What's the longest time you can keep your res without topping off?

[Fandangle]

5 x 13 gallon DWC units. I res change and fully clean setup and environment every 4 weeks, so with my veg time about 4 times per grow.

I do this for cleanliness more than anything. Hydro setups should be kept as clean as possible in my experience.

 

[klx]

In a perfect world, best practice would be constant monitoring of ppm and ph, then complete dump and refill of nutirnet minimum weekly.

To get delicious buds you could absolutely fill your huge tank, set the EC high and the PH low and ride it out for the whole flower. The key would be working out the correct EC for the volume of the tank so the water and EC drop at about the same rate. That would take 2 cycles for a clone to get it dialled I reckon.

It just depends how much work you can afford / can be bothered to do. Or just follow the big legal hydro grows in the US these days, they can afford to do the R&D!!

 

[Keesje]

It just depends how much work you can afford / can be bothered to do. Or just follow the big legal hydro grows in the US these days, they can afford to do the R&D!!

I do vist some commercial hydro growers, though not in the US.
They use such professional and advanced meters, that they can check what precise element is used by the plants.
And they only refill that certain element, for example iron or calcium.
So not only is the EC in their huge reservoirs always at the best level, it has also always the perfect balance in elements.

 

[klx]

I do vist some commercial hydro growers, though not in the US.
They use such professional and advanced meters, that they can check what precise element is used by the plants.
And they only refill that certain element, for example iron or calcium.
So not only is the EC in their huge reservoirs always at the best level, it has also always the perfect balance in elements.

Thats the perfect scenario. Zero waste.

 

[Keesje]

Thats the perfect scenario. Zero waste.

It is.
Of course they have to check every day, and sometimes even several times a day.
But no changing of water and such things.

I do read at some posts that people use Advanced Nutrients line called 'pH Perfect Connoisseur'.
The manufacturer claims that you don't need to adjust the pH if one uses this.
It is pricy though...
I am always skeptical when brands claim to have found something extremely new, but perhaps they are telling the truth.
Wondering if it does work the way they claim.

 

[cheemo]

It is.
Of course they have to check every day, and sometimes even several times a day.
But no changing of water and such things.

I do read at some posts that people use Advanced Nutrients line called 'pH Perfect Connoisseur'.
The manufacturer claims that you don't need to adjust the pH if one uses this.
It is pricy though...
I am always skeptical when brands claim to have found something extremely new, but perhaps they are telling the truth.
Wondering if it does work the way they claim.

I have a friend that just started his first grow using the ph perfect nutes, he explained that you never have to ph because when it's all mixed to the instructions it would stay perfect. he calls me a few weeks later saying he's having some issues with yellowing and I ask him what his ph, temp, and humidity is and he says he hasn't checked ph but everything else is good. he checks his ph...8.4

 

[Keesje]

he checks his ph...8.4

Oops!
I do not know to much about AN pH Perfect yet, but isn't it like you should also use it only when you have RO-water?
Or at least water with an original low pH?

 

[cheemo]

Oops!
I do not know to much about AN pH Perfect yet, but isn't it like you should also use it only when you have RO-water?
Or at least water with an original low pH?

I don't know, he never mentioned anything about it requiring using RO water, but says his tap water is 7.3, he never mentioned his ppm or EC. I think the shop that is selling it to him are kind of out to lunch, when he asked them why his ppm was always rising they told him to add more nutes. I told him that was bad advice in my opinion, but I have no experience with the ph perfect product and any advice I could give him would be guessing at best. they also told him to run his ph between 6 and 8. also suspect advice.

 

[Keesje]

A lot of people who work in those shop are not the smartest people.
At least, where I live.

 

[cheemo]

seems like a lot of different juices, but no matter what your water ph is it will end up at 5.7 ish

https://www.advancednutrients.com/products/base-nutrients/

 

[Hydro4life]

It is.
Of course they have to check every day, and sometimes even several times a day.
But no changing of water and such things.

