water usage

my hydro systems seems to go thru alot of water lately. my plants(4 of them) are about 20'' high and look fantastic, but I just changed the water and nutes 2 days ago (8 gallon resevoir) and already had to add 2 gallons of water and low dose of nutes to top it off again. I have massave root growth. is this normal for it to go thru so much water in such a short time? I'm not to worried for they look and smell killer. should I keep up the pace or do something different? it's a continous drip system with air/submersible pumps. Thanks for any help! S.A.

Your Plants sound Killer. Yah there gonna go through some water, but your gonna lose some water to evaporation.
How closed is your system?
Does your res have a lid?
Do you have lids on your pots?
If your system is pretty contained then your just gonna have to go with the flow.
With winter coming on the humidity is gonna go down, and that means more evaporation.

topfuel29 said:

Your Plants sound Killer. Yah there gonna go through some water, but your gonna lose some water to evaporation.
How closed is your system?
Does your res have a lid?
Do you have lids on your pots?
If your system is pretty contained then your just gonna have to go with the flow.
With winter coming on the humidity is gonna go down, and that means more evaporation.

Click to expand...

yes, it's closed lid and usng net pots filled with hydroton clay pebbles. it's pretty tightly sealed with the exception of hydroton. it's strange though, the plants have water coming off the stems and fan leaves, almost like they create their own dew or condensation. the plants themselfs are ppp from nivirana and am very, very pleased with the way they look and grow, but just wanted to pick some brains about the abundant water usage. is it ok to add more nutes (just a pinch) when adding water, so far I haven't seen any nute burn or defenciency. Thanks!

If you know how many ppm your nutrient solution is supposed at you could monitor that.
say you have 800 - 1000ppm is what your nutrient solution is recomended to be at for what ever Nutrient Feed your using.
Lets say you Put 2 gallons of water in your Res. You check your ppm in your Res. it reads 750ppm. You could try and add only 1/2 strength nutrients for 2 gallons of water, just to play it safe, and then see what your ppm are at. once you do this you'll know maybe every 3 or 4 days I need to add some Nutrients.

Heres a a link to a guides on Nutrient solutions
Hydroponic Nutrient Solutions
ScienceDirect - Scientia Horticulturae : Nutrient solution effects on the development and yield of Anthurium andreanum Lind. in tropical soilless conditions

Space Angel said:

yes, it's closed lid and usng net pots filled with hydroton clay pebbles. it's pretty tightly sealed with the exception of hydroton. it's strange though, the plants have water coming off the stems and fan leaves, almost like they create their own dew or condensation. the plants themselfs are ppp from nivirana and am very, very pleased with the way they look and grow, but just wanted to pick some brains about the abundant water usage. is it ok to add more nutes (just a pinch) when adding water, so far I haven't seen any nute burn or defenciency. Thanks!

Click to expand...

Space,

The water in your reservoir will decrease more and more as your plants use more water and nutrients to survive. What you are seeing is typical. When I was in veg, I would just add some water and when in bloom I added water and nutes when I refilled the reservoir. Try adding nutes 1/4 of their typical strength and increase as needed. They will love you for it. They have nothing to do but eat and drink..give it to them. At 20", you could go 1/2 strength and probably not burn them. Experiment and watch their leaf tips for signs of too much nutes

Ok guys, you give me some valuable insight. so far, I am doing nothing wrong and I will monitor them every few days and remember what you said. like I said they look great and growing like bad little weeds that they are. I'll snap some pics and post for eveyone to see. Thanks a million!