I would go with the first idea. Its what you know. But I would back down to a 5 gallon pot. Work at killing it with soil, I am.

I find soil to be more forgiving with larger rooms. I'd go with that.

I agree that 7 gallons might be a bit excessive. At that size, you might consider just constructing some beds.

If I went down to five gallons would you suggest increasing plant numbers and decreasing veg a little? I know I can hit 2#s per light in my soil with some nice bushes, but is it hard to hit 2#s in a 4x4 under its own light, and if its not how are you doing it? Once again thanks for the input guys.

im in a 12x14 ft room with 2x600's a 400 and a 1000.. 4x4 under each with 2 gal soil pots dtw .. i have done 5 gals before and you can get huge bushes in 5 gallons but im looking into turning one tray into a soil bed you might think about those like squig said... but the 5 gallons would be a cool looking room if you dont mind the veg time

flood to drain coco with smart pots never fails most people unless you really cant grow doing soil can be really easy or the hardest way to grow in the world as there is so many things going on in soil. aeroponics can be the easiest to some if you know how to mix nutrients properly and how your way around N-P-K . with aero its easy its almost set it and forget it untill you need to adjust ph or ppm as long as thats locked in yield is off the charts and you got the most dense nugs only the quality is slightly less the resin count goes down a little and the leaf ratio goes down so you get more bud only its not like coco where the buds can stick to the wall... where aero buds seem to not stick and be less resiny but you may yield 15% to 20% more in aeroponic systems . the big plus with aero is its really clean after and you dont have any medium to toss out besides the roots and stems and then once your aero system is sterile you can get growing again right away! so thats cool and you dont have to pay for new medium to grow in as there is no medium..............so its a little cheaper only the bud is different some people like it more

its all preference its like sex