New to hydroponics nutrient help
- Thread starter Dakota masters
- Start date
Dakota masters
Active Member
So would it be better to mix everything in the reservoir or mix it in a 5 gallon bucket? Since it’s a 13 gallon reservoir.
Heh, another SuperPonics grower! I bought a 2' x 4' tent with the 12XL. Did one grow in 2017, archived the tent, and then started up again in 2021.
This is the basic setup.
I've had excellent results with this setup.
Re how to mix the nutes?
One issue is that the EC levels that nutrient manufacturers recommend are extremely high. I use 0.6 EC for seedlings and early very, then jump to 1.2 and finish off at around 1.6. There's no need to be precise (1.2 = 1.3) because the goal of adding fertilizer is to get the chemicals in the res into the sufficiency zone. So to speak, it's an "area target" not a "point target".
13 gallons? That sounds low by about 5 gallons. When I use the dimensions of that res but use a 9" depth, to account for the height of a net pot, I come up with 18± gallons.
The approach I'd take is to do the math to make about a 400% strength mixture of nutrients. Once you have your nutrients made up, you'll need to empty the res, and then pour in water + nutes until you've hit your desired water level and EC.
The devil is in the details, though. It's OK to pour in 400% nutes as long as you've follow up the nutrient "shot" with the water "chaser" right away but don't delay.
A key point is your source of water.—what is your water source?
Also, how are you planning to empty the res?
My res is rated at 35 gallons, it holds 28, and I replace 26± gallons when I change the res. I use a 32 gallon trash can to mix nutes and a sump pump. My water source is an RO unit fills a 55 gallon cistern. When I do a res change, I pump water into the trash can and mix the nutes, then I pump out the res, and then swap the hoses to pump the nutes from the trash can into the res.
You don't need a 32 gallon trash can but one of those 27 gallon Home Depot containers would make things easier.
Dakota masters
Active Member
My water source is a ro unit I fill it into a 20 gallon tote. I plan to pump it out and pump in the new mix.
Greengrouch
Well-Known Member
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The number under how many teaspoons you use is the weight of the powder in grams not the number of gallons per teaspoon
that means 1tsp or 5grams per gallon of water.
Drop That Sound
Well-Known Member
You don't really wanna be mixing in the main res, especially if its also the plant container, with all the roots hanging down in it. Not if you can't help it anyway. It should be okay to mix the entire 13 gallons worth of nutrients into the first 5 gallon bucket, and then fill up the rest of the way with 7 more gallons of regular RO water, which will dilute it back down.. I think that's what you're asking? That way you don't have to mix up 5 gallons, then another 5 gallons, then another 2, etc. I would rather just mix the whole batch at once though, and make it easier to keep track, and pump it in quicker.
Dakota masters
Active Member
Yeah that’s what I was wanting to know about. I didn’t want to mess with multiple buckets of nutes. Had no plan of mixing it in the reservoir didn’t seem like a good idea. Wanted to mix all of it in a bucket and dilute the difference in ro water.
Greengrouch
Well-Known Member
Don’t forget to check and adjust the ph on all the buckets, it’s a super easy mistake to make. I like to put a grocery clip on them to mark which ones I’ve adjusted because it’s really easy to lose track
Dakota masters
Active Member
Alright, yeah especially if all your buckets look the same
Dakota masters
Active Member
with your SuperSonics system how did you run your top feed in the beginning after you put your germinated seeds in it? Do you run it constantly until the roots started to get longer or did you have it set on a timer?