ppm tutorial

Leonardo de Garden

Active Member
Copied from Grubbycup's website:



How to calculate PPM:

PPM is an abbreviation for "Parts per Million", a often misunderstood and misused term of some ill repute. To clarify, I mean one part of a substance to a million parts of solution, a 1 to 1,000,000 ratio.

Nutrient solutions are mostly water, with a little bit of fertilizer added.

Water is considered to be the solvent since it is what the nutrient solutes are dissolved into to form the nutrient solution. The nutrient solution is considered to be aqueous because the primary component is water. How much is added determines the concentration.

PPM is a measure of concentration, and is used to determine how much of a nutrient should be added to reach a given nutrient level.

To keep things simple, I'll walk you through the calculations using a liter of water for the solvent. The end result can be multiplied by 3.78541 to calculate for a gallon. Each 5 ml increment is marked for the nutrient solutes, which is an even swap for a teaspoon (3 teaspoons to the tablespoon). Note it will allow for non water soluble nutrient mixtures.

So let's get started:

Gentle Reader, there is a theoretical liter of crystal clear water in cyberspace awaiting you. What would you like to add?

*** I selected 1 g of flora grow from the options

With a labeled NPK value of 2.0-1.0-6.0:

FloraGrow - General Hydroponics is made of 2.0 percent Nitrogen(N), so 1 g (ml) contains 0.02 g elemental N.
(Listed N value divided by one hundred to convert to decimal times the amount : 2.0/100*1 g (ml))

It also has the equivalent to 1.0 percent Phosphorus Oxide (P2O5). Substituting the P values for the N values and using the same formula as above (1.0 / 100 * 1) we find that 1 g (ml) contains 0.01 g of Phosphorus Oxide, 0.00436 g (43.6%) of which is elemental P.

The listed K value is the equivalent value to 6.0 percent Potassium Oxide (K2O). Substituting again for the K values (6.0 / 100 * 1) we find that 1 g (ml) contains 0.06 g of Potassium Oxide, 0.0498 g (83%) of which is elemental K.

Gentle Reader, in a nutshell 1 ml/mg of FloraGrow - General Hydroponics contains:

0.02 g elemental N
0.00436 g elemental P
0.0498 g elemental K

Now to compute the concentration:

To figure the total mass, add weight of the liter of water (1,000 g) and the weight of what was added to it (1 g) for a total of 1,001 g (slight density estimation here).

Dividing the amount of solute in the solution by the total weight, and multiplying the result by one million will give the parts per million (PPM).

In this example:

Adding 1 g (ml) of FloraGrow - General Hydroponics to 1 liter of water will result in:

0.02 g / 1,001 g * 1,000,000 = 20 PPM of elemental N.
0.00436 g / 1,001 g * 1,000,000 = 4 PPM of elemental P.
0.0498 g / 1,001 g * 1,000,000 = 50 PPM of elemental K.

To prepare one gallon at this strength use 4 g (ml) of FloraGrow - General Hydroponics.
 

PJ Diaz

Well-Known Member
IMO everything should be converted to EC and forum based discussions should only refer to solution concentration levels in terms of EC. There are 3 different PPM to EC conversions depending on what PPM meter you buy. "Your" 700 PPM reading could = 500PPMs on my meter, depending on brand. EC is universal.
 

ilikecheetoes

Well-Known Member
THese threads should explain better.
Basically you CANT measure PPM/TDS without an electron microscope and a lot of time on your hands... You can pretty easily measure Electrical Conductivity (EC). SO some geniouses came up with a method to convert EC to PPM. Problem is there are 3 different conversion formulas. The most common are .5 and .7. So you see if you have a pen if your EC is 1000 your PPM is 500. this pen is on the .5 scale. but if your buddy is using a .7 scale and you tell him you need 500 ppm that would actually be a different amount than your 500 PPM. But EC will always be EC.

https://www.rollitup.org/hydroponics-aeroponics/556191-ec-vs-ppm-why-would.html
https://www.rollitup.org/general-marijuana-growing/14207-ec-tds-ppm-what-differences.html
 

hotrodharley

Well-Known Member
EC is a measurement of the electrical conductivity of your solution. It is a more accurate reflection of the electrolyte "strength" than PPM. It is used everywhere but the good old US. Even here in dialysis the water and the dialysate are both checked with a conductivity meter, not a PPM meter. Solution strengths are based, recorded and utilized based on conductivity.

I bought a Hannah Primo 4 to use (measures EC instead of PPM) and cannot get the #5 calibration solution it requires so had to order it.
 

hotrodharley

Well-Known Member
THese threads should explain better.
Basically you CANT measure PPM/TDS without an electron microscope and a lot of time on your hands... You can pretty easily measure Electrical Conductivity (EC). SO some geniouses came up with a method to convert EC to PPM. Problem is there are 3 different conversion formulas. The most common are .5 and .7. So you see if you have a pen if your EC is 1000 your PPM is 500. this pen is on the .5 scale. but if your buddy is using a .7 scale and you tell him you need 500 ppm that would actually be a different amount than your 500 PPM. But EC will always be EC.

https://www.rollitup.org/hydroponics-aeroponics/556191-ec-vs-ppm-why-would.html
https://www.rollitup.org/general-marijuana-growing/14207-ec-tds-ppm-what-differences.html
+rep for this post.
 

