This is my first grow hydroponically Growing 6 plants 18g tank 2-15g bubblers PH stays at 6ish Led lighting Question is how often should I change the tank eater if ever.
There is no consensus on this. When the plants are young, they don't eat or drink much, so you can probably get by without changing the water for the first 4 weeks. Some people do their first res change when switching from veg to bloom nutes. After that, most recommendations are to change every 7-10 days to make sure there is plenty of every nutrient. A different strategy, easier for some of us, is to empty 1-2 gallons per day out of the reservoir, and replace them with fresh nute solution. Careful, hydro grows are highly susceptible to nute burn, and even 1/2 the recommended nute dose can cause it, especially as harvest approaches. Too high ppm can cause lasting damage, too low ppm will cause temporary underfeeding only, so err on the side of caution.
I didnt know if it would be different since im running a 18g with 2 15gpm bubblers and I take 3 gallons out a week and replace with 2 fresh destilled. Ph holds at 5.5-6.5
Its my first real hydro grow. I was wondering, if the ph is wherebit needs to be and the plants are flourishing, why would I change out all 18 gallons and risk shocking the plants instead of a gallon or 2 every week or so. May be a dumb question but im curious. Thats another reason I doubled the bubblers to keep the water oxygenated. What is the pros/ vons of changing out the water completely
I am growing 6 plants in two 5 inch X 5 inch by 7 ft square plastic white tubing with a 7 gallon reservoir AKA 5x5 white plastic fence post with the end caps in a 4x8 ft grow tent . Each tube can be adjusted where each tube holds 4 gallons of water . total of a 15 gallon system at first 2 days . Then I adjust the tubes where I dump as much water out of the tubes I can and start adding R O water to keep the reservoir full. I am evaporating 3 gallons of water per day , right now I just switch into budding . 3 times 7 is 21 gallons of evaporation over a 7 day time period . All depending on size of the plants and how hot your plants get dictates how much water is evaporated from your DWC. This why I change the water every 7 days . My grow tent is inside my home so the temp stays very close to 65 to 70 degrees F.
I empty my res's every one to two weeks and do a short flush with water only to remove built up salts in the medium. Then fresh water and nutes for the next cycle. I top feed, with the excess returned to res by gravity so any waste generated by the plants will build up in the res.