Please please help! Im stumped

[bud-wizer]

can someone help with my ppm readings? permalink

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hello there. is there anyone out there that can help me ?
rite i am wondering how 2 correct my ppm ... in my res the PPM is getting slowly higher,it started at 1350ppm which should b rite?and now its gone up to 1400ppm... i think that is telling me the plants are taking more water than they r nutes ? also the water coming out the bottom of my clay pebbles is reading between 1200/1300 PPM . does that mean my plants need more or less nutes adding ? can somone help me please as i am a newb and ill b forever gr8full.

 

[Tyrone Hamilton]

re: PLEASE PLEASE HELP! IM STUMPED.

Just add R/O water to bring the PPM down to where you want it. Yes, the plants will raise your PPM by drinking the water.

 

[bud-wizer]

re: PLEASE PLEASE HELP! IM STUMPED.

sorry wat is R/O water ? im abit new to this .

thanks for ur help

 

[zierf]

re: PLEASE PLEASE HELP! IM STUMPED.

sorry wat is R/O water ? im abit new to this .

thanks for ur help

RO water is water that has been filtered threw a process that is called reversed osmosis. It should be netrel ph and ppm count that is 0 or very low like 25 ppm or less

u can get the RO water by buying a RO filter or you can go to the bottled water section at the grocers store. Look for drinking water in 1 gal. Jugs. or u can get those 5 gal. Jueg for drinking water coolers.Most bottled water will tell u on the label how if was purified or filterd

 

[bud-wizer]

re: PLEASE PLEASE HELP! IM STUMPED.

o , thats abit of an exesive way though isnt it . can i not just add ph correct tap water to the res ? would that not work ??? thanks for ur time .

 

[Tyrone Hamilton]

re: PLEASE PLEASE HELP! IM STUMPED.

depends on the tap water - I assume you have a TDS pen, so see if your tap PPM is under 100 - if so, it's most likely ok to use.

R/O systems aren't expensive, and if you keep growing in hydro... they are kinda important unless you are lucky enough to have good tap water.

 

[bud-wizer]

re: PLEASE PLEASE HELP! IM STUMPED.

well my tap water is hard . its 7.2 out of the tap and it is at 350ppm befor i add anything . am i rite in thinking if my water was 0ppm befor i add nutes ,does that mean i can put more nutes in ??? im sorry if these r silly questions but im just gettin 2 grips with it . thanks again .

 

[Tyrone Hamilton]

re: PLEASE PLEASE HELP! IM STUMPED.

7.2 is not bad, but 350ppm makes it unusable for hydro in my opinion. You will most likely get nutrient lockouts from the various minerals in your water interfering with the roots absorbtion.

You don't really add more nutes to 0ppm water - you actually need less since the pure water will allow them to work better.

Check out R/O systems on ebay or amazon... if you can rig your own resevoir and float valve (like in a toilet), you can get one pretty cheap. If you need a two gallon pressure tank and faucet... then they run about $200.

I tried to run my first DWC with 230pppm tap... made it most of the way before the roots rotted out and the leaves fell off... then R/O water saved the day.

 

[bud-wizer]

re: PLEASE PLEASE HELP! IM STUMPED.

wow that has opened my eyes a little i didnt think ppm would make that much of a diffeance . well im goin to have to look into buying somthing along them lines . but for the time being is there anyway to bring it down or is there a safe level i can b at ? my plants are 12 days old and the ppm in my tank is at 1350. water ph.5.9 . any ideas mate ?

 

[Tyrone Hamilton]

re: PLEASE PLEASE HELP! IM STUMPED.

Only way I know to reduce PPM is to dilute it with fresh water.

 

[bud-wizer]

re: PLEASE PLEASE HELP! IM STUMPED.

ok then that will hav 2 do mate .thank u so much for ur help . is there anyway i u can add me as a friend just so if i hav a problem in the future i can get in touch easyly ? thanks for ur help though mate.bud-WIZER

 

[StinkFinger]

re: PLEASE PLEASE HELP! IM STUMPED.

but for the time being is there anyway to bring it down or is there a safe level i can b at ? my plants are 12 days old and the ppm in my tank is at 1350. water ph.5.9 . any ideas mate ?

