No, there shouldnt be much water in the totes once runoff drains off. There will always be a little ofcourse, the stuff that cant get to the drain, but shouldnt be very much.
Im trying to figure out the runoff getting back to res now, originally i planned to put the res directly under the tables and just let gravity do its thing, my issue with this is height, the 50g res is 18" tall, if i put it under the table, then add another 16" for the plant totes+3-4" for the table, another 18-24" for the plants, im at 62" in height, that leaves me only 34" for lights. Its doable as i run my lights very close to the tops of my plants but it dont seem like its gonna be practical or overly comfortable for gardening.
Im considering a few options:
Use smaller totes for the plants, the 15g totes are only 11.5" , so that would gain back 5-6".....i already have top holes drilled in the 27gs but thats no big deal, i can easily find use for them elsewhere lol
Using a Lower profile res(10-12" in height) ill buy it if i can or build it if i must. I can buy 15g tote thats 11.5" tall , just not sure if its big enough tbh, other option is build one the exact size i want and line it with pond liner ala
@Renfro )
Using a small low profile collection bin for the runoff with a small pump and float valve on synced timer pushing it back to the res, this way i can place my res at the end of the room and gain back some of height. This seems like a bunch more work not sure its worth the effort. I do think having res at the end would be better in my room, so thats a plus.