@Oliver or?
You are using a low profile FT to reduce head, how many gallons is your FT('s), what is the foot print? I am still in planning stages and leaning towards an IBC for cost reasons and also for getting more gallons thus more fish. I can however partially bury to get to a desired height, or should I bite the bullet and purchase a tank designed for this? From what I've read a 275 Gallon system should be the minimum to reduce chemistry fluctuations.

I'm leaning towards drain and fill but not at all against constant flow, would I be correct in stating that the constant flow method will use more energy? Also, you are not using a sump tank to catch solids but are using the additional flow your pump is capable of to clean out the solids in plumbing, correct? I'm assuming you do this after a harvest and with an empty bed, correct? I know most pumps do require some back pressure but can you create enough on the pump w/out damaging pump or are you diverting some back to FT?

I want a big enough system to start for reasons stated above but I would think if one was planning on having a larger system you would not want several smaller systems thus creating more of a plumbing nightmare. I really would like to have 1k or 1.5k total FT gallons but would this be wise for a beginner?

Yours or anyone's thoughts please, thanks.