Byrdman

First a little background then my ? I have been dumping my nutes every other week for no other reason than it was suggested. Between the exchange my nute level is not changing(1150 ppm) nor does my ph(5.8). I currently have only one plant growing in my flood tray. I will be adding 7 more babies that I cloned from the one plant in about 7 days or so depending on the root development...
I asked the same ? to a friend and the reply was that he thought it was to eliminate residue(salt) build up in the water lines/plastic tubing.
Here is my ? If my levels are good why dump? These nutes are not cheap and not to mention why waste the time if I don't have to?
Thanks for the feed back in advance
Byrd

OzGrowa

Gudday.
You could probably get away with a change every 3 weeks for the first weeks of the plants life, once you get moer in there the demands on the solution will be greater, the plants will take more out and the PH will shift as a result.

OzGrowa

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Gamelin

if you just keep topping it up by the time you have added as much as you started with ie:start with 3G add a G every other day and after 6 days you change the solution...wont go that fast at first though, whats the ppm of the water your using before the nutes??plus all the ppm isnt good for the plant when they use up nutes they put off a by product,kinda like breathing you wouldnt want to be in a room of carbod dioxide but not with air or gases,with nutes

Byrdman

Hey OZ, ? thanks for the feed back though stiil a ? if the ph does not change and the ppm stay steady is there the need to dump?
Thanks

Howdy Gamelin ? back to you. Not quite sure what you are refering to when you mention 'topping it up'. Are you talking about the evaporation? My reservoir tank holds 20 gallons.
My ppm are zero before the nutes, I use straight tap water. No time for distilling 20 gallons.

You wrote
all the ppm isnt good for the plant when they use up nutes
Are you saying I have my nute level to high? And, as they use up the nutes won't the level of nutes go down versus up with evaporation????
Me a little confused. And I have not even had my morning bakee session
Thanks all

Gamelin

no im saying once the roots take in the nutes the roots put off a by product and it is not needed by the roots yet not excluded from the ppm,... and with topping it up i have 1,15G setup and it has 4 plants in it they drink 10G after like 5 days so by the time you get to the 7th day the water pump isnt covered anymore!

Byrdman

Hey Gamelin

Thanks for getting back to me..was not sure if I was to continue on with the thread for my ? or to pm you. What I have now is taking only about 1/3a gallon a day but I have not been adding any h2o since the nute level and ph were where they should be. I thought since the levels were ok ...
So are you saying to top this off with straight h2o or a mixed up batch with nutes?

Gamelin

dont add nutes, and ph balance it!! ...remember if your res. is 15G and u add a G a day u change after 15 days...but usually i change it totally every 2 weeks, if i havent reached the change already with the topping method...so 15G lose a G a day =15 days i change at 14 days cause it came first...so when they start taking 2G a day (2g*7.5days=15G) so there u need to change it halfway through the 7th day,or the 8th wouldnt hurt it

delsolbf

but I'm changing my water once a week. I notice it gets smelly and a film starts to form over the top. I figure it helps more than hurts for the plants to get fresh water.

I check my pH of my water today and it was above 7, i think for now on I'll check it once a day to 2.

My drainage system is a bit difficult to use which makes me more lazy to drain. Today I'll be making it more accessable so that I can get on a schedule of changing the water/nutes.

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Gamelin

but u get the gist of it though eh???if u want to change oncea week thats cool thats what my buddy was doing till they drank 2/3 of his water by day 6...if he let it go a week it would have wrecked his water pump cause it would no longer be submerged...thats why i say what ever comes first 15G or 2 weeks(or 1 if u want)

delsolbf

Most people go 2 weeks, some even 3, only reason I go 1 week is preference really. I'm already overattentive to them so it works out.

Once I start nutes I'm sure it'll change. I still haven't figured out the best system for draining/refilling.

Gamelin

Do you have a jug of pre made nutes that you use to fill up the system everyday? Thats what I'm leaning towards right now.

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