12 days, assuming they are still seedlings? PPM should be about 400-440. It sounds like you know you have hard-water, you could use a product like, FLORA MICRO® HARDWATER, which compensates for hard tap water. You could also pick up Distilled Water in the meantime (PPM aprox 5). Don't know what size reservoir you are using, but for seedlings, it could get you by until you get a more permanent solution.

Also, just as a helpful tip, almost all nutrient companies have Calculators on their web site, (I use General Hydroponics), these helpful charts provide the proper PPM for each stage of growth you're looking to achieve.

GENERAL HYDROPONICS

Much success with your grow!

S.F.

 

[bud-wizer]

re: PLEASE PLEASE HELP! IM STUMPED.

wow thanks man . thats very helpfull . well my tank is 70 ltrs but my plants are 24 days old. they hav been under a 600 watt hps for the last 12 days . the instructions on my nutes say the ec should b 2.0 . is this rite . the nutes r also designed for hard water . does this help??? thnks stinkfinger ur imput is gr8ly recieved

 

[StinkFinger]

re: PLEASE PLEASE HELP! IM STUMPED.

wow thanks man . thats very helpfull . well my tank is 70 ltrs but my plants are 24 days old. they hav been under a 600 watt hps for the last 12 days. the instructions on my nutes say the ec should b 2.0 . is this rite . the nutes r also designed for hard water . does this help??? thnks stinkfinger ur imput is gr8ly recieved

Yo. Ok, so EC 2.0 translates to PPM of 1400 and according to that calculator above, for an "aggressive" growth you can push about 1440. (I've read PPM between 850-3000 which would be, EC 1.2-4.3, MJ plants can handle). I'm about 6 days ahead of your timing at 24 days, and see similar growth.

Your plants look good and healthy .

The nice thing about Hydro is that your plants will react pretty quickly if they don't like something with the water or nutes, and you can compensate pretty quickly by flushing with water and mixing up a new batch.

Keep at it....right track!

Cheers!
S.F.

PS. Just curious; how did you decided to use HPS instead of MH for the growth cycle?

 

[bud-wizer]

re: PLEASE PLEASE HELP! IM STUMPED.

PS. Just curious; how did you decided to use HPS instead of MH for the growth cycle?[/QUOTE]

well mate to b honest ive only just realised that mh is beter for veg . im hopefully picking up a 400w mh light in the next few days . i wish ide have known earlyer it would have saved me a pritty penny . lol.
thanks for the imput man .

u say ur a a few days ahead of me ? wat plants and wat nutes u givin urs atm ?

thanks for ur info mate . its gr8fully recieved

 

[StinkFinger]

Re: PLEASE PLEASE HELP! IM STUMPED.

PS. Just curious; how did you decided to use HPS instead of MH for the growth cycle?

well mate to b honest ive only just realised that mh is beter for veg . im hopefully picking up a 400w mh light in the next few days . i wish ide have known earlyer it would have saved me a pritty penny . lol.
thanks for the imput man .

u say ur a a few days ahead of me ? wat plants and wat nutes u givin urs atm ?

thanks for ur info mate . its gr8fully recieved

Well we all live and learn, I spent a couple of weeks reading a ton of material on this site. Do you have a convertible ballast, can you use MH on your setup? If not, well you've got two lights. Not the end of the world. Or auction it off? A convertible ballast is the way to go, just change the bulb for veg and flower.

Here's day 30 today (6 pots/7 Plants). Sorry for jackin your thread with a pic.

Actually, laughing a little, I don't know really what strain I've got here. My "Pharmacist" had the most excellent batch awhile back, he mentioned to me to keep the seeds for a future date, and I did.

