I have herbs and peppers growing in sections of 2" PVC pipe. Couple of holes cut in the top to hold net pots, tubing nipples for infeed and drain, with intermittent pump. It's not really deep-water, because the tubes are mostly drained, but it's not really ebb-and-flow, either, because they never fill more than 1/3-1/2 way. The water restriction keeps the roots from getting too overgrown and clogging flow. I use 3-d printed net pots and rockwool plugs. I like it because it's expandable - stack tubes on a rack, feed the drain of one section to the inlet of the next, and take sections out of the chain when the plants age out. Does require some attention keeping the drains free of roots, and I think I would use 3" pipe if I started over, but I have a pepper plant 2' tall, still going after 18 months and two round of trimming it back to 1'. I doubt it would grow bell peppers or tomatoes, but it's been great for jalapenos and habaneros.