newbie EC

[SWvoodoo]

hey all and happy growing, another newbie to hydro here. Just a brief question on EC levels for a RDWC system. My understanding of ec levels in DWC is that I am trying to achieve a balance of the nutrient concentrate of my res vs the plants nutrient uptake is that correct? I think I read somewhere a 30ppm??? deficit every 48 hrs or something. so basically I should be running my nutes so they are slightly dropping in ec over a few days??
Have I got the idea roughly right ??
Any direction in the proper usage of an ec meter and ec levels in particular in rdwc would be much appreciated. thanks in advance and happy growing all!!!

 

[JediPeaceFrog]

It is pretty hard to get help on this site, isn't it? Good luck.

 

[Voltrom]

Lol I don't even use a ppm or ec meter. Don't need it, just add nutes every week. Not too much.. First grow and I'm not using a ec meter.

 

[GreatLife4All]

Lol I don't even use a ppm or ec meter. Don't need it, just add nutes every week. Not too much.. First grow and I'm not using a ec meter.

As this is your first grow... you will eventually learn the benefit of an EC meter. And I will say this... the typical goal of a first grower is to finish the grow successfully. After a couple of grows, you will want to start getting better yields and higher quality. These things will require a level of nutrient management that can not be accomplished without an EC meter.

Nothing worse than burning your plants due to an error in mixing late in the game. EC meter prevents this. And if you are a newbie and just blindly follow the recommendations of GH or AN - you are going to burn your plants badly as the standard mixing protocols are way to high for MJ.

And if you let salts build up too much... or have too much evaporation (relative to uptake by the plant)... you will start getting a rising EC level / falling pH level in your solution. How would you detect that? How would you know how much water to mix in to get it back under control? By the time you notice the burning, you are loosing yield. And even then, as a newbie, how are you going to know that after a while the EC can rise in this way? If you use a pH meter and correct this "problem" by using pH Down - you have unwittingly added additional PPMs into the water - your correction has just made things worse.

You can certainly do hydro without an EC meter... or a pH meter. I just wouldn't suggest it.

 

[Voltrom]

As this is your first grow... you will eventually learn the benefit of an EC meter. And I will say this... the typical goal of a first grower is to finish the grow successfully. After a couple of grows, you will want to start getting better yields and higher quality. These things will require a level of nutrient management that can not be accomplished without an EC meter.

Nothing worse than burning your plants due to an error in mixing late in the game. EC meter prevents this. And if you are a newbie and just blindly follow the recommendations of GH or AN - you are going to burn your plants badly as the standard mixing protocols are way to high for MJ.

And if you let salts build up too much... or have too much evaporation (relative to uptake by the plant)... you will start getting a rising EC level / falling pH level in your solution. How would you detect that? How would you know how much water to mix in to get it back under control? By the time you notice the burning, you are loosing yield. And even then, as a newbie, how are you going to know that after a while the EC can rise in this way? If you use a pH meter and correct this "problem" by using pH Down - you have unwittingly added additional PPMs into the water - your correction has just made things worse.

You can certainly do hydro without an EC meter... or a pH meter. I just wouldn't suggest it.

PH is a must in hydro, the only reason I don't have a ph meter is because the gh ph test works so well for me. My ph is 5.8-6.5 slowly throughout the whole week. I have considered getting a ppm meter for when the heavy feeding takes place but my experience from my expire mental tomato dwc gave me a good idea about how my nutrients work over time. I know at the end of the week my nutrients are still in the tub. Gone down the drain. If anything the ppm meter would help me not waste so much nutes but if I know my plants are feeding constantly through the 7 days that's good enough for me. But for flower I think I'm going to need it. You bring up many valid points. And my plants will no doubt suck up a gallon a day. Things can get confusing.

 

[GreatLife4All]

PH is a must in hydro, the only reason I don't have a ph meter is because the gh ph test works so well for me.

Only thing I used for years. Never had an issue with pH. Using a meter, I have had lots of issues due to calibration and buying cheap meters. I should probably change my rhetoric to "something to measure pH with."

My ph is 5.8-6.5 slowly throughout the whole week. I have considered getting a ppm meter for when the heavy feeding takes place but my experience from my expire mental tomato dwc gave me a good idea about how my nutrients work over time. I know at the end of the week my nutrients are still in the tub. Gone down the drain. If anything the ppm meter would help me not waste so much nutes but if I know my plants are feeding constantly through the 7 days that's good enough for me.

There is nothing wrong with changing the nutrients every week. In fact, this is likely an optimal but expensive strategy. If we could break the needs of MJ down to a weekly basis, and then match that exactly - you would have better growth. Changing weekly also limits any real possibility of pathogens in the water. Which is great for someone just beginning.

I change when I must. This is part laziness on my part - I will readily admit. And it is partially that I am a cheapskate. Using AN plus additives and changing weekly truly does cost a lot of money for a grow in my system (basically a 25 gallon RDWC). But when I am running eight plants late in flower - 60 gallons lasts just over two weeks. That is about a 1/2 gallon per day per plant. If I use fewer plants - I pretty much end up at the same usage as each plant is bigger.

with your grows my friend. If I can ever help to un-confuse things, don't hesitate to ask.