E.C and hydro

Billy the Mountain said:

I assumed your recirculating system was roots in water; e.g. rdwc

@RediJedi13 is right, drain to waste is the usual choice when using a growing medium

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I can’t drain to waste, it would be too wasteful. Basically my 55 gallon drum floods the buckets from the bottom and then after 30 min they drain back into the 55 gallon drum. My roots are not constantly in water, they are being flooded every 2 hours. Any more tips?

A2Michigan said:

Do you think that I’m running into these issues because I’m flooding too often at every 2 hours?

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A2Michigan said:

I can’t drain to waste, it would be too wasteful. Basically my 55 gallon drum floods the buckets from the bottom and then after 30 min they drain back into the 55 gallon drum. My roots are not constantly in water, they are being flooded every 2 hours. Any more tips?

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I have been running a F&D exclusively for years. I rarely check pH so I wouldn't worry about that one too much....at least that has been my experience.

I generally find a ppm that the plants are happy with and ride that until I sense unhappiness. I start with a full reservoir at my desired ppm and generally just let her drink the solution down until the Rez needs refilling. I then drain the remainder, rinse, refill, and repeat.

While she drinks the Rez down I will check my ppm throughout the week. If it spikes, which it rarely does, I just dilute back to my desired ppm with plain water.

If I start to see unexplained shit I just dump the entire Rez, refill at my target ppm, and monitor closely.

Your 55 gallon drum Rez dwarfs my 5 gallon rez but the principles are the same. That said, dumping a 55 gal Rez is neither fun nor inexpensive so I understand if you have to fix it vs flushing it. The real mystery is always once you have a fresh Rez with known food, you have no idea which elements have been munched on several days later.

Oh yeah, I flood every hour, 24 hours a day. I either run hydroton or I go media-less. Lots of people run different frequencies so I don't think it's your flood, I think its something to do your feed.

Were you running fine at a certain consistent ppm/ec and then things went south suddenly? If you made a feed change and your current issue quickly followed, can you drain the Rez and just revert to a level she was previously happy with?

Did you change anything else? Are you flooding to the same height as you always were?

I wish I had something more concrete for you.

Best of luck to you.

A2Michigan said:

I flood with clay pebbles. Man those things are so fucking hard to clean!!! I feed every 4 hours during veg but then in flower I bump it up to every 2 hours. You flood less with bigger plants?

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Yes and no I guess. I dont want the roots soaking wet all the time. Want them to be damp but not drenched all the time. So It depends in how much you flood and how often. I change both those things up.

MrFlatbush said:

I have been running a F&D exclusively for years. I rarely check pH so I wouldn't worry about that one too much....at least that has been my experience.

I generally find a ppm that the plants are happy with and ride that until I sense unhappiness. I start with a full reservoir at my desired ppm and generally just let her drink the solution down until the Rez needs refilling. I then drain the remainder, rinse, refill, and repeat.

While she drinks the Rez down I will check my ppm throughout the week. If it spikes, which it rarely does, I just dilute back to my desired ppm with plain water.

If I start to see unexplained shit I just dump the entire Rez, refill at my target ppm, and monitor closely.

Your 55 gallon drum Rez dwarfs my 5 gallon rez but the principles are the same. That said, dumping a 55 gal Rez is neither fun nor inexpensive so I understand if you have to fix it vs flushing it. The real mystery is always once you have a fresh Rez with known food, you have no idea which elements have been munched on several days later.

Oh yeah, I flood every hour, 24 hours a day. I either run hydroton or I go media-less. Lots of people run different frequencies so I don't think it's your flood, I think its something to do your feed.

Were you running fine at a certain consistent ppm/ec and then things went south suddenly? If you made a feed change and your current issue quickly followed, can you drain the Rez and just revert to a level she was previously happy with?

Did you change anything else? Are you flooding to the same height as you always were?

I wish I had something more concrete for you.

Best of luck to you.

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It seems to happen when I switch to bloom nutrients. I switched to bloom nutrients after week one of flower. I used dynagro bloom which has an npk 3-12-6. I’ve noticed that if I use veg nutrients longer while in flower that the buds do not get big and ripe. I flood every 2 hours now, I’m thinking I should maybe flood every 3 hours. Also, for the past 24 hours I’ve been checking ph and ec and both are pretty stable at 5.64 for ph and 2.5 for ec.. water level is dropping and I’m not topping off… maybe I found the sweet spot?

Stable is good. It turns out we both use the same nutes, Gro and Bloom. I have tried Gro for the entire grow, Bloom for the entire grow, and a blend of both. I generally don't do a full switch from one to the other. I blend them after about 2 weeks into flower. I haven't noticed the size issue you mentioned but you have probably grown out more plants at this point than I have.

Your leafs likely will not return to their former glory but they will certainly get you across the finish line.

How long have you been using DynaGro products? I love not having to mix anything and that they don't stain my roots.