Newb HELP with water ec ph and BIOSEVIA

Im comletely lost on this after reading a lot i have very newb questions. Would you help me.

1. In biosevia hydro grow and bloom bottles i can see three numbers separated like 1-2-3 what do they mean.

2. Water:

With nothing added, 3.2 litres of tap water measured for PH and EC reads:
EC: 0.9
PH: 7.7
My instruments are hanna, ec 96304 ph 96107 both succesfully calibrated and consistent readings over time.

AFTER adding what general hydroponics talbes ask you to add on first week (3ml per 10l of biosevia grow and bloom each) so roughly 1ml of each.

My EC goes to 12!!!!!

On the same tables they ask you to keep ec between 0.8 and 1.0 (as i said water is 0.9 without nothing)

Then i addapple vinegar and lower PH to around 6.0.


What are my errors what am i not understanding about biosevia nutes.

3. Im testing first with some herbs like basssil and veggies like tomatos, are there many diferences among plants using biosevia (if thats is i will went crazy)

Ok,the numbers your refering to in question number 1 where you example as 1-2-3 these are the NPK ratios of the nutrients,npk stands for nitrogen,phosphorous & potash which are macro nutrients.

The rest of the questions im not sure how to answer beacuse im not sure what your asking,you want to know where your going wrong but you never said exactly whats wrong.

Can you elebarote alot better,i grow flood & drain hydroponics so im sure i can assist if i know exactly what your problems are.

Hiya, but is npk ratio just info given by manufacturer of the content, or is that ratio something i need to use in some way when using nutes.

For the rest what im asking is if anything of what im doing is a big newb error. I mean

gh says i must add 3mlx2 (biosevia grow, and biosevia bloom) every 10l but AT THE SAME TIME they say EC must be between 0.8 and 1.0. My water is already at 0.9 WITHOUT ANY NUTE ADDED and adding the amount requested i get EC 12, which is 12 TIMES THE MAXIMUM EC.

So my opinion is that i dont understand how to add nutes or how to use my EC hanna instrument.

In other words, im doing something VERY WRONG BUT DONT KNOW WHAT

Thats why i just tell you EVERYTHING I DID sdo you point something and tell me

GUY YOUR MISTAKE IS THIS

I know i sound lost, it is BECAUSE I HAVE NO IDEA OF WHATS WRONG.

Ok i understand more now.

Ok dig this,i know its hard to get real help with hydroponics,alot of guys give one line responses to direct questions which really isnt much help for a new hydro grower,the gro faq on this site is useless for hudroponics as well ,if you wish i will help you along just keep this thread going & you will have a detailed journal to look at & learn from.

First off lets deal with the npk ( 1-2-3 ) ratios,these numbers tell the user what the mix ratio is,this is usefull information but not information a new grower really needs to worry about as long as they are using the manufacturers mix/grow charts which you are,we can get more into those numbers later after you get a better handel on things.

Im in the usa so litres & such are not the way we measure,we use gallons but i will do my best to remember your using litres.

One thing your doing wrong is using that vinegar for ph control,if you must use vinegar do not use apple cider vinegar,use plain white vinegar,cider vinegar & lemon juice can scum up the water very fast & breed bacteria,i strongly reccomend you getting standard ph down & ph up from general hydroponics,its much cleaner to use & wont breed nasty shit & it has a better control rate.

Now lets talk about PH,the generally accepted healthy plant range for your ph to be ranges from 5.5 on the low end to 6.5 on the high end,most people like to stay around 5.8 at all times,from what ive learned this constant ph of 5.8 is a mistake for several reasons.

Different strains will prefer a different ph level,one strain might be most happy at 5.9 while another strain will prefer being at 6.3 or another strain at 5.6,your plants will tell you where they are the most comfortable & when they do you simply remember where the ph is at for that strain.

Another issue with ph is nutrient uptake or absorbing ability,the ph has alot to do with how the plant uses the nutrients being supplied to it,an improper ph can slow the plants ability to feed & if the ph gets too far out of range it can disable the root system from being able to take in any nutrients,this is known as nute lock,not all nutrients are best absorbed by the plant at the same ph level,i'll explain a bit.

Some nutrients are best absorbed at a ph of 4.0 while others are best absorbed at a ph of 8.0,obviously we cant allow the ph to go to these extremes because it will harm the plant but we can help the plants eat better by allowing the ph to " float ".

