Hmm,
yea for something this scale, Iβd use rigid bodies. Instancing would be better for smaller objects, and if they need to collide - instances are better if the object is more spherical.
If these are nParticles, I believe you can change the collision shape to be a cylinder, which would be much better in this situation as your objects are more cylindrical than they are spherical.
See if you can use nParticles for this (instanced of course), and play with the collision settings.
Good luck! Also, I dislike when people say this but you may want to look at Houdini for this kind of thing. Itβs a heck of a lot more approachable than it was a few years ago!
Best,
cw