I'm using the General Hydroponics line Flora series. I actually purchased before reading about many of the different nutes available. I can't say that I'm disappointed at this time, the plants look very green and healthy. I'm also using a 400 w MH lamp for this EcoGrower hyrdo unit that I have. It's setup as a 2x2 area. Basically I'm just getting my feet wet with hydro on this go around.

Finally, as an excellent "shout-out" to this great site, you should check out this specific section with a wealth of info!

How to Grow Marijuana Everything You Need to Know

Be well man!
Cheers.
S.F.

 

[bud-wizer]

Re: PLEASE PLEASE HELP! IM STUMPED.

Well we all live and learn, I spent a couple of weeks reading a ton of material on this site. Do you have a convertible ballast, can you use MH on your setup? If not, well you've got two lights. Not the end of the world. Or auction it off? A convertible ballast is the way to go, just change the bulb for veg and flower.

Here's day 30 today (6 pots/7 Plants). Sorry for jackin your thread with a pic.

Actually, laughing a little, I don't know really what strain I've got here. My "Pharmacist" had the most excellent batch awhile back, he mentioned to me to keep the seeds for a future date, and I did.

I'm using the General Hydroponics line Flora series. I actually purchased before reading about many of the different nutes available. I can't say that I'm disappointed at this time, the plants look very green and healthy. I'm also using a 400 w MH lamp for this EcoGrower hyrdo unit that I have. It's setup as a 2x2 area. Basically I'm just getting my feet wet with hydro on this go around.

Finally, as an excellent "shout-out" to this great site, you should check out this specific section with a wealth of info!

How to Grow Marijuana Everything You Need to Know

Be well man!
Cheers.
S.F.

well mate they sure look amazing . i dnt mind u using my thread at all . its gr8 to see such healthy looking plants .
i hope this mh light comes with the ballast to b honest but yes i defo need a variable one . im goin to start looking for one after xmas is outa the way .lol.

ive got another question for ya .
if my res is reading 1250ppm and my run off water is reading 1150ppm does that mean my plants could take more nutes ?

 

[StinkFinger]

Re: PLEASE PLEASE HELP! IM STUMPED.

ive got another question for ya .
if my res is reading 1250ppm and my run off water is reading 1150ppm does that mean my plants could take more nutes ?

Thanks a ton!

Couldn't have gotten this far without the guys here, the journals and info. And most everyone is pretty friendly, only proper to "pay it forward".

Here's the deal on the nutes. And you may get a bunch of different responses, so take them for what they're worth.

You're strictly hydro right? So I'm assuming what you mean by run-off is what's in your reservoir? Or what's coming off of your feeding tubes?

When you mix your nutes (each week), that's really the only number that you need to be most accurate of. Most feeding programs want you to change the resovoir 1x/week with a new batch of nutrients. You could probably let it go for up to 2 weeks at the most. During the period between these changes, it would be expected for the nutes to loose strength, and also change your EC, this is all part of the chemical changes. To be honest, I don't even monitor my water at ALL during the week, I just make sure I have a fresh batch of water and nutes ready for change out on Sat night.

I've read a good number of journals here where people make themselves "batty" by trying to keep the PH and EC "stable" for the whole week, checking it in the morning, and at night, adding more PH Up or PH Down and more nutes. Once a week when you do the water change should be just sufficient. If you notice something going awry with the plants, then I would take some readings, etc.

Other than that...read up on when to flush between switching growth stages, and keep it steady.

Them weeds will grow!

S.F.

 

[bud-wizer]

Re: PLEASE PLEASE HELP! IM STUMPED.

nice info mate very sensible ,rite now im goin back and forward to the grow room say 20/30 times a day lol. im obsessed .lol . 2 ur question about where im testing the water . im testing the water in my run of tray that seperates my plants from the reservoir and that reads lower than befor its gone threw the plant . im guess im just trying 2 perfect the amount of nutes my plants r taking in and how much i can push them 2 . i surpose i should just watch my girls for bad signs and then dilute alitle if i see any . lol.

thanks a milion for ur help stink finger . hope to talk to u in the future . happy growing