Ebb n Flow Ppm help plz:)

jaded4life69

jaded4life69

Member
  • Ok. I'm running a 9 site Capp ebb and flow system with 40 gallons in the rez. I'm an experienced soil grower but this is my first hydro grow. I am using the Lucas with GH nutes. No ro but my well is around 250 ppm. I have a blue labs combo meter. Currently all plants look healthy.Week 3 of flower with Gdp and Sour Diesel. My question is this. I changed my rez, mixed my nutes and had a ppm of 950 (.5). Ph was about 6. I left for vaca for 5 days and when i returned my ppm is just over 100?!? What happened? How did it drop so much? And how should i change it? Rez change? Also... While we're here. Lol. My stoner persona doesn't understand how when running the same nute mix in the Lucas formula you are supposed to raise your ppm as the grow proceeds? Is this done by adding extra bennies? Lol. First question is a priority but would like help with both Anything you can add would also be appreciated! Thanks in advance!
 
rkymtnman

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
sounds like they were hungry while you were gone

your well ppm is very high. almost too high. might want to think about using hard water micro formula

are you running 8/16 micro/bloom as Lucas?
 
Internode

Internode

Well-Known Member
I'm betting that if your reservoir doesn't have something top off the water automatically it was actually your ppm increased to over 1000. On some meters once you go over 999ppm it reverts to a multiplier. Your meter will have a little icon in the corner that looks like x10. That means you take a reading and if you see x10 it is 10 times the reading. In your case a little over 100 was actually 1000+ ppm.

Plants drink water faster than they absorb nutrients. The ratio is such that after a few days of drinking the ppm will noticeably jump, look closer at your meter for that multiplier.
 
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jaded4life69

jaded4life69

Member
Thanks everyone for your responses. I realize it's crazy that my ppm dropped that much. Doesn't make sense at all. Lol. That's why i posted. This is my first run at hydro so I don't want to f it up! Haha! Yes to rckymtnman on the 8/16 Lucas. I have thought of going to the hard water micro but haven't seen any issues so haven't gone that route yet. I'm gonna drain my system and refill tonite. There is no 10x showing on my meter. And it will read at least to 1500. Made it to 1430 when I checked with the 1500 solution. Any other ideas suggestions are highly appreciated as are all the responses so far! Anybody have an answer to the second part of my question? How am I supposed to raise my ppm as the grow goes on? If I'm using the same 8/16 nute formula will it not stay the same? And if it's by adding bennys which ones should I use? Lol. Thanks in advance!
 
rkymtnman

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
jaded4life69 said:
How am I supposed to raise my ppm as the grow goes on? If I'm using the same 8/16 nute formula will it not stay the same?
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in my situation (high altitude), i can never get up to 8/16 w/o burning the crap out of my plants. 5/10 is about as high as i go.

8/16 is suppose to be all the plants need, ever. if you feel they need more nutes (showing deficiencies), go up to 9/18 or even 10/20. just keep that 1:2 ratio.
 
toaster struedel

toaster struedel

Well-Known Member
I run my nutes at 5 micro/10 bloom, then with silica,cal mag,liquid Koolbloom,Floralicious plus,and hydro guard. Everything total comes out to 950 ppm or 1.9 EC. They rarely drop below 800 ppm in a week. Lucas formula seems to work better in DWC than in ebb flows. IMO anyway.
 
jaded4life69

jaded4life69

Member
toaster struedel said:
I run my nutes at 5 micro/10 bloom, then with silica,cal mag,liquid Koolbloom,Floralicious plus,and hydro guard. Everything total comes out to 950 ppm or 1.9 EC. They rarely drop below 800 ppm in a week. Lucas formula seems to work better in DWC than in ebb flows. IMO anyway.
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Thanks Toast! So your saying you think I should get away from Lucas if I'm using ebb n flow?
 
ThaMagnificent

ThaMagnificent

Well-Known Member
jaded4life69 said:
Ebb n flow buckets? Or DWC? And what amounts are you using? Thanks!
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The cap/hydrofarm 3gal bucket system. I'm running suspended 1gal pots inside each bucket too so I cut out a Styrofoam square on top and a hole in the middle to slide the 1gal into. Saves alot of hydroton too! I'm also able to veg more on my flood table.
 
jaded4life69

jaded4life69

Member
ThaMagnificent said:
The cap/hydrofarm 3gal bucket system. I'm running suspended 1gal pots inside each bucket too so I cut out a Styrofoam square on top and a hole in the middle to slide the 1gal into. Saves alot of hydroton too! I'm also able to veg more on my flood table.
Click to expand...
That's a pretty sweet idea! Props to you!
 
Blue brother

Blue brother

Well-Known Member
I have to be honest, in my experience this just doesn't happen, even in a cold room plants rarely take in nutrients twice as quick as water, although it can happen.

either you measured it wrong when you mixed it or you're measuring it wrong now, like someone else said, some meters only display 3 digits max and after 999ppm it will display x10 100.
 
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