When you mix fresh water & nutrients simply follow the manufacturers mixing charts,general hydroponics has very self explainatory charts & ppm ratios,you need to determine which growth cycle the plant is in & match the cycle to the chart,the cycles are seedling/clone,light veg,heavy veg,transition,bud,heavy bud,ripen,each cycle uses a higher or lower ppm of nutrients.

Once you have determined the exact growth cycle the plant is in you follow the chart & mix the exact ml ratio per gallon/litre into the water,once all the required nutrients are added to the water now your ready to adjust the ph of the water/nutrient mixture.

I will continue explaining in another post so i dont get timed out.

Forget about ppm or ec for a while,ph is way more important,we will get to it but not just yet.
As long as the ppm or ec ratio is mixed correctly by following the manufacturers mix chart you can do the whole grow without ever knowing the exact ppm or ec & have excellent results,ph levels are not like that,its one of the most important issues.

Ok now lets ph your freshly mixed nutrient water,your ph allways changes after any nutrients are mixed this is why we allways adjust the ph after all nutrients are added to the water,trying to control ph levels with higher or lower levels of nutrients instead of using ph up or ph down is possible but should be left for serious expert growers,we use standard ph up or down.

Now you measure the water nutrient mixture & see that the ph is out of accepted range which we know is from 5.5 to 6.5,if the ph is to high you add small amounts of ph down & stir the water,then re measure,repeat the process until your reading 5.5 or within a few points lower than 5.5,going down to a 5.2 or 5.3 isnt going to hurt anything,now that you have the proper mixture of nutrients by following the chart & have adjusted the ph to the low end lets talk some more about ph before we go further.

The reason you adjust the ph to 5.5 which is the lowest your supposed to go is that the ph levels never stay in one place,they constantly float around & in most of the growth stages the ph levels will rise up daily from the 5.5 level you adjusted it to,the very next day the ph will be higher,this is ok & perfectly normal.

Every day the ph will fluctuate,when you read the ph of the water the daily reading will determine how you proceed,example,if you adjusted the ph at 5.5 on day one & when you measure ph on day two it reads 5.9 you dont need to do anything,as long as the ph stays under or close to 6.5 there is no need to adjust the ph.

Remember when i said different strains prefer different ph,this is where that comes in,the more you get used to controling the ph levels by keeping the ph range between 5.5 to 6.5 from adding ph up or ph down the more comfortable you will get in correcting the ph,this is when you will start to notice a pattern in how fast the ph climbs away from the starting point of 5.5,you'll notice where the ph holds steady for a day or two,or you'll notice a decrease in how fast the ph climbs or decreases,this spot on your meter will be around 5.8 but not allways,the sweet spot can be anywhere within the 5.5 to 6.5 range we know is your working ph range,until you get skilled enough to see the sweet spot the plants prefer to be at play it safe & hold the ph at 5.8,you dont have to constantly be at 5.8 but when the ph is close to going out of the 5.5 to 6.5 range thats when you adjust to the sweet spot of 5.8,the plants prefered ph range might not be right at 5.8 but until your skilled enough to see exactly where the plant prefers the ph to be its safest to stick with 5.8 until you learn more.

Also,for short periods of time most strains enjoy going outside the 5.5 to 6.5 range,it will not hurt the plant if the ph drops down to a 4.9 for a short time,the same goes for the other extreme of ph range,it will not harm the plant for the ph to go up to 7.1 for a very short period,infact plants that are allowed to see these lower & higher ph levels will show better overall health,remember where i said different nutrients have different absorbtion rates at lower or higher ph levels,this is where allowing your ph to float comes into play by allowing the plant to see higher or lower ph ranges where the plant can best make use of the nutrients available for it to consume.

Keep in mind that allowing the ph to float past the accepted safe range of 5.5 to 6.5 should only be done for short periods of one day,anything longer can damage the plant,if the ph is out of range & dont move back into range within 24 hours then you adjust it back into the 5.5 to 6.5 range,when adjusting ph try not to adjust in large increments,example,if the ph is up to 7.1 you dont want to adjust it back down to 5.5 all at once,spread out large adjustments to the ph over the couse of a day.

Once you become more skilled & your comfort level grows you'll know more about the strain your growing,until those skill & comfort levels are reached be sure to make all adjustments in increments of no more than 1 ph point at a time,drastic all at once ph adjustments can shock some plants.

