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- #41
Why Doe
New Member
Happy to have ya!
You're Gonna Want To Take A Seat For This Auto Grow!
Happy to have ya!
GrimReefer83
Well-Known Member
Subbed in bud! Nice setup and lighting. I've done autos in 12hrs daylight /12hrs tent light with wicked results. They love the multi spectrums .
No rest for the wicked !!! ..
No rest for the wicked !!! ..
HappyHouse
Well-Known Member
Sitting in to watch the show. I plan on beginning my first grow in November so learning as much as I can.
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- #44
Why Doe
New Member
Should be popping out of the soil any day now. Gonna be a while till this gets interesting
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- #45
Why Doe
New Member
I just got my first PPM meter in, haven't used one thus far. Tap water is coming out around 350. What ppm should I not go over when feeding nutes? I assume that's how it works.
Scientific
New Member
First off, if you wanna be really exacting, you can buy 1000 PPM calibration solution at Amazon. (My meter was about 5% off.) It's probably not really necessary, but having come from a lab background, I'm accustomed to knowing that everything is dialed in just so, so...
Second, and more importantly, 350 PPM!? That's into the "liquid concrete" range. (With numbers like that, I'll guess you are in southern California, and that your water doesn't suds very well with soap.) You might want to check the website for your water utility (they all have them) and see if you can find out more about that. (These days they seem more interested in lead levels than water hardness.)
If your water is really 350 PPM, chances are good that it's loaded with calcium and magnesium salts (i.e. that is has "permanent hardness"), so good news, no Ca/Mg supplement required, but bad news, that's so high that it's going to affect your fertilizer, which is usually formulated assuming 0 PPM.
Looks like you are gonna be making lots of trips to WalMart to get gallon jugs of reverse osmosis water...
Anyway, such is the power of a PPM meter. Knowledge is power!
Second, and more importantly, 350 PPM!? That's into the "liquid concrete" range. (With numbers like that, I'll guess you are in southern California, and that your water doesn't suds very well with soap.) You might want to check the website for your water utility (they all have them) and see if you can find out more about that. (These days they seem more interested in lead levels than water hardness.)
If your water is really 350 PPM, chances are good that it's loaded with calcium and magnesium salts (i.e. that is has "permanent hardness"), so good news, no Ca/Mg supplement required, but bad news, that's so high that it's going to affect your fertilizer, which is usually formulated assuming 0 PPM.
Looks like you are gonna be making lots of trips to WalMart to get gallon jugs of reverse osmosis water...
Anyway, such is the power of a PPM meter. Knowledge is power!
Scientific
New Member
To answer your question, try mixing up a batch of nutes per manufacturer's instructions but 1/2 strength with 0 PPM water and see what reading you get.
Just for reference, General Hydroponics' FloraSeries feed chart has the following PPMs:
Seedling: 200-250
Late Growth: 600-900
Early Bloom: 550-750
Late Bloom: 600-800
Flush: 0-50
Just for a range check, I have read here about people giving plants over 1000 PPM. My little dwarf plants get toxic when they get more than 400 PPM.
There is a lot of variability. If it's hot and the plant is sucking up a lot of water, it will suck up more nutes, so a level that was previously safe can become toxic (or that's the theory I've read--makes sense to me).
Again: RO water, manufacturer's recommended ratios of bottles 1, 2, and 3 or whatever but 1/2 strength, measure and log everything. If you're like me, you'll want to hot-rod it so you're giving maximum possible nutes, but work up on that slowly, watch your leaf tips for yellowing, and be ready to let off the gas immediately.
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- #48
Why Doe
New Member
Well I've used nothing for but tap water before with no issues, as you can see from my previous grow lol
Scientific
New Member
I have a tomato on my balcony that cranks out more tomatoes than I can eat and its soil pH is in the 4s. Apparently it just doesn't know that it needs higher pH than that. So yeah, sometimes theory and experience don't mesh. Still, that's a high PPM number, so it makes me wonder what's going on. And who's to say that you might have even better results with optimized levels. I think it's Advanced Nutrients who make a special "Hard Water" fertilizer formulation. Somebody does. Might be worth a look...
In any case, at the very least it looks like you'r going to have to add 350 to any numbers you get for comparison (assuming there's no complex interaction between your hard water and the acidic fertilizer mix...)
Rider509
Well-Known Member
Good Lord! 350ppm tap water? That's over 20 grain hardness! Water is considered "extremely hard" when it's over 15 grains. Are you sure your meter was calibrated when you took that reading? If so... RO. LOL
edit: this isn't your first rodeo so whatever you're doing seems to work.
edit: this isn't your first rodeo so whatever you're doing seems to work.
Scientific
New Member
Yeah, that's why I was curious to know what the local water district lists on its website (and where that water is coming from).
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- #52
Why Doe
New Member
I didnt know you can calibrate a PPM meter. How do you get a base? Do I have to buy something thats zero? The package says it comes factory calibrated.
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- #53
Why Doe
New Member
My bottle water is at 42ppm. Theres no way I could afford buying jugs of water to feed these girls lol. Is there a solution I can add to my water to make it go down?
bignugz420
Well-Known Member
My water comes out around 300 ppm and what i do is a 30 gallon res with air stone for 2 days lid off
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- #55
Why Doe
New Member
So I could just buy an airstone and pump and It would bring it down?
FlowerNose
Well-Known Member
We're on well water. I don't know the ppm because we never even considered using it for growing. After a total purchase of around 60 gallons of RO water from grocery stores, we finally invested in an RO filter for the kitchen sink. It was quick to install and didn't break the bank. $ worth it. 
EastCoastGhost
Well-Known Member
I have that same meter and it seems to work great. I measured the rain water at 5 ppm when I first got it. Wonder if I could check with rain water every now and then to make sure it is still calibrated or does the rain water vary.
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- #58
Why Doe
New Member
Its funny though because my tap water comes out right around a perfect 6.5ph lol
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- #59
Why Doe
New Member
We're on well water. I don't know the ppm because we never even considered using it for growing. After a total purchase of around 60 gallons of RO water from grocery stores, we finally invested in an RO filter for the kitchen sink. It was quick to install and didn't break the bank. $ worth it.
I would totally do that if I could, but I live in an apartment
bignugz420
Well-Known Member
Subbed beautiful harvest last run and great set up. Have you ever thought about a bigger tent so you can use that one to veg and bigger to flower and run perpetual Bc dam. You got a lot of light brother I love it Bc I have so much also
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