Im so lost on the TDS/ppm thing. How is this done? with a meter i check the solution after ive added a quarter strength nutes then it gives me a reading? what if its to high. im just confused trying to find a good post on the basics on how to do this and the supplies I need so i can go get them.I redact my statement... Not everyone NEEDS a TDS
Novice hydroponics growers have more of a need of a tds meter, once you learn your plants you won't need it, but if you got no idea what you're doing its probably a good investment
400-500 is a good start for clonesA good baseline to start around is somewhere in the range of 1200-2000 PPM, assuming you are starting with low PPM to begin with. See how your plants respond.
is this accurate?Yes ppm is what's in you're water and
Let's you measure how much nute you're plant can take or not what ever you do don't go with what listed on the bottle of nutrients to use go 1/4 the strength they say to use if you don't have a meter it can be a tricky to not over feed you're plants
Thank you for a detailed response. Going to only use RO water. My ph is way off which I read can be affected by tap water as well.Basically what you need to know is that pure water will have a PPM of zero. If your tap water has a high PPM(i would say over 500, but that's debatable) on its own, you may want to look into a reverse osmosis filtering system, or buying RO water. A good baseline to start around is somewhere in the range of 1200-2000 PPM, assuming you are starting with low PPM to begin with. See how your plants respond. Test the res regularly. If the PPM is going up, that means your plants are taking in more water than nutes. Lower the nutes in the next batch. If the PPM is going down, the plants are taking in more nutes than water, raise the nutes in the next batch.
becarefull with your readings different brands give different readings, mines a Hanna ppm meter but its got a different reading to others for some reason?? There's charts on the web somewhere to help you,,,okwhy is it so important to regulate ppm, and is it necessary all the time in hydroponics? and what is it regulating the parts per million of?
https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=86504441FBEC366E!162&authkey=!ABpcOck0hlbqB8E&v=3&ithint=photo,pngwhy is it so important to regulate ppm, and is it necessary all the time in hydroponics? and what is it regulating the parts per million of?
Thats a pretty good explanation there, about as to the point as you can get! /commendPPM is actually the electrical conductivity of the nutrient solution. theres KCl/ NaCl/ 442...
each @ different conversion factor of the electrical conductivity (can be either 0.5 or 0.7).
so useful for sucessful hydro gardening. if PPM in ur resevoir decreases, your plants are hungry = more nutes
if PPM rises, your plants are full and drinking more water than nutes = less nutes.
I suggest having all the tools needed for a job BEFORE starting itI have been growing since long before there were internet forums and books to read and all of the thousands of products that are out there now. Some how I have always managed to do ok. Sure I've had my problems along the way but learned from my mistakes. PH and PPM are important yes and your plants will let you know when things are not right. My advise is to keep your money in your wallet 90% of the products out there that are supposed to magically solve all your problems are nothing but a way to turn your cash into someone else's cash. Do your homework and choose your experts wisely.
Tools are a must. That is true trick is to choose the right ones. All I'm saying is that growing in the 70s we did not have all the fancy bells and whistles that are available today but somehow we managed to grow some nice bud both organic and hydro. Imagine that hydro long before there were any hydro nutes available. How did we do it?? All that fancy expensive shit out there is worthless without the knowledge to use it and if you have enough knowledge you will realize that you don't need all that shit to be successful.I suggest having all the tools needed for a job BEFORE starting it