my ec metre just reads in milli or micro ec all it does is change the decimal. I don't convert anything.
Damn I just emptied half my res tank and topped up with ph 5.9 plain water.
My nutes are now at 1100 ec and my water was 260 does that mean my actual nute strength is 840?
Also I ran the fresh 5.9ph water through my pots which was 25lites in total so I'm guessing all the salts and ph would now be totally gone and I'll basically have just the ec reading of fresh water and ph of 5.9 if I did the run off testing?
Oh I was confused by an earlier post I thought you were in a different medium. So your running a flood and drain hydroponic system than. You also said you were running R/O how is your water 250 ppm?
Just use straight R/O dont mix it with tap or well water. Start with 0 ppm and add 5 ml/gal of cal mag, and use 1/3 to 1/2 strength flora grow. You should have ppm of around 800 ppm doing this.
And you said you are running hydroton correct? So I would than make your ph in your main reservoir to 5.6 ph. I wouldnt start with a ph of 5.9 because ph drifts and will most likely be out of range in a few hours. So start a little lower and let it drift up. As the water is absorbed and nutrient concentration goes up the ph will go back down. So make sure you have 1/4 strength top off water maybe about 350-400 ppm of 2-3 ml cal-mag and 5-6 ml of flora grow to replace water and nutrients that are absorbed when roughly 1/4 of the main reservoir is depleted. Just test the water after a couple days and see what the ph and ppm of the nutrient solution in your reservoir is so you can see how much they plants are using each day or every few days.
This is important to know so you can make sure your plants are absorbing and using nutrients correctly and your ph is stable and not swinging drastically.
Also temperature and humidity have a major impact on what amount of nutrients you are providing your plants. If your temperature is higher above say 80 F than you want to reduce your nitrogen 10-15% because the plants will be using more water to transpire and keep cool. When your temperatures are lower say low 70's than the opposite is true. Since less water is needed to cool and transpire you will want to use a stronger solution since the plants will be slowly absorbing water.
This is the law of thermo dynamics and osmotic pressure in your root zone. You dont want to get an anaerobic environment in your root zone which will throw off the uptake of nutrients to water. Too much water absorbed creates toxic levels of salt, and not enough water and nutrients causes deficiencies. Its got to be balanced with your environment!!
Make sure that your reservoir water is in the 67-70F temperature range as well. Outside of that range can cause depletion of oxygen and lead to bacteria and fungus in your root zone. If its too cold it can lock out nutrients causing a deficiency to occur. So make sure you are providing the right environment for your plants. Ambient temp of 75-80 degrees and RH of 60%. And root zone temp between 67-70 F.
You do have a top off for water that evaporates I hope? If u dont what are you doing when the reservoir water is being used? This could be your issue if you arent topping off and keeping your main reservoir you are feeding your plants with in the proper range.
At this point I would run only 5ml/gallon of cal mag and 1/4 strength nutrients for a few days at ph of 5.6
After a few days see how they respond. Than you can up the base nutrient to 10 ml/gallon after like 3-5 days if you see improvement.
To answer your question though. Yes if your starting water is 250 and your ppm is 1100 than you are adding in 850 ppm of nutrients. Since you have an R/O I would just make all the water and just use that so you can know exactly what you are giving your girls. Every water source is different so starting with 0 and no dissolved solid in your water gives you full control and you will be better off at the end of the day.