Ppm

Hello all
I just received my ppm meter. With no nutrients it reads 186. My question is if I want 400 ppm should I take it to 586?

Make sure your meter is calibrated correctly. I had to use two solutions to do so. After calibrating mine I get a zero PPM with plain water. Of course my water quality is really good. If your meter says 186, and its calibrated correctly, then it is.

Bose said:

Hello all
I just received my ppm meter. With no nutrients it reads 186. My question is if I want 400 ppm should I take it to 586?

Click to expand...

If your reading your source of H2o at 186...yes add it to the final needed ppm

First off. There is no such thing as a ppm meter. They are called Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) or Electrical Conductivity (EC) meters. They all read the electrical conductivity of dissolved nutrient salts and put this in a number that you read. TDS meters "convert" this number in a parts per million number. Different manufacturers use different conversion scales of ppm based on TDS. Its best to use EC meters as this is what all meters actually do but for some reason most American gardeners are stuck on TDS using a ppm scale of usually 500 and sometimes 700. There are others actually too. I know. Its confusing. What is the make and model of the meter you recently purchased? I could probably help you out. Oh and one more thing....most TDS/EC meters are fairly robust and rarely rarely need calibration. Unlike the much more finicky pH meters on the hobby hydroponics market.