THG heyas!
i think flood and drain is easier for a beginner to succeed in especially with small-sized pebbles because they retain water for very long and it is less reliant on electric and pumps, and it can handle higher temps better because of evaporation in the rootzone. i know what you mean about priorities, when i ran perpetual SOG, i also grew in DWC, but it obviously needed more maintenance and accuracy to succeed, but when it did it was great. as for the drainhole, i can do really good ones, and they never leak, if they do, it would probably need a bit of tightening of the screw or worst case, a change of the rubber. i can easily place something to catch the leaking water for a few days until my next res change, i never had a fuss in maintaining a leak, and if you really want to make a drain that never leaks, you can easily do so. there is some great material for waterproofing, glues that actually weld plastics together, if you are paranoid about a leak, you can use them. i have the type of hose which is used in laundry washing machines, their joints are welded this way, expensive but very effective, i just raise the flexible hose above water level and secure it, when i need to empty, it takes maybe 1 minute for 200L res, i always take a look at the roots as i flush, then refill, all in few mins, no carrying of heavy buckets, no back breaking... it's only the way i do my work
