need hydro help from the best. PH/PPM/EC questions. any takers?

[antismoker420]

im about to grow 5 plants in a rockwool hydro setup, n i got a few question.
I gotta still check the PH/PPM/EC of the tap water in my area, but once i figure out the starting PH/PPM/EC of my water, i wanna know:

1) What is the best EC for maximum nutrient uptake? Between 1.0-2.0? Also, how do you go abouts lowering or raising the EC to the desired level?

2) When adding the nutrients to my water, and lets just say my water has 180PPM (hypothetical), do i have to subtract 180PPM from my desired PPM total, or just add to the 180PPM.
~For example(if im not making sense), just say i wanna have a desired 300PPM for my seedlings, but my water already carries 180PPM, do i make sure to add only 120PPM of my nutrients, or do i just add the whole 300PPM, giving me a total of 480PPM?

i appreciate the time, and if anyone has any tips or suggestions for a new hydro grower, or is willing to help me out where needed, please let me know...im willing to learn from the best. this isn't my first grow, just my first hydroponic grow, and im really interested in learning how to grow hydroponically, to the best of ones ability.

o one more thing...instead of draining my nutes straight back into my res, i was thinking about keeping it seperate, that way i have more control over the used nutrients PH/PPM/EC left over from the feed, and can get a little more information on whether my plants are eating everything or being deprived. I figured i could also make subtle changes to the solution before adding back to the res...good idea? bad idea? or just pointless in the end?

f.uck, i havent typed so much since highschool...haha...time for a vape!! cant thank them germans enough for the volcano..haha...hope to be hearing from all you potheads!

thanx.

 

[BongJuice]

You can eliminate alot of your headaches with the whole PPM/EC, if you just use RO water.
I use the Advanced Nutrient Calculator when I feel it's necessary to check where I should be at with my electrical conductivity.
As far as dumping the wasted nutrient into a different resevoir, that just sounds like a complete waste of time and money. Just check your Ph/PPm/Ec levels everyday, and change out your nutrient once a week, and your plants will love you for it.

 

[antismoker420]

You can eliminate alot of your headaches with the whole PPM/EC, if you just use RO water.
I use the Advanced Nutrient Calculator when I feel it's necessary to check where I should be at with my electrical conductivity.
As far as dumping the wasted nutrient into a different resevoir, that just sounds like a complete waste of time and money. Just check your Ph/PPm/Ec levels everyday, and change out your nutrient once a week, and your plants will love you for it.

K dope, so ill just send the nutes back to the reservoir, keep an eye on it daily, makin sure it doesnt jump to high or low, and give em a new batch of nutes every week. Im also using basically all Advance Nutrients anyways, so the calculator should come to good use. As for the water, so ur sayin i should just fork up the loot and grab an RO system?...is there maybe an alternative, maybe water i can buy that is already filtered? whats distilled waters PH/PPM/EC? i dont got a problem buying one, its just this setup is getting more and more expensive for just 5 plants...haha...i might as well buy another light and grow 10 more bitches.

 

[antismoker420]

o...also, im doing a drip system for the whole way through, veg and flowering...first in rockwool, then transferin them into Hydroton...drip system good enough to keep the roots moist? or should i consider throwing another system that will keep the roots moist...aero,dwc,nft?

 

[BongJuice]

K dope, so ill just send the nutes back to the reservoir, keep an eye on it daily, makin sure it doesnt jump to high or low, and give em a new batch of nutes every week. Im also using basically all Advance Nutrients anyways, so the calculator should come to good use. As for the water, so ur sayin i should just fork up the loot and grab an RO system?...is there maybe an alternative, maybe water i can buy that is already filtered? whats distilled waters PH/PPM/EC? i dont got a problem buying one, its just this setup is getting more and more expensive for just 5 plants...haha...i might as well buy another light and grow 10 more bitches.

I paid about $200 for my RO system, It's the smallest one I could find. It makes about 10 gallons a day. I keep my RO water that I make in 5 gallon water containers. I get my drinking water delivered, I just didn't return the bottles for a few months which gave me about 12 bottles to keep my RO water in. The only problem is the fact that I'm always making it. But my plants are healthy and my humidifiers work better.
As far as your drip system, I know that your drip system will work fine for vegging, not sure about bloom. I've never used a drip sytem.
After I take my cuttings out of my clone machine, my plants grow ebb-n-flow from vegg to harvest, this is the way I've been doing it for years. I like it because it's cheap and easy to maintain.
5 plants is not that bad, I have a perpetual grow where I harvest 4 plants every 2 weeks. I yield about 6-7 ounces every harvest.
For blooming I have 4 different resevoirs and for vegg I have 1 resevoir.
I have 2 moms, one is Oasis and the other is Northern lights, Ever other 2 weeks I alternate between the moms for cuttings. My moms grow in soil.
I vegg only for 2 weeks, so when I throw them into bloom they are only 6-8 inches tall, it depends on how big I make my cuttings. When I harvest, my plants are around 3 feet tall.
From vegg all the way to the beginning of the 5th week of bloom I grow under T5 flourescents. The last 4 weeks I grow under a 400 watt HPS.
I also use CO2 for the entire blooming cycle.

I'm telling my way of growing because you'll learn overtime what works best for you. Everybody finds what works best for them.
I'm all about growing the best bud as cheap as possible.

 

[antismoker420]

I paid about $200 for my RO system, It's the smallest one I could find. It makes about 10 gallons a day. I keep my RO water that I make in 5 gallon water containers. I get my drinking water delivered, I just didn't return the bottles for a few months which gave me about 12 bottles to keep my RO water in. The only problem is the fact that I'm always making it. But my plants are healthy and my humidifiers work better.
As far as your drip system, I know that your drip system will work fine for vegging, not sure about bloom. I've never used a drip sytem.
After I take my cuttings out of my clone machine, my plants grow ebb-n-flow from vegg to harvest, this is the way I've been doing it for years. I like it because it's cheap and easy to maintain.
5 plants is not that bad, I have a perpetual grow where I harvest 4 plants every 2 weeks. I yield about 6-7 ounces every harvest.
For blooming I have 4 different resevoirs and for vegg I have 1 resevoir.
I have 2 moms, one is Oasis and the other is Northern lights, Ever other 2 weeks I alternate between the moms for cuttings. My moms grow in soil.
I vegg only for 2 weeks, so when I throw them into bloom they are only 6-8 inches tall, it depends on how big I make my cuttings. When I harvest, my plants are around 3 feet tall.
From vegg all the way to the beginning of the 5th week of bloom I grow under T5 flourescents. The last 4 weeks I grow under a 400 watt HPS.
I also use CO2 for the entire blooming cycle.

I'm telling my way of growing because you'll learn overtime what works best for you. Everybody finds what works best for them.
I'm all about growing the best bud as cheap as possible.

thanx homie, i appreciate it....i think ima get a nice RO system then...it should give me better control anyways. you like growing hydro?

Also, you know when my nutrients go back into my reservior and just say the PH/PPM/EC fluxuates up or down...i kno its ok to add PH+/- to the reservior, but i shouldnt ever add more nutrients to it right? i should just top off with water to my original volume and wait till i have a fresh batch?
im just wondering if its a good idea to add nutes to the res if they seem to be ok to take up more...or should i only increase nutes only when i start a fresh mixture?

thanx again buddy. im really hoping i get the hang of this...shouldnt be too bad...i think im overanalyzing is all.