Leonardo de Garden

Active Member
ppm/EC gives you a rough idea of how much "somethings" are in the water after it has been added. This is to calculate how much to put into the solution in the first place.
 

akula

Active Member
IMO everything should be converted to EC and forum based discussions should only refer to solution concentration levels in terms of EC. There are 3 different PPM to EC conversions depending on what PPM meter you buy. "Your" 700 PPM reading could = 500PPMs on my meter, depending on brand. EC is universal.
Actually people should know what scale their ppm meter converts in so they can add that information when discussing their ppms. I honestly never trust someone's calculated EC level because 90% of the time the calculated it from a ppm conversion they didn't know.
 

PJ Diaz

Well-Known Member
IMO everything should be converted to EC and forum based discussions should only refer to solution concentration levels in terms of EC. There are 3 different PPM to EC conversions depending on what PPM meter you buy. "Your" 700 PPM reading could = 500PPMs on my meter, depending on brand. EC is universal.
Actually people should know what scale their ppm meter converts in so they can add that information when discussing their ppms. I honestly never trust someone's calculated EC level because 90% of the time the calculated it from a ppm conversion they didn't know.
Good point.
 

Leonardo de Garden

Active Member
Actually people should know what scale their ppm meter converts in so they can add that information when discussing their ppms. I honestly never trust someone's calculated EC level because 90% of the time the calculated it from a ppm conversion they didn't know.
A lot of people get confused over this. The parts per million PPM that I am talking about is the actual parts per million. The ppm/EC on a meter is a measure of the electrical conductivity of the solution (i.e. how well it conducts electricity) which is an estimation of how impure the water is. It is way easier to figure out what is in a solution by keeping track of what you put into it than trying to figure it out after the fact. The meters are good for giving a ballpark of how much has been taken out by the plants, but it is a lot easier to tell how many eggs went into a cake if you count them as they go into the batter.
 

penguinking

Well-Known Member
I feel like all ec/ppm meters should have a universal conversion to ppm's... this would just make way too much sense. I mean whats the point in one being .5 and the other being .7? This makes me rethink how i feed my plants all together. I have a hanna combo meter and I never feed at higher than 1250 ppms... when I first bought it I realized that I was feeding them at up to 1700 ppms!! Thus explaining all the nutrient lockout I was experiencing. It was by far the best purchase for my plant's health. I have never seen my garden as happy as it is now...
 

Sir.Ganga

New Member
IMO everything should be converted to EC and forum based discussions should only refer to solution concentration levels in terms of EC. There are 3 different PPM to EC conversions depending on what PPM meter you buy. "Your" 700 PPM reading could = 500PPMs on my meter, depending on brand. EC is universal.
Is there not 2 different scales for EC also? Meters are a great tool, I use them every day, but reading what your plants are telling you should be used in conjunction with a meter so the actual numbers should be used as reference only.
 

PJ Diaz

Well-Known Member
IMO everything should be converted to EC and forum based discussions should only refer to solution concentration levels in terms of EC. There are 3 different PPM to EC conversions depending on what PPM meter you buy. "Your" 700 PPM reading could = 500PPMs on my meter, depending on brand. EC is universal.
Is there not 2 different scales for EC also? Meters are a great tool, I use them every day, but reading what your plants are telling you should be used in conjunction with a meter so the actual numbers should be used as reference only.
I believe there is only one scale for EC.
 

highfirejones

Active Member
so thanx for all the help but WHAT IS A DECENT PPM RANGE FOR AERO, HYDRO, SOIL,SEEDLINGS, CLONERS, ETC., is what I thought I would find here and frankly, with all due respect , this is not as tutorial on ppm but an industry debate on different units of6 that equal a half egg carton of the same shit but does anyone out there know what a good safe ppm and temp is for aeroponic veg, i am using a homemade cloner with general organix, any help would be muc h apprecieated
 

hotrodharley

Well-Known Member
Aerocloner - 0 PPM. Tap water
Hydro start for seedlings: 100 PPM and no higher

After that it depends on whether the grower can read the plant or just RIU posts.
 

Leonardo de Garden

Active Member
does anyone out there know what a good safe ppm and temp is for aeroponic veg, i am using a homemade cloner with general organix, any help would be muc h apprecieated
In an aero cuttings rig, to root you can use plain water, or maybe add a touch of rooting hormone (cloning solutions for example).

After they have rooted, either plant in soil (or soil-like media like coir), and use the GO, or switch to a synthetic (like General Hydroponics) if they will be grown in aero. The particles in organics will give you trouble if they have to be sent through a small sprayer, and an aero system doesn't have the right sort of habitat for the microbuddies to become established and process the organics for the plant.
 
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