HI All.. In my quest to learn as much about the Hydro Side of Growing, I have not really been able to get an answer to a question I have, and I am hoping to get a little clarification. Just to keep it simple, I will use round numbers. RDWC -- 4 Buckets and a Control Bucket. Lets say we use 2 gallons of water per bucket (and control bucket), gives us a total of 10 gallons of water in our system. We mixed up 10 gallons of Lucas and PH'd water and our EC/PPMs say we are good to go, so we add the 10 gallons to our Controller and we are off and rolling. Now say a day later, the EC Drops and I need to get it back up to an acceptable level. I know I need to add Nutes, but what I don't understand is the Process of doing this. Do you just have a Gallon of HOTTER Nutes ready to start pouring into the res when you need to get your EC and PPM's back up? Obviously if you need them to come down, you remove some water from the res and add back plain PH'd water, but not sure about the proper procedure to increase the Nutrient level. I understand that day by day, the plants will suck up Water and this of course changes the EC and PPMs, so you pretty much just add back the water or do 100% Add Back. But what about the cases that the water level has not dropped, but your EC has fluctuated? I would like to understand the proper procedure for adjusting, so I can get a better understanding on this topic. Any Advice would be Appreciated!!!
your exact question is the reason why many just run to waste and just add water once a day... and replace a new batch of nutes and water once a week... but... if you wanted to figure out about how much nutrients to add.... mix one gallon of PH'd water and nutes... check the PPM.... next time you need to add nutes to your ten gallons of soup... and your down 200 PPM... just add enough to increase the PPM's to the proper level... and just add pure R.O. once a day to ensure the water level is always kept up... some nutrient lines have calculators that figure all that stuff out for you... I know canna has one, and AN... im pretty sure House has one... one word of caution when using a DWC... always know the PPM of the water... so if your adding that every day your PPM's will increase... even if your not adding nutrients... I found out the hard way at the end of a grow.. I always just assumed my water was good to go and it had jumped up to over three hundred PPM's.... I was baffled why I was having problems... but once I figured that part out, i was fine good luck... hope I helped
Thanks for the Reply Speed... I understand what your saying, and want to clarify a little more if that's OK.. I realize that we need to add nutes back if we are down 200 PPM's, but if your water level has not dropped (but PPMs have), then adding some of the Gallon Mixture you mentioned would also increase the water level and would not really raise the PPM would it? Here is my thinking: Say the system is set to 800 PPMs and I have a Gallon of Nutes/Water mixed up at 800 PPMs. If the water level drops 1 gallon, then adding the gallon I mixed up is supposed to bring my PPMs basically back to the 800 mark. Well say I find that my PPMs are low and my water level has not dropped a gallon. Maybe the Plants wanted more nutes and less water today and now my PPMs are down 200, how do you adjust this? I think this is where Calculators come in that you mentioned.. I did come across a couple of articles on these and how to calculate the Current PPM, with the Target PPM to the get (ml) needed to bring your PPMs back where they belong. Is this just something that you mix up in that gallon jug, or do you take the Gallon of water from your RES,, Mix your Calculated Nutes, then dump it back into the Res? Or am I over thinking this.. If I check today and its low 200 PPM, Should I wait until the water level Drops, or do I mix up a Slightly hotter Gallon of Nutes and slowly add that to the res (checking periodically until Target PPM is reached)? I use RO Water now and will continue, so hopefully I can keep that starting PPM's down to a minimum, but good point on that one. Sorry for all of the questions, I am really trying to fully understand the Takeaway and Add back process so I don't end up all over the place.
here's an example you have ten gallons of water in your system... and your first mix of nutrients equals out to the 800 PPM's and you know that one gallon of your mix =80 PPM.... so your grow is off and running... 800 PPM... you only add water every day, called topping off.... making sure the PH is climbing, not dropping(your PPM's are too high, dilute them) once a week you check your PPM... after a week you find that your down 200 PPM... you know that to mix one gallon of your nutrient line you need 3ML of each of your nutrients to mix one gallon of 80 PPM soup..... and you need to find 200.... so you need 7.5 ml of each of your nutrients to get your target of 200 PPM... you only add the nutrients, not the water..
Thanks again for the Reply... Totally understand now,, Great explanation!! Now I get the picture. I am sure I will have more questions soon. Thanks again!
Yea that's what I plan to do - Top off with water and change once a week or so - I just wanted to know the way others keep their PPM's in check
I check my EC every day and add back accordingly. The only time I have ever checked my water and it didn't go down at all was early veg before I was even adding nutrients. Once the roots were showing through the net pots it started drinking.