This is all i have time for at the present,got to take the wife to the doctor in a few hours so i got to help her get ready,i will continue your lesson later today.

If any member see's something ive missed on the ph feel free to correct my posts so we can better help this new hydro grower.

It would be nice if some more skilled hydroponic growers could chime in with some detailed information so maybe together we can make this thread a step by step introduction to hydroponics for newbs.

More to come this evening.

Hmm i feel i made a mistake, i mean, well first i hope your wife gets well, she is lucky to have a so nice guy with her. My mistake is that i see my message on this forum would mean im learning hydroponics to grow mj. But in fact im learning them to grow veggies. The reason i posted here is because for the moment im just playing with water and all my questions are related to water, ph, ec, and nutes, and as i want to do it organically this subforum seemed to be the best (as no plant involved still) but that means that i cannot carry a grow journal, (well i can but not a mj grow journal)

In the end, this is me making more mistakes again maybe it was not so bad to post here but making more clear what i was intending to grow and that my question was regarding water only, or just post on the other subforum. I find your knowledge so interesting that it was just findind this forum what it pushed me to learn hydroponics as a hobbyist

Ive read very carefully every word and found it very interesting even if i cannot play a role your idea of making an organic hydro guide here is too good to be left.

And yep apple vinegar seem to not work

tap water: ph 7.7
tap water with apple vinegar: ph 6.3
tap water with apple vinegar 16 hours after: 7.1

As i want to keep it organic ill try my best to get ph in margins without using regular ph down but i know that can lead to poor ph constancy and to root fungus.

Whatever your growing dosent matter here,if your not growing marijuana thats fine,you dont have to grow pot like me to be interested in hydroponics.

yeah thats great but i stil think i should have made more clear in my first post, again you are really nice guy and yes im findind lot of fun in hydroponics as i learn. Im still learning water behaviour ec and ph before putting a single seed.

Another question:

Are there differences in water management (ec/tds measure, ph measure and maybe water aireating with bubles stones or any other water care) between:

fogponics, aeroponics, and hydroponics

(i know that in soild ph is more or less self buffered and that you cannot look for nute in the soil as in water)

Hello rollitup ...im new to the site,new to hydroponics & pretty new to growing all together really!.I am currently building a "stealthcab" for a deep water culture/l.e.d /autoflowering setup.... Im very excited & can't wait to get going ,but like many other noobs i have some issues i need some help with,so i can hopefully eliminate stupid mistakes before i make them !.Like panhead said,it can be hard to get detailed info from pro growers about the basics without somehow offending them !.
I would just like to say thanks to panhead for the detailed info given in this thread so far...exactly what im looking for,& hope no-one minds me jumping in here but to see someone so experianced helping out a noob to such an extent(even if its for veg!)is a rare thing.I also think threads like this should go on & on as all knowledge is power!.

All the PH stuff is great,pure gold !. But the reason i found this thread is becuse my main issue is EC . Bearing in mind i am a total novice here ok.I havn't started my grow yet,but will do soon,& think i have most issues sorted out ... but .... having read many grow journals i find the nute programs & measurements more than a bit confussing.

As i said,i will be doing a DWC/LED grow for the 1st time & have bought a range of nutes & additives that a grower used to get a world record( net weight )from an autoflowering strain.There is a lot of them & its daunting to say the least,but im hoping i can get my head round all this in time.Before any of that though i need to be able to read my EC meter !.This brings me to my question(which is close to the op's original question) ......

Q's - I just got my EC meter in the post,tested the tap water & its reading about EC- 0.95 .Do i disregard this reading as its regarded as "dead nutes" & subtract this number from my final EC reading after all nutes are added ?. Example - i need EC to be around 0.6 for a small plant in veg - so i add nutes upto EC-1.55 - subtract the 0.95 - to get the 0.6 needed ,even though the meter reads EC-1.55.

Hope someone (panhead) can help here?!.I have been told DWC can be unforgiving & things can go wrong very quickly .With this in mind it would be good to have an idea of how this EC pen works & what part the EC of the tap water has to play ?.

I feel like a little worm ona big hook!... but one that wiggles with enthusiasm!.

AGAIN A BIG THANKS TO PANHEAD FOR TAKING THE TIME TO WRITE SUCH A HELPFULL EXPLANATION

Userwords?.Have you checked out DWC ( deep water culture ),or bubbletronics?.Easy to make a DIY setup to grow anything .