A2Michigan
Well-Known Member
okay gotcha! Do your nutrients recirculate then? If I constantly top off with water, I noticed that my ec dropped to .8 last run and then the leaves got wayyy yellow and dried out
E.C and hydro
- Thread starter A2Michigan
- Start date
okay gotcha! Do your nutrients recirculate then? If I constantly top off with water, I noticed that my ec dropped to .8 last run and then the leaves got wayyy yellow and dried out
A2Michigan
Well-Known Member
I use RO water, so hardly any ec there
Billy the Mountain
Well-Known Member
It's really not that hard to maintain a res at the proper EC
If the EC is dropping, you top off with nutes higher in EC
If EC is dropping and its topped with plain water its only going to lower the EC further.
Start at a low EC, gradually raising in accordance to the EC drop, keep this up until you find the sweet spot.
Add top-off water to maintain at the desired EC
If the EC is dropping, you top off with nutes higher in EC
If EC is dropping and its topped with plain water its only going to lower the EC further.
Start at a low EC, gradually raising in accordance to the EC drop, keep this up until you find the sweet spot.
Add top-off water to maintain at the desired EC
A2Michigan
Well-Known Member
Okay so let me get this straight.. if the water level drops and the ec is still the same from the day prior then we are in the sweet zone? I was under the impression that when the water level drops that the ec would automatically go up because the plants are just drinking the water and not the nutrients.. so basically they are removing the water and then the ec just gets higher because it’s more concentrated.
MustGro
Well-Known Member
Yeah I run an aeroflo and there’s a pump supplying solution to the fingers and that drains back to the res, so yes it’ s recirculating. constantly topping up with water is for sure gonna drop the EC, but that’s the only way I’ve found to make it work. I just set it up so res changes are relatively easy and cheap. I can dump, mix the nutes and refill in an hour if I want to. Since I went to Jack’s 321 it costs me $1.60 for a tank.
A2Michigan
Well-Known Member
how often are you feeding them? Every 3 hours or what? What’s the max ec that you givethem
redi jedi
Well-Known Member
Your assuming all elements are being used equally. EC only tells you a total.
MustGro
Well-Known Member
They’re always fed, the pump runs for months straight.
When I was using GH nutes I’d hit their max numbers; so up to 3 EC week 5 of flower. GH runs a lot of EC though.
I’m on Jack’s 321 this grow. Still getting the feel of it. Way less EC. I clawed 3 small plants at .7 EC earlier this week, so that was max for them. I ran up to 1.9 EC with the Jack’s when I flowered with it last run. It was my first time on it and likely went high. Think I’ll be more like 1.2 to 1.4 this run.
MustGro
Well-Known Member
Yeah they definitely like some elements more than others. I’m pretty sure N P and K get taken up quickly, maybe cal and mag too. Iron is always hard. Some plants are iron inefficient but not sure if pot is one. I had a bookmark to an article on which elements got taken up first but it’s disappeared in my mess.
A2Michigan
Well-Known Member
so how do I maintain an ec If I’m constantly adding water that is dropping it? Should I not be topping off with more nutrients to keep it at a certain level?
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myke
Well-Known Member
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Google 33 % add back rule for hydro,thats a big rabbit hole should keep ya busy.
MustGro
Well-Known Member
So how do you do the top ups with nutes. Mix up a few gallons of full strength solution and add that to the tank? Or do you do it another way?
MustGro
Well-Known Member
I didn’t find much; got a link for us.
Never mind found it
Billy the Mountain
Well-Known Member
No assumption, simply trying to maintain the EC at a desired level. Res changes are still done at the same frequency. Any imbalance in uptake will be there will regardless.
Billy the Mountain
Well-Known Member
Essentially. EC meter is your friend
A2Michigan
Well-Known Member
I just add in a little bit of nutrients. I use dyna gro bloom and since my water level
Drops and the ec is 1.8, I add in enough nutrients to get it back to 2.3
just read this on a website
“ One problem in hydroponics solution maintenance is that as water is being taken up by the plants (as well as evaporating out of the solution), the concentration of nutrient salts in the solution becomes gradually stronger, sometimes to the point of certain elements becoming toxic to the plants. The TDS will always become stronger as water is taken away from the solution.”
^^and this is what I mean. Even if I had a nutrient solution of .6 ec in week 4 of flower, I feel like when i check the resevoir the next day that the water level
Obviously will have gone down and now instead of reading .6 ec that the ec will now read somethjng like .9 because the concentration of the nutrients is higher because of less water
Billy the Mountain
Well-Known Member
Read more
A2Michigan
Well-Known Member
That’s why I ask questions… too much shit on the internet that contradicts itself
MustGro
Well-Known Member
So it looks you’re both saying roughly the same thing; top with nutes to keep a stable EC.
I haven’t tried it on the Jack’s, but like I mentioned on GH I got real obvious signs of stress/imbalance the two times I tried it. It’s sure easier that way as you change out less but I’ve topped up with water for years now. I only have the one grow on here and it’s in my signature so you can find it. That’s the first one on Jack’s but it was GH until week 2 of flower. Six plants on a 40 gallon system, topped up with 6 gallons a day at the peak. I ran a high EC up to 1.9 and it was my first run with my guardian so I had great info for EC and PPM. My plants basically ate .1 to .14 EC every 24 hours. So throughout the day I added 2 gallons three times every day. That would bring up my fluid level to the right place and drop the EC by a tiny bit. Come back in 6 hours and the level is down and the EC could be lower again too. Top back up and the EC is a little bit lower than it was 6 hours ago and the level is the same. That’s the only way I’ve been able to do it. I never learned from an article, just from using the water farms at first and then on to the aeroflo.
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MustGro
Well-Known Member
I understand what you’re saying and you know I’m giving you pretty much the opposite advice to the other two members. Not trying to confuse you, just I really didn’t think it would work adding nutes back into the tank. Apparently some people are making it work. It’s absolutely guaranteed to raise the level of the elements the plant has a hard time taking up (like iron) in the solution. I’m not in favour of that. I’d rather swap out my res due to low EC than have a res with imbalanced element levels in it.
I also guarantee you that you’ll see a plant perk up when you change out a week old tank. I’m convinced they like fresh solution. Roots are two ways; they give off wastes as well. Why let that accumulate in the tank.
I don’t agree with that article either.It leaves out that the plants take up EC and that can lower or even level off the rate of EC climb when the water is being used. Not every grow has big problems with evaporation either. I run real tight for light into my res, so my evaporation is low. My hydro clay is real dry on top too after about week 3 of veg when the roots start to clog up the 3 inch pots. The only big water loss is transpiration; which your plants need to do.
Joint break....
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