lvumlow
Well-Known Member
I made some recent changes with my cycle timings and now have 5 days worth of data to look at...
We previously talked about run-off (which I have recirculating back to my reservoir) where I found that my cycle times were delivering more nutrients than the plant was consuming so I believe this (flow) was resulting in a build-up problem over time. My experiment was to calculate the amount of nutrient that was delivered per second of mister time and tried to adjust my cycle times to get closer to delivering only what the plant will actually take over a 24 hour period (maybe just a little more to be safe).
With that perspective, I now have 5 days worth of data and my plant (in late flower) is consuming about average of 4080ml per day. My initial math calculations estimated my misters to deliver somewhere around 3870ml per day. Clearly my math is off but when you consider I am just a home enthusiast, the numbers are actually pretty close (off by 210ml over a week period).
Now that I have started to zero in on a good cycle time format. I am watching the plant make some positive changes; starting to see some dark green push out from the stems and more white pistils pushing throughout the plant. She is clearly saying thank you.
Unfortunately, I reduced my EC for a week (last week) as an experiment and recently put her back up to documented doses so the positive signs could just be the added nutrients. Time will tell but my main point here is that if you are looking for a starting point for your cycle times, try to get some data on how much is being consumed and adjust your cycle times to deliver approx. that much over a 24 hour time period. My next build will have some provisions for more accurate measurements but it looks like I am close. I redirected my return line and monitored it every hour and have only a couple ml in there so I know I am close.
We previously talked about run-off (which I have recirculating back to my reservoir) where I found that my cycle times were delivering more nutrients than the plant was consuming so I believe this (flow) was resulting in a build-up problem over time. My experiment was to calculate the amount of nutrient that was delivered per second of mister time and tried to adjust my cycle times to get closer to delivering only what the plant will actually take over a 24 hour period (maybe just a little more to be safe).
With that perspective, I now have 5 days worth of data and my plant (in late flower) is consuming about average of 4080ml per day. My initial math calculations estimated my misters to deliver somewhere around 3870ml per day. Clearly my math is off but when you consider I am just a home enthusiast, the numbers are actually pretty close (off by 210ml over a week period).
Now that I have started to zero in on a good cycle time format. I am watching the plant make some positive changes; starting to see some dark green push out from the stems and more white pistils pushing throughout the plant. She is clearly saying thank you.
Unfortunately, I reduced my EC for a week (last week) as an experiment and recently put her back up to documented doses so the positive signs could just be the added nutrients. Time will tell but my main point here is that if you are looking for a starting point for your cycle times, try to get some data on how much is being consumed and adjust your cycle times to deliver approx. that much over a 24 hour time period. My next build will have some provisions for more accurate measurements but it looks like I am close. I redirected my return line and monitored it every hour and have only a couple ml in there so I know I am close.
