Okay so I have been using distilled water to feed my 6 girls. I got me a ppm reader this run to step things up. To make a long story short my tap water had been sitting in a 5 gallon bucket for 3 days with 2 air stones . Today I took a reading 279 ppm. Is this safe for my plants or will I lock them up with it. If its safe do I add my nutes to the starting ppm say I'm feeding 500 ppm my water is 279. Do I want it 779 when I finish adding my nutes and additives? Or do I just want to add 221 ppm to the water to get the 500 ppm feeding I was after? And if I just add 221 ppm won't I be under feeding by 279 ppm? Being a newbie sucks donkey balls. Believe me I know, but please bear with me. I won't be a newbie forever. Thanks for any advise I can get. And sorry if I'm asking a dumb question but its a question I am too dumb to figure out on my own. I'm thinking just add the 221, but I need to be sure if I can even use it.
You add you nutes and subtract your starting ppm. So if your tap is 200 and you want 500 your ending ppm sould be 700. I would keep using distilled water. 88 cents a gallon, its to cheap not to use.
Okay but would the 700 be 200 more ppms than the rang I'm looking to hit? Thus be over feeding and a dinner date with Ms. Nuteburn herself? Or because the 200 doesn't come from say a base nutrient does that mean it won't burn the girls?
The 200 before nutes are dead, not consider useable to the plants. Make ppm 700, 500 nutes and 200 the starting point of the water. So you really are only adding 500 ppm of nutes. Just keep an eye on them. This is the first time using tap, i would really go back to distilled .
My well varies between 175-225 ppm I just use the Lucas ratio, a meter, and then listen to my plants. For new plants 500-700 ppm is good, but into flower I have 3 footers that want closer to 1300 ppms. Your number one best option IMHO is to learn what your cannabis plants are saying, and adjust from there.