The system continues to perform as well as I could hope for. It has been seven weeks since the dry seeds were placed into the perlite, (along with one spearmint and one lemon thyme plant which was moved from soil to hydro). The basil are now bigger than the spearmint (both basil and spearmint have been trimmed many times to keep them manageable sized), and the parsley is about to overtake them all. The system typically consumes a gallon of nutrient solution per day, and I plan on upgrading the size of the solution tank to allow me to go longer between maintenances. Right now, I can put about 9 gallons of solution in at a time, and I'd like to make that more like 15.
But regardless, it comes down to watering once a week, and admiring it every chance I get. The fragrance of the basil and other herbs is just wonderful. I'm still using PureBlend Pro© Gro and Bloom from Botanicare, and have no plans to change that. I'm also adding Catalyst from Earth Juice©. I have to say that a lot of my success is from the nutrients, but the design of the system is critical. This NFT system combines reliability, oxygenation, flexibility and simplicity. The individual plants can be moved to another plant site if it gets crowded, and entire trays can also be moved from one slot to another in about two minutes.

I will be building a second system with some minor improvements, but this prototype is so easy to use and produces such great results, it is difficult to imagine getting more out of plants.

2014 upgrade. Replaced the manifold completely, and it was less difficult than I expected, and the results were perfect. No leaks at all from the manifold. I still have to revamp the way I make the bottom part of the trays to keep leaks from developing, but that's it other than some frame enhancements.
I'm putting together another 5X5 system soon. This one was planted about a month ago, and it is going gangbusters.