Can someone explain to me how to top up a reservoir (rez)? I just don't get it...

You don’t top off with new nutrient solution. That’s fucking dumb. You’re intentionally throwing your mix off balance hoping the plant hasn’t totally destroyed one part in your older solutions because you will end up crazy imbalanced or tox, even at low ec/ppm.

The right way:

1. take fresh water(0ppm)

2. add to your res to reach its original water level. Only do this once or twice as you will end up fucked for ratios after more like the situation described above

Next. replace the entire res after this point.

if this isn’t what you’re doing, or you’re topping off the evap water with more nutrient solution, and you have any problems with your plants. It’s your fault. Not the nutrients, res, or plants being pick....it’s you being lazy or cheap and not taking adequate care of your plant health lol.

Aqua Man said:

I'm keeping it simple here but I also do the same. Readings before and after add backs.

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I never take readings at all, I don’t ph water, single part nutrient mix, etc. I very rarely have problems because I give my plants fresh shit all the time. I’m not trying to balance ratios of nutrients, they do the work for me if you keep fresh solution in maybe once a month.

kmog33 said:

You don’t top off with new nutrient solution. That’s fucking dumb. You’re intentionally throwing your mix off balance hoping the plant hasn’t totally destroyed one part in your older solutions because you will end up crazy imbalanced or tox, even at low ec/ppm.

The right way:

1. take fresh water(0ppm)

2. add to your res to reach its original water level. Only do this once or twice as you will end up fucked for ratios after more like the situation described above

Next. replace the entire res after this point.

if this isn’t what you’re doing, or you’re topping off the evap water with more nutrient solution, and you have any problems with your plants. It’s your fault. Not the nutrients, res, or plants being pick....it’s you being lazy or cheap and not taking adequate care of your plant health lol.

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Just gonna call it the way I see it.... BS. If you have significant or measurable evaporation your doing it wrong. The nutrient ratios used to grow can vary greatly with almost identical results. The change in ratios over time is directly related to the size of the system and nutrient uptake.

Are you seriously saying if you have a 100gal system for one plant you need to be changing it after 1-2 top up because of nutrient ratios... Gtfoh it's dependant on the system volume and a res change after adding back equal to the system is absolutely adequate and you absolutely wrong if you think otherwise. Nutrient ratios can vary greatly hell some grow with 1-1-1 some 2-1-3 etc etc. Give your head a shake if you think they will change that much in adding back the volume of the system before changing.

Excuse me for being harsh but you stormed in screaming facts that are absolutely bullshit

kmog33 said:

I never take readings at all, I don’t ph water, single part nutrient mix, etc. I very rarely have problems because I give my plants fresh shit all the time. I’m not trying to balance ratios of nutrients, they do the work for me if you keep fresh solution in maybe once a month.

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What's your point? You can half assed lots of things that work. I'm talking about keeping things as dialed in as possible. I never said you can't half ass it and grow plants.

Also the slower your plants grow the more forgiving it is so who knows maybe your system is not nearly as effective? Idk but the faster a plant grows the more dialed in you need the environment.

Aqua Man said:

What's your point? You can half assed lots of things that work. I'm talking about keeping things as dialed in as possible. I never said you can't half ass it and grow plants.

Also the slower you plants go the more forgiving it is so who knows maybe your system is not nearly as effective? Idk but the faster a plant grows the more dialed in you need the environment.

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If you want to keep it dialed for dtw or replace your nutrient solution every day.
Adding nutrient solution to top off solution has a higher chance of negatively affecting the plant than making them grow faster.

kmog33 said:

If you want to keep it dialed for dtw or replace your nutrient solution every day.
Adding nutrient solution to top off solution has a higher chance of negatively affecting the plant than making them grow faster.

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Lmao why are you talking DTW? Why the hell would you come into this and compare DTW and RDWC? Smh

sandman83 said:

This might be the confusion, if you are talking DTW and he is planning for recirculating.

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The second part then. Change it every day if you want true dialed system. Outside of this situation you’ll always be less than optimal as the plants feed constantly. Going to see the effect faster with older hungrier plants.

Because you’re debating about running a dialed system. Not an rdwc

Aqua Man said:

Lmao why are you talking DTW? Why the hell would you come into this and compare DTW and RDWC? Smh

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kmog33 said:

The second part then. Change it every day if you want true dialed system. Outside of this situation you’ll always be less than optimal as the plants feed constantly. Going to see the effect faster with older hungrier plants.

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Just fucking clueless... You have anything to back up what your saying? I have a feeling your either trolling or just looking to argue and look stupid

kmog33 said:

Because you’re debating about running a dialed system. Not an rdwc

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It's pretty dam obvious... Did you even read the thread or just roll in here like captain America to save the day?