I do read at some posts that people use Advanced Nutrients line called 'pH Perfect Connoisseur'.
The manufacturer claims that you don't need to adjust the pH if one uses this.
It is pricy though...
I am always skeptical when brands claim to have found something extremely new, but perhaps they are telling the truth.
Wondering if it does work the way they claim.

Sure does!

 

[Hydro4life]

Oops!
I do not know to much about AN pH Perfect yet, but isn't it like you should also use it only when you have RO-water?
Or at least water with an original low pH?

Nope

 

[Hydro4life]

I don't know, he never mentioned anything about it requiring using RO water, but says his tap water is 7.3, he never mentioned his ppm or EC. I think the shop that is selling it to him are kind of out to lunch, when he asked them why his ppm was always rising they told him to add more nutes. I told him that was bad advice in my opinion, but I have no experience with the ph perfect product and any advice I could give him would be guessing at best. they also told him to run his ph between 6 and 8. also suspect advice.

Ive used it on my tap water of 8.5 ph!! Drops ph to 5.7 - 5.8 every time even at quarter strength. I no longer use a ph meter. And have left it in a larger res for over 2 weeks with no deficiencies. (In veg) my understanding is that ph perfect is chelated so even when ph eventually drifts DO NOT adjust ph as nutrients are absorbed at a much wider ph range. Really good base nutes in my opinion and takes a shit load of work out of it.

 

[Hydro4life]

And yep, he gave bad advice. If ppm is rising DO NOT add more nutes. It means the plant is drinking more water. Simply top res up and ppm will come down. Simple. If this goes on too long i personally would recommend a res change as their may be salts building up.

 

[Hydro4life]

A lot of people who work in those shop are not the smartest people.
At least, where I live.

Hahaha. I've heard alot of stories about dumb sales reps lol.

 

[Hydro4life]

Depends

In a perfect world, best practice would be constant monitoring of ppm and ph, then complete dump and refill of nutirnet minimum weekly.

To get delicious buds you could absolutely fill your huge tank, set the EC high and the PH low and ride it out for the whole flower. The key would be working out the correct EC for the volume of the tank so the water and EC drop at about the same rate. That would take 2 cycles for a clone to get it dialled I reckon.

It just depends how much work you can afford / can be bothered to do. Or just follow the big legal hydro grows in the US these days, they can afford to do the R&D!!

Depends On the environment and any fluctuations that would cause more or less uptake from the plant/s I reckon. The same clone will take in more water to nute ratio in different stages of the flowering period also

 

[southernguy99]

And yep, he gave bad advice. If ppm is rising DO NOT add more nutes. It means the plant is drinking more water. Simply top res up and ppm will come down. Simple. If this goes on too long i personally would recommend a res change as their may be salts building up.

Yes you are right he gave bad advice because he doesn't understand hydro or have enough knowledge of what could have been going on. But his advice could have saved a lot of trouble or just prolonged it.

as a general reply to some of the posts above

First off PPM is not an accurate way of running a rez its should only be regarded as a broad guide line or reference for measuring solution,its actually an inferior method. but its cheap, readily available whereas, do it properly is expensive and not so readily available.

So in turn people rely way to heavily on PPM, PPM only gives you the total concentration of the solution, and different Ions have different strengths,It doesn't differentiate between the different ions, proper growing is not about total concentration of the solution.

nutrient ion activity has the most direct influence on plant growth period. nutrient ion sufficiency ranges or the amount of total available ions to the plants. otherwise balanced solution with optimal ion ranges. There is a big difference between ionic activity and concentration

nutrient ion activity is the total amount of nutrient available to the plant vs PPM total concentration of ions, the longer a solution goes the more imbalance it becomes and the less ion activity you have. measuring ion activity or individual ions is not cheap, a lot of work and not readily available. Thats why the alternative method is weekly rez changes, to maintain the ion activity.

but people say I only change it every month or once or twice a grow and everything is fine, well there is a simple answer for that, its because your plant grow is far inferior to what the system can produce, so you basically cripple by, by adding some nutes here and there and water tops off. once your able to dial in your maximum plant grow which will equal maximum ion activity uptake you will understand the relationship between maximum ion uptake and the maximum ion output of the system and then you will understand why weekly rez changes are needed.

