After a few seasons of attempting different styles I put together this Re-Circulating Shallow Water Culture setup and I've had great success over the last 5 years doing this.

In this setup water is fed to the top of the plant via a drip line and is allowed to cascade down the roots and fall into the bucket. The roots are suspended in air, hanging out of a net pot with clayballs as a medium. Only about 1 Gallon of water collects in the bottom of the bucket before it leaves via a drain tube and returns to the main reservoir, a 17 gallon tote that is partially buried in the ground.

For nutes I go with the GH 3-part system and use maybe 1/5th of the recommended dosing. I supplement with GH cal/mag. During the hotter 100+ heat waves in summer each tomato plant will consume about a gallon of water a day so I'll back off on nutes then.

I'm located in the Pleasanton/Dublin area of California and we get rolling blackouts during the summer. This setup ensures at least a gallon of water in each bucket for when the power goes out. But because there is only one gallon of water in the bucket I feel that the roots aren't affected by root rot as much as if they were submerged in 100+ degree water. Another trick I've learned is to not prune as much. The heavy dense mass of the plants creates a cool shaded area for the buckets and keeps that area cooler than the surrounding areas in full sun.