Aqua Man said:

Just fucking clueless... You have anything to back up what your saying? I have a feeling your either trolling or just looking to argue and look stupid

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Lol, you’re a funny guy. Care to come up with a legit argument to any of my point?

Aqua Man said:

It's pretty dam obvious... Did you even read the thread or just roll in here like captain America to save the day?

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I’m betting you’re the one that revived this old ass thread?

kmog33 said:

I’m betting you’re the one that revived this old ass thread?

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I'm betting you have a habit of being totally wrong... Scroll back.

One day we will remove the warning labels and let the world sort itself out for the benefit of mankind.

Aqua Man said:

I'm betting you have a habit of being totally wrong... Scroll back.

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lol you really want to change the focus from optimal res top off to an argument...nice bud.

read my first post on here, trolling because I think you guys are dumb for reviving an old ass thread to debate on info that very easily available.

I add back 1/8 strength or 12.5% mid week. EC remains the same in my 14 gallon reservoir.

Wastei said:

I add back 1/8 strength or 12.5% mid week. EC remains the same in my 14 gallon reservoir.

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Yep no hard fast rule I prefer 33% as goal but with everyone's systems a bit different well all need to adjust to ours. The principal stays the same.

kmog33 said:

lol you really want to change the focus from optimal res top off to an argument...nice bud.

read my first post on here, trolling because I think you guys are dumb for reviving an old ass thread to debate on info that very easily available.

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No debate someone had a question they asking in an old thread with relevant info to the question they had Mr. Hall monitor. Kinda the purpose of a forum. Funny things is how offended you are by someone else's questions.

Aqua Man said:

Ok so you have a 40 gal res and say daily you plants are drinking 10gal. Your EC is 1.2.

You mix up 10 gal with 33% concentration. 0.4 add it back to the res. Your EC is 1.2 after add back.. your perfect.

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How is this possible?
If I have 30 gallons in my res with an EC of 1.2 and I add 10 gallons with an EC of 0.4, how can the new EC then also be 1.2 ?

kmog33 said:

You don’t top off with new nutrient solution. That’s fucking dumb. You’re intentionally throwing your mix off balance hoping the plant hasn’t totally destroyed one part in your older solutions because you will end up crazy imbalanced or tox, even at low ec/ppm.

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In a recurculating system the solution is already off balance after the first time you water your plants.
So if you add water with an EC of 0.0 or water with an EC of O.4 will not solve the problem of imbalance.
The only difference will be that top off with an EC of 0.0 or top off with water with an EC of O.4 will be that the ratio of single nutrients will be different between the 2. But us growers can not tell which one is the better solution after topping off.
For that you would need other equipment.

Keesje said:

How is this possible?
If I have 30 gallons in my res with an EC of 1.2 and I add 10 gallons with an EC of 0.4, how can the new EC then also be 1.2 ?


In a recurculating system the solution is already off balance after the first time you water your plants.
So if you add water with an EC of 0.0 or water with an EC of O.4 will not solve the problem of imbalance.
The only difference will be that top off with an EC of 0.0 or top off with water with an EC of O.4 will be that the ratio of single nutrients will be different between the 2. But us growers can not tell which one is the better solution after topping off.
For that you would need other equipment.

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Ok your full res is EC 1.2 the plants drink 10 gal and as such ideally that concentration is going to increase as the plants are drinking slight more water than taking up food so the EC increases as the plants drink... Say 1.3 now after they drink 10 gal. You add back a solution of 33% the EC drops back to 1.2 and you are pretty close to where ya wanna be.

Like at @Wastei it depends on the strain some feed more than others and I prefer 33% add back to achieve the starting ppm. After doing it a for a bit you will find a number that works best for your conditions and strains.

I suggest starting at 33% as a target. So if ya add back 33% and end up with the same EC observe the plants if all is good stick to that.

If EC after add back is lower than originally then you need to bump the overall ppm up. I suggest no more than 20% at a time so I may increase the res EC to 1.4 and add back 33% of 1.4 to dial it in

If the EC is higher than originally then you need to lower the overall ppm. I may drop to EC of 1.0 and add back 33% of that to dial it in.

Again it's a guideline and will take some practice but pays dividends in understanding you plants nutrient needs and all but eliminates nutrient issues.

It's just allows you to really understand the plants nutrient uptake and dial right in you feeding. If you have adequate nutrient ratios to start with you will eliminate any and all toxicity or deficiency issues by giving the plant exactly what it's asking for.