should give a few of the videos by MHPGardener on youtube a watch. he has developed a very nice bato bucket setup in his greenhouse using just perlite. in one video he shows how the perlite was kept out of the system using 5 gallon paint strainer bags with extremely good success. apparently has had no clogging problems for a season or so with that.
Im trying something similar but using red lava cinders and a prayer.

Here is a link that might be useful: Dutch Bucket Hydroponics - How It Works & How to Make Your Own

I have been messing around with hydroponics for over 40 years using nearly all the materials known to mankind.
Just kidding , I have found that perlite or vermiculite will break down over time with it compacting making it difficult for plant roots to penetrate.
As I mentioned earlier I have been experimenting with all kinds of mixtures , and only this week had one tub with a hydroton mixture with vermiculite and perlite , and it took me hours to wash out this tub and , and block off any of the perlite and vermiculite entering my 200 litre nutrient reservoir, to overcome all the gunk getting into my nutrient reservoir I added a a diverter to waste, never again, just plain hydroton and lava rock will do me.
PS I also have a filter from my pump to eliminate blockages in the hoses to the planting tubs, which seems to work very well and occasionally I look at the filter, give it a flush and back in business again,I think it is a wise move to avoid block ups or impurities fouling up the feeder lines if you are using a drip system , ebb and flow or an NFT system to eliminate all that gunk sitting on the bottom of your nutrient tank.

I seem to have solved the issue of particulates from perlite and vermiculite clogging my drio tubes. I have installed in-line strainers which do pick up the particles before they can cause problems. The strainer I chose allows easy flushing and I use the flush opening to pump out my nutrient when changing the solution so every 2 weeks the nutrient gets changed and the screen gets flushed.

I also filled the bottom of the buckets with clay balls so the perlite vermiculite does not float up to the siphoning level then I add the perlite vermiculite mix on top.

Together these two steps seem to have made enough of a difference to solve the problem.

Thanks