PPM Questions

Since seed cost so much I'm teaching my self with pepper plants just to get an idea of what is what. I'm using Flora Nova Grow right now in a 5 gallon resivoir and the peppers are in rockwool.

1) What is or is there an average PPM for distilled or tap water. I tested my city water and it was about 330 ppm. That seems high to me (see question 2). Do I need to even worry about the PPM for my tap water? No filter yet but I'll be putting one in place soon.

2) According to GH it is 12.5 millileters to 5 gallons and PPM should be 540 for seedlings and 25 milliliters for mild growth at 860 PPM. This is why I think my tap water high at 330. I realize PH, water contaminents, temp play a big part in PPM but when I mix up my nutes should the PPM be close? Is there a tolerence I should be seeking?

I'm doing this to get an idea of how all this works and what I should expect and how to control it before killing a few good ladies

Thanks
Super-D

SuperD said:

Since seed cost so much I'm teaching my self with pepper plants just to get an idea of what is what. I'm using Flora Nova Grow right now in a 5 gallon resivoir and the peppers are in rockwool.

1) What is or is there an average PPM for distilled or tap water. I tested my city water and it was about 330 ppm. That seems high to me (see question 2). Do I need to even worry about the PPM for my tap water? No filter yet but I'll be putting one in place soon.

2) According to GH it is 12.5 millileters to 5 gallons and PPM should be 540 for seedlings and 25 milliliters for mild growth at 860 PPM. This is why I think my tap water high at 330. I realize PH, water contaminents, temp play a big part in PPM but when I mix up my nutes should the PPM be close? Is there a tolerence I should be seeking?

I'm doing this to get an idea of how all this works and what I should expect and how to control it before killing a few good ladies

Thanks
Super-D

Click to expand...

Being city water 330 seems high but I don't know much about city as I have a well and I average about 300 ppm... Does it matter? Yes it matters to an extent but... I always test my water before I add nutes, then test afterwords to see how many nutes I actually added... On my first grow- I got distilled water (like 5 ppm) throughout the entire grow and my current grow I am using my well water... I don't really notice a difference. I think as long as you don't have an abundance of N, P, or K (or some city chemical bs) in your city water and you keep your PH in check, tap water will work just fine.

Its important to understand what nutrients are used at different PH ranges so here is a chart... this will help you diagnose and fix any problems your plant is having... most problems are PH related and it will be even more important to keep your PH in check with 300-400 ppm unknown nutrients.. btw.. I run my plants avg 1000 ppm - 1700 ppm depending on age and signs of stress.

oscarmiya said:

Being city water 330 seems high but I don't know much about city as I have a well and I average about 300 ppm... Does it matter? Yes it matters to an extent but... I always test my water before I add nutes, then test afterwords to see how many nutes I actually added...

most problems are PH related and it will be even more important to keep your PH in check with 300-400 ppm unknown nutrients.. btw.. I run my plants avg 1000 ppm - 1700 ppm depending on age and signs of stress.

Click to expand...

Ok this may be where I'm not quite understanding how to use / work with PPM. I just changed my resivoir and checked the PH and the PPM with out adding anything. PH was 7.9 - 8.0 and PPM was about 640. I don't know why PPM was so high unless I didn't get the res, pump or air stone very clean. Again all of this is test so no harm no foul and in my opinion a good learning experiment.

I added my Flora Nova and check the PPM and it was about 1030 and then I checked the PH which was about 7.2. For my test I want the PH to 6.0 so I used some PH down and got it to 6.0 and tested the PPM. Now it reads 900 so.. long winded I know.. do I actually take the base PPM 640 and subtract it from the final reading to get a PPM of 240 for my nutes or is my nute PPM 900?

This nute and PPM thing sound easy in text but when applied in real life it is confusing the heck out of me!!!

Thanks
Super-D

Yes, it takes some time to get it down. Are you sure about those nute amounts? I use FloraNova Grow at less than 10ml/gallon.

HTH