hey guyz i was wondering why do i need a tds meter
- Thread starter Saib17
- Start date
Hollatchaboy
Well-Known Member
Did someone tell you, that you needed one?
Roger A. Shrubber
Well-Known Member
an ec meter or tds meter are pretty much the same thing, and all they do is give you an idea about the strength of your nutrient solution, they just use a different scale to do the same thing. i have a decent one, but i don't use it a lot anymore, i went to the jack's 3-2-1- system, and i know how strong it is by how much i put in it, and i can tailor it to my needs. the only thing you really need one for is if you're running hydro with a reservoir, it's a good idea to know just how strong your solution is, because that tells you what your plants are doing, same thing with a ph meter, good idea to keep track of and adjust your ph as needed, as both e.c. and ph will fluctuate as your plants feed
Hollatchaboy
Well-Known Member
Agreed.
MickFoster
Well-Known Member
I've never owned one.
thank you i just bought one will be testing it
Hollatchaboy
Well-Known Member
If nothing else, test your tap water with it, and see what you're working with.
PopAndSonGrows
Well-Known Member
I don't use one either. My boy @trychrome breaks my balls over it. I did have one when I first started growing but it was a "cheapazon" meter that quickly broke, was never replaced, and I use GH trio so I'm not worried about guesswork. Their "levels" are listed online (and on the bottle i think) and I can do the math on paper if I needed to.
DoubleAtotheRON
Well-Known Member
I use 4 of them for a reading because... well, none of them are that accurate. I just get an average. But! like @PopAndSonGrows said, I get the same readings with GH Trio every time, so sometimes I won't even use it unless I change up my mix.
hotrodharley
Well-Known Member
I used to be a mechanic. Had a set of line wrenches. Didn't use them very often but when I needed one I needed it right then. I still have them. Have a good Hanna combo meter too.
waterproof808
Well-Known Member
I use my bluelab truncheon more than my ph meter. If I mix up a batch of jacks 321 to 1.7ec my ph will be right on point.
Drop That Sound
Well-Known Member
I wouldn't exactly substitute a thorough water quality test for a TDS reading...
..however, I also wouldn't just use any water from any source without first plunking a fairly reliable 20 or so dollar piece of good investment in for a quick reading.
Whether or not I was growing hydro or not.
To many uses and too affordable to not have one IMO. Hydro its essential. To me it would feel like driving a car without a fuel gauge or something. Just figuring.. oh, I know how much gas I put in.
I always mix up jugs of both jacks A&B in super concentrated batches first. I don't even pay much attention to how much i'm adding, I just be sure not to go over the max soluble limits for each part, and always eyeball roughly the same amount of scoops. I end up using up part a and part b about the same rate.
From there, I completely rely on my cheapo TDS-3 meter to mix up a solution at the proper 321 ratios. No messing around measuring scoops of cancer causing powder/balls every single time.
Say I wanted a 600PPM batch. I would first add in the part A concentrate into the water until it stabilizes at 360 PPM on the meter. (Once in awhile I might factor in another 40-50PPM worth of epsom salts, but not for this example). Then I add the calcium nitrate until I hit a total of 600 (or 635 if my tap water is already 35). That would be around 240 PPM of part B.
A / B
--------------
160/40=200
260/140=400
310/190=500
360/240=600
460/340=800
560/440=1000ppm
That's basically the formula I use, and my cheap meter does away with most the work. I just did the math once, and slop shit around ever since.
It's way to easy and i'm not sure why everyone still mixes and measures out their dry nutrients by volume/weight.
..however, I also wouldn't just use any water from any source without first plunking a fairly reliable 20 or so dollar piece of good investment in for a quick reading.
Whether or not I was growing hydro or not.
To many uses and too affordable to not have one IMO. Hydro its essential. To me it would feel like driving a car without a fuel gauge or something. Just figuring.. oh, I know how much gas I put in.
I always mix up jugs of both jacks A&B in super concentrated batches first. I don't even pay much attention to how much i'm adding, I just be sure not to go over the max soluble limits for each part, and always eyeball roughly the same amount of scoops. I end up using up part a and part b about the same rate.
From there, I completely rely on my cheapo TDS-3 meter to mix up a solution at the proper 321 ratios. No messing around measuring scoops of cancer causing powder/balls every single time.
Say I wanted a 600PPM batch. I would first add in the part A concentrate into the water until it stabilizes at 360 PPM on the meter. (Once in awhile I might factor in another 40-50PPM worth of epsom salts, but not for this example). Then I add the calcium nitrate until I hit a total of 600 (or 635 if my tap water is already 35). That would be around 240 PPM of part B.
A / B
--------------
160/40=200
260/140=400
310/190=500
360/240=600
460/340=800
560/440=1000ppm
That's basically the formula I use, and my cheap meter does away with most the work. I just did the math once, and slop shit around ever since.
It's way to easy and i'm not sure why everyone still mixes and measures out their dry nutrients by volume/weight.
Drop That Sound
Well-Known Member
I do guess. I like to see how far off I am from what the meters are saying, lol.
trychrome
Well-Known Member
I give you shit because you are growing in coco, not soil and feed charts are guidelines, not gospel. I'm not saying use it religiously, but you should have a pretty firm grasp of what the numbers are and eliminate the "guesswork".
Do you factor in the TDS already present in your water and adjust the nutrient levels accounting for that? And if you're not, how can you even be sure, based on your "winging it" method that the numbers are even close?
PopAndSonGrows
Well-Known Member
I'm growing closet weed, for the sole purpose of not having to buy dispensary boof. I'm not entering my shit in the Cannabis Cup. I'm not worried about optimizing potential as long as my results are satisfactory, and they are. I'm not "winging it" in the sense that I'm following a manufacturer recipe, and reducing it.
twentyeight.threefive
Well-Known Member
And when you encounter problems like you recently have, how do you diagnose the issue?
You guess. Dispensary boof > your closet weed
thank you