Newbie ---questions on ebb and flow

Hi All,

Newbie, but I have a background in water treatment and have worked with industrial RO for 20 years (20 years ago I was growing, but never hydroponic and never with HPS). I need some input on my ebb and flow set up. I am 1 week into grow....1000W HPS in 6'x7' room about 7' high, flat white paint. I purchased a plastic tray and rubbermaid 17 gal for res. I have adjusted to 6 15min flood cycles per day at 24/0 operation. I started with GH at rec. strength. Plants were from local collective and cuttings were well rooted. I have placed them in smaller trays within the larger (christmas wrapping storage container tray and filled with inexpensive rounded gravel from home de'pot. Plumbing and mechanicals are working fine (1st night the overflow hose came out of res. and tray did not get flood for 12 hours....gravel was still moist though

Today I noticed that the very tips of a few of the leaves are yellow and dried at the very tip. I'm wondering if I used too much neut? What ratio for GH Grow, Micro, Bloom should I use? I had to start with tap, but will get RO from work tomorrow....RO at work makes 10 gpm
I need input and help. I expect neut. burn is starting....maybe I should re-batch with RO only for a couple days and then add some neuts? I will have pH and TDS meter in hand tomorrow.

What do you think?

I can help with any RO questions
Just ask!

Regards,

pureh2o

bump it up!

Hey smoke!
Nice pack there!

I have found that a ppm meter is vital to knowing if your nutrient levels are right on. It gives me more control over the nutrients as their relationship to water and ph changes the level of nutroents almost daily. Too keep nutes always at optimal for growth without overfeeding, you need a ppm meter. In my experience, following the instructions on the bottle straight across the board isn't optimal for your plants. I start my ladies out on a half strength solution while in first week of veg. mode, then using ppm meter, raise my nutes to a reading of between 900-1200 on ppm. If you feel your plants are responding well to this in a 3-5 day period, you can hang out here or slowly increase every week til reaching 1200-1800 on ppm meter. Half strength nute solution should register about 600-800 on ppm. make sure you ph is on target (5.6-6.0) as this effects your nutes and readings. Hope this is helpful.

Hhhmm, GH nutes can be some tricky business the first time through.You say you have a 17 gallon res., until your plants taken a nice hardy hold in your system try adding nutes shy of what they say on the bottle. like put nutes in for 14 gallons instead of the full strength. But if its just your tips and it doesn't seem to be anything more in the next couple days, I would leave it be. Over correction can be killer