Let us do some research into this topic, ok, my good intentions on this topic were to go back and see if I could find the research I did on it two years ago when I decided that barrels would not be cost effective for my planned big system.
Needless to say, I haven't managed to do that. What I do remember from my research was that I could get more grow bed volume and spend less money by building wooden grow beds and lining them with pond liner. These figures were affected greatly by the cost of building stands for the barrels cut the long way plus the extra plumbing involved in connecting lots of 25 gallon barrels compared to 150 gallon wood grow beds.
The above was all going on the assumption that 12 inch deep grow beds were the goal.
What I know now would affect my choices however. (Seeing as I've had trouble with lumber/liner beds being compromised by termites and that I've found deep grow beds to be wonderful.)
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