I'm curious about doing top-offs to accommodate for evaporation. Do the nutrients concentrate as the water evaporates? Should I be doing top-offs with water, or, water/nutrient solution? Thank you, Case.....................
You need to check your PPM/EC levels. You will probably be fine for a month just topping off once a week. I would recommend changing your water completely once a month.
I'm using the GH flora nova. I went to their site and grabbed a feed schedule specific to my system. It has me doing my first water change after 1 week. Go 3 and up the ppm concentration of the nutrient solution etc........ I noticed considerable evap. compared to before without any plants. I really need a tds/pH monitor. What do you think? Mix in some nutrient solution for the top-offs? This flora nova stuff is potent and I've been told numerous times to be careful/under dose. Thanks for the help. I'm on day 3 of transplanting 6 plants from soil to hydro and I've never grown anything. Talk about jumping right in.
Jumping right in, IS the only way to do it! It is a learning process, even when all the science is available to you. It is going to take time to dial everything in. I am still dialing myself. With DWC, I find it better to start with half of what the nutrient company says. What happens with this system is the plants start drinking the water faster then absorbing the nutrients. It is very easy to overdose. Also the rate at which specific nutes are absorbed are different. I think this is also why they want you to change your nutes more frequently. This is why a ppm/EC meter is important. This way you can figure out if you need to top off or, or add more nutes. I do believe that changing your water every week is not the "Green" thing to do. Once a month will suffice. If your plants get a little stress might effect your yield a little, but the plants also seem to produce more resin when they have a little stress. I also recommend having something to circulate your water. I do circulate mine like a top feed system. This keeps my resevoir and my sites at the same ph and ppms. A couple times a day seems to suffice.
Thanks for all the info MT. For circulation/aeration I have 1 airstone in ea. bucket including the res, a good pump in the res with an airline connected to the output, and a separate 1200 gph pump with 1/2 flex that connects to 2 sprayer heads/basket for a top feed. Thanks for the "green" reminder, I will reduce the number/amount of water changes. Sucks on the ec/tds meter. My buddy gave me one to use, but, it doesn't work. It's called the commercial truncheon. I'm just going to buy something I can also use on my reef tank.