I did a search for "general hydroponics ebb and grow" but saw a lot of different systems. Do you have a link to the one your talking about? It's fairly easy to replicate any commercially built system, it just depends on what materials you have available to work with.
Growing inside is fine, you just need to consider the cost of a lighting system, and the electricity to run them. I know lettuces is a low light requirement plant and grows well under florescent
lights. But I'm not sure about collard and spinach under florescent, I just don't remember anyone talking about growing them, and I grow everything outside (so far) myself. You can set the grow near a window that gets lots of sun, but you may still need supplemental lighting.
We don't really get much rain here in the desert, but rain hasn't been much of a problem for me. My reservoir's are usually under a table to keep them in the shade anyway. The containers with the plants in them are really the only part that rain gets into. Most of the time what rain does get in is beneficial to me, because as the plants grow they drink up water, and I just need to replace it. The rain water that does get in does that for me. The only system that did occasionally become flooded was my broccoli plants, the tops of the open 5 gallon buckets allowed a good amount of water in. I was using a 18 gallon reservoir (with 12-15 gallons of
nutrient solution in it), the broccoli plants would drink 5-6 gallons of water a day.
So the rain mostly just replaced what the plants were drinking. But occasionally we would get long periods of rain that would overfill the reservoir, I just waited until the threat of rain was over, and mixed a fresh batch of nutrient solution. Most of the time they were due for a nutrient change anyway, I keep an eye on the 10 day weather forecast at
www.intellicast.com (just type in your zip code in the local weather bar), and I don't change my nutrient solution if there is a chance of rain. I had planed to cut a hole in a lid for 5 gallon buckets for the broccoli, to reduce the opening the rain could get in from, but just never really got around to it.
I did build a frame and covered it with shade cloth to help with the summer heat for my strawberry's (picture attached), and I have covered it with a plastic drop cloth to keep rain off of some seedlings. Although I learned that it should be rounded, or a "A" frame top so the water flows down, instead of pooling on the top. Something like that would work, especially if you get a lot of rain. Although I would concentrate on reducing the openings the rain can get in from. That can be done in various ways, depending on your system design.
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i wounder how many dwc setups id need to keep a decent supply of my leafy greens.
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First you want to decide how much you eat, of each plant. That should give you an idea of how many plants you will want to grow, and then design the system around that. I usually like to have a few extra, people love it when you give them some hydroponically grown produce. Depending on the type of plant, like with leafy greens, I would consider a "harvest and replacement" operation. That takes up less space, and ensures you will have a continuous supply, rather than harvesting it all at the same time, and having to much all at once. Then needing to wait for new plants to mature before you have more to eat. Harvest and replacement can be done with any plants, though some easier than others, as well as some systems easier than others.
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Also how long does a supply water/nutrients in dwc last?
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Until the nutrients are used up or out of balance, or if something unwanted is growing in it (like fungi or pathogens). There are a lot of variables to how long to go between nutrient changes, with plant size and water volume being the biggest factors, as well as abnormal pH swings. Each grower has there own learning curve. I typically change mine anywhere from each week to once a month. For new hydroponic growers I always suggest to start by changing it every week, say for a month, and look at your plants every day. Then change it every other week, looking at the plants every day (check regularly for pH swings). Then stretch it out to 3 weeks, doing the same. By looking at your plants every day, you soon will be able to tell just by looking at the plants when it's time to change the nutrient solution. That's exactly what I do, I don't even mark the calender anymore, I just observe the plants color and growth.
P.S. Make sure you mark the water line inside of the reservoir, that way as the plants drink up the water. You will know exactly how much plain water to replace. Otherwise you may wind up with a diluted nutrient solution if you add to much, or a concentrated nutrient solution if you don't replace enough water.