong h202 mix, Then final rinse, and dry over teh same chicken wire rack, done. And don't believe the crap about a pump failure will kill your plants in hours. I've got some moms that have been sent to the garage, going on 3 days now, still not fully wilting. about 100 degrees in there too. Now get to researching!
