Hello Blade,
Home made systems are easy to build and well worth the time and effort. What
hydroponic system is best for you is a lot like which potting soil grows the best plants. There is no clearly specific answer that fits every situation.
What is best for you is really your decision to make. Some of the factors you will want to take into consideration are things like:
1. What type of budget do you have to work with?
2. What materials (within your budget) do you have access to to build your systems with?
3. What specifically are you going to grow in the system/s, and how many plants are you planing to grow?
4. Are you going to try and grow many crops in the same system, or are you only planing on gowning one crop to start with?
5. Are you planing on growing inside or outside?
6. What space do you have to work with? Not only taking into consideration the layout of the space and the hydroponic systems in it, but also things like the placement of the reservoir, heating and cooling, even air circulation and humidity if growing inside etc. etc. etc..
7. Lighting, and what budget you have for that if growing inside. As well as venting the heat from the
lights in that inside space.
But the most important consideration to consider is the type of plants that will be in the system, as well as how many of them there will be. If all you are going to be growing to start is cucumbers, you still need to decide how many you plan to grow before designing the system for them. But for plants that grow large like that you need a good amount of root space. And cucumbers are vines so if you don't want the vines growing on the floor, you will need to consider building a trellis.
I prefer to use a bucket type of drip systems for large plants myself. And for large plants like cucumbers in a
drip system, I wouldn't want to use anything less than 5 gallons (buckets) of root space for them.
You'll still need to know how many plants you will be growing before you can decide what size reservoir to go with.