resevior hydro

im sick of the dirt scene and im gonna make my first try at hydro i have a big rubbermaid container and soap stone pump and all that stuff to do it. one thing i dont know though is how do you know how many nutes to put in. like you have to fill it so often how do you keep track of nutes in suck big water container plz help lol ty

use 1/4 strenght nutes per gallon as directed on your nutes to start and slowly as the weeks go on add more. the plants will tell you what they need, but to keep good track of what is being used and what isn't is to use a ph/ppm meter pen.

it'll say on the bottle. mine says 4 ml to every 1 ltr, 48 ltr res = 192 mls so i round it up to 200 mls, when res is half or 3/4 empty refill only with normal water, dont add more nutes, completely drain res and refill with fresh water and nutes once every 2 weeks.

a ph meter measures acidic to alkaline. its supposed to be inbetween 6 and 7 basically so as long as its in that range im cool? i get the ph somewhat but that the hell is a ppm tester i see them on ebay but have no idea what it is plz help rofl

for hydro your ph should be about 5.7, ph of 6-7 is for soil. the ppm tester tells you how much of everything there is in the water. plants grow best when kept in a certain range of ppms i don't know what they are for the NPK but i think they are in the grow faq.

ok i get ppm now, what is perfect tds level do you think to have at all times.also here is the setup i bought to give you guys better idea what i have YOUR CHOICE HYDROPONIC SYSTEM ONLY BONSAI HYDROPONICS - (eBay.ca item 190205763983 end time 09-Apr-08 22:09:54 EDT)

sorry tds?

Ok some bad info here.So your gonna go hydro and dont really know much about it. You will buy your nutes lets say fox farm as they are very good and forgiving and very affordable at about $39 a set.The maker also has a feeding chart you follow which says ok add so much of bottle a or bottle b or whatever for every gallon of water you use. It will give you the amount to add at each week and it will say your ppm or tds or ec will be at this level roughly give or take a little.Each week you will change your little ress and add new water and the new amounts of nuts corresponding to your nutes feeding chart for that week.Now during the week you wont add any nutes at all just check your ph and your ppms or tds or ec reading daily. You will add ph water back to the res to keep it at your original starting level so mark that original point on the tub so you can keep the water there as it is drank or evaporates. In hydro keep the ph at 5.5 to no higher then 5.8.Your ppm will start low around 500-800 and at its highest can be around 1500 ppm depending on the stage and week. The feeding chart will also have what light stage you should be on such as 24 or 18 or 12/12. You must have a ppm meter and a ph meter preferably digital so they are accurate both can be bought on ebay cost about $60 for the set delivered.Make sure the ppm meter will read 0-9999.Your ppm or tds which is Total Disolved Solids or the Parts Per Million measurees how strong the nutes are or how many parts are dissolved per 1 million parts of water.Keep res water around 65 to avoid root shock and algae

thx dude im using bigfoot nutes from canada a & b solution supposed to be really good.i thought you were supposed to change res every 2 weeks?

Well, some people change every week others every crop.

Most people seem to think they have it right.

Since it has been my first grow, and I have been using Low nute loads, I have been changing every week. So far this stratagy has kept me out of trouble and since I am doing a small grow and only have 40Liter of Rez to change it's not to expensive.

I am also following Earls addvice regarding the "Add Back Rule" and "PH Rule"

Check it out. CC Hydro 101 by Earl - Cannabis Culture Forums

I cahnge every 2 weeks with a 55 gallon res anything under 20 gallon Id change every week as its easier to control when you have those smaller amounts of water to deal with. In large res setup the ph and ppm are much more stable so they dont need to be changed out as often

The one thing you dont wanna ever do is to add more nutes back to the res as it fucks up all your reading and your no longer in control of knowing wat your plants are doing. You want that whole week to be recorded so you know the speed of the plants drinking and eating so you can max out both in conjunction with one another.So always just add ph balanced water and never more water with more nutes as that will cause issues and you wont maximize your plants potnetial since you can folow the plants needs

Also, so far as the PPM readings go, remember that if your adding 'extra stuff' to your nutrient solution that can jack the PPM up off the charts. So do you're measurements first, after you've added your primary nutrient mixture.

I add my Fox Farm nutes, Cal Mag and Hydroguard, superthrive. Then I take TDS readings before adding humic acids and kelp extract.

Make sure that if nothing else you check pH daily. It's important.