Sorry it's not a stupid question, personally I read it earlier but had other things on my mind at that time, and just forgot about it.
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With an NFT system am I correct to assume that the nutrient flows constantly and the pump runs 24-7?
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Yes, although plants don't drink the water during dark hours. So you could shut the pump off about an hour after it's dark, and back on again about an hour before it becomes light again. I would probably run it for about 30 min a couple of times in-between just for the heck of it.
Hydroponic N.F.T. Systems
I don't have any plans for an NFT system yet, but it's a simple design. It's basically just a tube with the plants in it, the nutrient solution is pumped into one end. The other end if the tube is a couple of inches lower so the water flows to that end. Then the nutrient solution is collected again at the low end, and directed back to the reservoir where it can be recirculated again.
The important aspect to remember is that what NFT system work is that the root system wicks up the water (and
nutrients) from the flowing water. If the roots don't reach the water level, they wont wick anything up. If the water level remains high as the plants roots continue to grow, they can suffocate from lack of oxygen and air. So you will probably want to be able to adjust the water height as the plants root system grows. I would build it with an adjustable water level, that also allows you to use it as a flood and drain system in the future without any alterations.
I built this
http://www.hydroponicsonline.com/for...rd-system.html tube design as a flood and drain system, but with an adjustable height water level it can easily be used as a NFT system.