If you feed them properly you can reuse the run off over and over. Think how a Wilma system works. Exactly the same thing mate. Ph and ppm of the run off should be the same as what goes in. If it isn't then the feeds wrong or you're not feeding often enough.
I went past my storage and took some pics for you of my table and the hose connection on the tray. You want something as flat as that hose connection or flatter.
I use this pallet in my 4x4, it makes drain to waste easy for me. Drilled some holes in the top & installed a plastic liner on the bottom. Its only 5 inch tall but it will hold over 40 gallons. I drain it with my shop vac and use it for the lawn & shrubs. It only needs to be emptied once per grow, so its pretty low maintenance.
That looks like a great setup @SherlokOhmz! I've got a 1200x1200 tent too but I have to keep my setup a little discreet, lugging a pallet into the place might raise some suspicions hah. I've got some milk crates though and I don't see why I couldn't do the same thing with them and a plastic liner, it'd just mean I have three small ones instead of one big one. Would need more frequent emptying of course but it'd be better than what I'm doing right now. I'm also starting to picture a simple drainage system that would mean I don't have to empty them at all and I already have almost all the parts for that.......
Can't for the life of me find pads like the blue ones you have! EDIT: I went to send you a message but I think I need more posts to do it. Do you mind if I ask where you got those blue pads and what they're called? I'd call them a 'scourer' but I can't for the life of me find any in a size over a few inches wide, either locally or online..
Sorry for me missing out in this thread, really helpfull ideas what I've seen here!
Going to implement some of these for my next grow on coco when I finished my soil grow for the time being.
So I ended up going a different way... @Barney86 floated the idea of a recirculating system (similar to a wilma) in another thread, so I've half set that up... the containers are in, I just haven't put any pumps in yet:
The containers have half a dozen 5mm holes drilled in their tops and are 30 litres each so will take runoff for easily a few weeks, maybe more. I've got the parts to set the recirculating system up but I might just end up watering manually for the rest of the grow, now that the runoff is taken care of watering has become a whole lot easier!