PPM's going up?

BigFlats

Member
I am new to DWC. I have a 5 gallon bucket DWC setup in veg. Running about 3 weeks. All is great and healthy. I am currently giving them about 600ppm mixture of a veg nute mixture. Which means my ppm gauge reads about 740 ppms (my filtered tap water is ~140~). My question is when I check my nute mix a day or two later it reads high, about 100-150 ppms higher. Is this normal? I'm feeding the half strength vegitative requirement of TetraFlora nute line up. Oh, my ppm gauge has been very consistent so far.

Conditions:
- PH stays between 5.6-6.4.
- Air temps 75-85F
- Water temp 71F

Possible culprits?:
- measuring ppms right after nutes are mixed (and ph'ed)? Should I be waiting a period of time to get the most accurate reading?
- measuring ppms when the water temp is cold? guessing 50F.

The reason for my question is I want to know exactally what my girls are eating accurately (legit Afghani #1 clones :shock:). Any help would be appreciated.
 

Flo Grow

Well-Known Member
Hey BF !
If your water level goes down but ppm's go up, they are drinking more water than eating.
If your ppm's go down but water level doesn't change much, they are eating more.
I wait a few minutes after adding more nutes to take a reading.
Give it a chance to mix well first.
 

skunkd0c

Well-Known Member
it takes time for the solution to fully disolve/mix in with the water to give an accurate reading , also as the plants drink the water and may not be feeding at that current time, the ppm will rise as the water level falls,
dont take readings stright away, i add food, go make a spiff, and take reading an hour or two later, the readings will go up a couple of points as the food mixes in, ppm means nothing to me m8, i have always used cf, i have only started getting used to ec lol , now ppm ffs

good luck
peace :)
 

BigFlats

Member
I'll be damned! That did not occur to me. Thanks, Flo! So to answer my own question, my girls are plenty hydrated. I'll just have to keep accurate tabs on the water level and compensate (somehow) for non-foliar evaporation...

I mean I wait a couple of minutes to check ppms, but I thought maybe it takes a couple of hours.
 

Flo Grow

Well-Known Member
Post pics if you can.
They help more.
I also take a cup and top feed, pour nute solution of the medium until the roots come out the pot.
I would also keep the water level within an inch of the bottom of the net pots.
 

HSA

Well-Known Member
Big Flats: They're giving you good advice but you might also want to consider putting in a small pump to keep your nutes circulated. It's very useful when you're mixing in new nutes too. HSA
 

yaunch77

Member
The two times I got hit with slime, my ppms and PH would rise without any water level change. If you are getting water level change, then I wouldn't be too worried.
 

BigFlats

Member
Big Flats: They're giving you good advice but you might also want to consider putting in a small pump to keep your nutes circulated. It's very useful when you're mixing in new nutes too. HSA
Come on man, I'm not that oblivious... them shits is bubblin'

Thanks for your guyes help.
 
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