[GpsFrontier]

the tubes would be smaller in diameter and only have holes in them on one side (the side facing inwards toward the light) that would mean that only the one side would have the plants and therefore be effcient.

Yes that would be the only side that would get enough light to grow plants, but I don't really see that as efficient. Effectively it would be the same thing as long flat tubes lying down sideways with plants growing on one side of the tube (the top) with the lights hanging above (the typical hydroponic setup). For me the purpose of going vertical would be to utilize all sides of the tube instead of just one side.

the drippers will run along the tops of the pipes and be a continuous slow drip down the pipe.

I assume you are talking about dripping down the inside of the tube here. This would be the only reason to go vertical with the tubes if you were only using one side to grow with. Though the nutrient solution will flow nicely down the tube, it wont be able to get the center part of the tube where the exposed roots would be. The exposed roots would be the most vulnerable because without the growing medium sounding them they will dry out very fast. Some of the solution will wick it's way to these exposed roots, but as the root system gets bigger there will be less and less moisture to go around for all the roots.

You could add a mister/emitter or two to the top of these tubes, so the solution will also rain down through the center of the tubes getting these exposed roots. But in using the misters/emitters I don't think there would be a need for dripping also, the misters/emitters will take care of that. This is what I plan to do in my tubes, although a little different. You see a small tube in the center of the pictures in my tube design. That will be 1/2 inch P.V.C. with an end cap on one end, and the hose from my pump on the other end. Then I will simply screw in the misters/emitters directly into the P.V.C. and place the tube with the misters/emitters in the center of the growing chamber. This will rain thought the entire tube getting the exposed roots as well as the growing medium.

There is also another possible solution to the exposed roots. In another thread of this forum there was a link posted about building a fogger. This fog would get these exposed roots with a fog of nutrient solution. I have not built one of these but plan to incorporate its use in my future designs.

Link to Building a fogger youtube video that GGM posted

as for the perlite i may use expanded clay instead which would be bigger.

The clay pelts will be big enough to keep them from going through the baskets, but I am not sure what the benefit is in using them mixed along with the coco chips. The coco chips will hold moisture better than the grow rocks, and even though the coco chips are not reusable they are not that expensive compared to grow rocks. Witch brings me to my next point. I mixed grow rocks with coco chips for my bell peppers because I wanted to fill the containers and did not have enough grow rocks. This worked fine because the coco chips held extra moisture, however as I mentioned the coco chips are not reusable and the grow rocks are. Well, when the time came to clean and reuse the grow rocks it was a nightmare to separate. They both have the same buoyancy in water so the only way I found to separate them was to pick every grow rock out one by one.