Ppm

Straight up G

Straight up G

New Member
I have just read the FAQ info for PPM and I actually know less now than before I read it, does ANYONE at RIU understand PPM?, please help, I will rep you.

[I have a TDS-EZ PPM meter just not the knowledge to use it..]
 
No-one understands it. That said, here's how I now approach it: I have a com100 tds/ec/ppm meter. First you need to know that all meters convert ec into ppms and they do that using not one standard, but several nonstandard methods which produce different results. So the same water will get one ppm reading with meter a and another with meter b and they are both right! Confused yet?

I came to realize that you have to decide to trust either your meter or your nute company. I decided to trust my nute company. That is, every week when I change my res, I add nutes according to the maker's (Humboldt's) recommendation. They say the ppm on that is much higher than my meter reads because they base it on a different meter. Follow so far?

So if I assume that my ppm is now where I want it whatever it happens to read on this or that meter, my meter reading is just a gauge and that's how I use it. I'm to the point where I check it now and then but never change anything based on the meter. As long as I continue my current system and methods and nutes I don't even need it.

I see people on riu that read a thread that says ppm at 1500 is good so they go and do whatever it takes for THEIR meter and THEIR nutes to read 1500. It means nothing and who knows what they will come up with. It's as if we were all measuring plants with yardsticks and comparing but no two of us had the same scale on our sticks and worse, none of us was measuring between the same two points.

Alfred Wechsler, creater of the early IQ test, was asked what intelligence is. He answered, "it's what my test measures."
 
Illegal Smile said:
No-one understands it. That said, here's how I now approach it: I have a com100 tds/ec/ppm meter. First you need to know that all meters convert ec into ppms and they do that using not one standard, but several nonstandard methods which produce different results. So the same water will get one ppm reading with meter a and another with meter b and they are both right! Confused yet?

I came to realize that you have to decide to trust either your meter or your nute company. I decided to trust my nute company. That is, every week when I change my res, I add nutes according to the maker's (Humboldt's) recommendation. They say the ppm on that is much higher than my meter reads because they base it on a different meter. Follow so far?

So if I assume that my ppm is now where I want it whatever it happens to read on this or that meter, my meter reading is just a gauge and that's how I use it. I'm to the point where I check it now and then but never change anything based on the meter. As long as I continue my current system and methods and nutes I don't even need it.

I see people on riu that read a thread that says ppm at 1500 is good so they go and do whatever it takes for THEIR meter and THEIR nutes to read 1500. It means nothing and who knows what they will come up with. It's as if we were all measuring plants with yardsticks and comparing but no two of us had the same scale on our sticks and worse, none of us was measuring between the same two points.

Alfred Wechsler, creater of the early IQ test, was asked what intelligence is. He answered, "it's what my test measures."
Click to expand...

My meter has three readings, EC, and PPM = EC*500, and PPM= EC * 700. Talk about trying to confuse me.

I just ignore the PPM and use EC. With mature developed plants I keep my EC at 2.0 and everything seems to work. So if nothing else I am using my meter to maintain consistency.

If you are going to trust the nute company make sure you shake your nutes well. The PPM at the top of the bottle is a lot different than the bottom
 
A TDS meter is a very useful tool.

Once you know what your plants like as read on your meter it will allow you more contorl over your nutes.

EXAMPLE:
My meter reads 1100 when I make my nutes to "Full Strength". The manufacture says that is should be 1440ppm. My plants burn any higher then I run them now. So, MY high point it 1000 ppm. While it might not read what they said I can sure use this number as a reference point.

Keep the tip of your meter cleaned with fresh water and keep the tip moist with buffer solution by putting a little in the cap. Even a cheap meter will last you a long time if you clean and calibrate.

Knowledge is power. Give yourself as much power as you can.
 
Safe?

Safe is not burning your plants or sarving them.

IF yo had no meter and kept adding nutes you would burn them. And if you went to low you will starve them. Each strain is very different and the factories numbers are just a rough guide anyways.
 
PPM is just the amount of particles in your water.... 200 ppm mean there are 200 parts per million sampled... all this is, is a way to gauge how "dirty" your water is.. you need to check your baseline PPM, water with no nutes, then you can measure how much to add... all nute ppm recomendations(on the bottle) are done with a 0 ppm baseline... this can only be done with filters... i use my ppm meter all the time and it really makes things simple
 
StreetRider said:
Safe?

Safe is not burning your plants or sarving them.

IF yo had no meter and kept adding nutes you would burn them. And if you went to low you will starve them. Each strain is very different and the factories numbers are just a rough guide anyways.
Click to expand...

Ok I meant is say 400 PPM a safe amount to ENSURE no nute burn?
 
c5rftw said:
PPM is just the amount of particles in your water.... 200 ppm mean there are 200 parts per million sampled... all this is, is a way to gauge how "dirty" your water is.. you need to check your baseline PPM, water with no nutes, then you can measure how much to add... all nute ppm recomendations(on the bottle) are done with a 0 ppm baseline... this can only be done with filters... i use my ppm meter all the time and it really makes things simple
Click to expand...

Maybe in the FAQ when you click PPM instead of bringing up advanced algebra it should come up with this!
 
Ok my water is 389 PPM what should watering without nutes PPM be?, but when I grow I am not giving nutes for the 1st four weeks, is that ok?
 
Just to clarify - I flush my res every 7 days which resets it to the next week on the feeding schedule. I used to do the thing where I add nutes proportional to water replaced, but THAT led to nute burn.

Even if I can measure ec and ppm, I cannot measure relative levels of nutrients. I know I have a certain number of ppms but I don't know of what. If I add nutes I am adding them under the faulty assumption that uptake by the plant was at the same ratio when in fact the plant might have "eaten" more of A and less of B.

Each to their own on this for sure. This is just what I have come to myself. I find the danger of trying to measure "something" and then adjust for it to be greater than the danger of the nutrient solution being depleted in 7 days. Just like I have my dogs on a 12 hr feeding schedule I have my plants on a 7 day feeding schedule and it's working, largely I think because the nutes are designed that way. So no-one should throw any meters away on my account :)
 
Illegal Smile Ok, is it ok to give A/F's straight water of 389 PPM?
Mr.Ganja
Mr. Ganja
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Straight up G said:
Illegal Smile Ok, is it ok to give A/F's straight water of 389 PPM?
Mr.Ganja
Mr. Ganja
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I would never consider using water of even 100 ppm although I know it is possible to have water that high that would be good. Once again it's because to evaluate the water out of the tap or in the res, you need to know not only how many ppm but how many ppm of what? I use ro water that meters at about 10ppm.
 
Illegal Smile said:
I would never consider using water of even 100 ppm although I know it is possible to have water that high that would be good. Once again it's because to evaluate the water out of the tap or in the res, you need to know not only how many ppm but how many ppm of what? I use ro water that meters at about 10ppm.
Click to expand...

I have no idea what is going on.
 
if you start off with 100 ppm then if you add 1200ppm you got 1300 ppm. its that simple... you dont want you starting ppm to be as low as possilbe...

i use zero water filtration system and get 0ppm this takes a lot of guess work out of it especially if a problem occurs.. then add water ppm the nutes recommend... like standard is

0 ppm for seelings/clones for 2 weeks

300 ppm for early/small plant..

550 for medium/large

1300 for super fast growing/big plants...
 
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