 

[Keesje]

You are absolutely right.

But it would be nice to find a sweet spot where..
A. the inbalance in the nutes does not hurt your yield/grams
and
B. the amount of work you put into it.

 

[Hydro4life]

Yes you are right he gave bad advice because he doesn't understand hydro or have enough knowledge of what could have been going on. But his advice could have saved a lot of trouble or just prolonged it.

as a general reply to some of the posts above

First off PPM is not an accurate way of running a rez its should only be regarded as a broad guide line or reference for measuring solution,its actually an inferior method. but its cheap, readily available whereas, do it properly is expensive and not so readily available.

So in turn people rely way to heavily on PPM, PPM only gives you the total concentration of the solution, and different Ions have different strengths,It doesn't differentiate between the different ions, proper growing is not about total concentration of the solution.

nutrient ion activity has the most direct influence on plant growth period. nutrient ion sufficiency ranges or the amount of total available ions to the plants. otherwise balanced solution with optimal ion ranges. There is a big difference between ionic activity and concentration

nutrient ion activity is the total amount of nutrient available to the plant vs PPM total concentration of ions, the longer a solution goes the more imbalance it becomes and the less ion activity you have. measuring ion activity or individual ions is not cheap, a lot of work and not readily available. Thats why the alternative method is weekly rez changes, to maintain the ion activity.

but people say I only change it every month or once or twice a grow and everything is fine, well there is a simple answer for that, its because your plant grow is far inferior to what the system can produce, so you basically cripple by, by adding some nutes here and there and water tops off. once your able to dial in your maximum plant grow which will equal maximum ion activity uptake you will understand the relationship between maximum ion uptake and the maximum ion output of the system and then you will understand why weekly rez changes are needed.

Yes he shouldn't be in that position giving shit advice like that southernguy. And I do totally agree with you on everything you said but the homegrower like myself (And I presume yourself?) depend on a ppm meter to tell the total concentration of nutes in our res. That's where knowing your strain and reading your plant is crucial. You could go out and buy $100,000 worth of gear but is it financially viable to most people. No.

 

[klx]

Yes you are right he gave bad advice because he doesn't understand hydro or have enough knowledge of what could have been going on. But his advice could have saved a lot of trouble or just prolonged it.

as a general reply to some of the posts above

First off PPM is not an accurate way of running a rez its should only be regarded as a broad guide line or reference for measuring solution,its actually an inferior method. but its cheap, readily available whereas, do it properly is expensive and not so readily available.

So in turn people rely way to heavily on PPM, PPM only gives you the total concentration of the solution, and different Ions have different strengths,It doesn't differentiate between the different ions, proper growing is not about total concentration of the solution.

nutrient ion activity has the most direct influence on plant growth period. nutrient ion sufficiency ranges or the amount of total available ions to the plants. otherwise balanced solution with optimal ion ranges. There is a big difference between ionic activity and concentration

nutrient ion activity is the total amount of nutrient available to the plant vs PPM total concentration of ions, the longer a solution goes the more imbalance it becomes and the less ion activity you have. measuring ion activity or individual ions is not cheap, a lot of work and not readily available. Thats why the alternative method is weekly rez changes, to maintain the ion activity.

but people say I only change it every month or once or twice a grow and everything is fine, well there is a simple answer for that, its because your plant grow is far inferior to what the system can produce, so you basically cripple by, by adding some nutes here and there and water tops off. once your able to dial in your maximum plant grow which will equal maximum ion activity uptake you will understand the relationship between maximum ion uptake and the maximum ion output of the system and then you will understand why weekly rez changes are needed.

No shit Sherlock. You are stating the obvious without any context. Most growers are in illegal states / countries, doing everything in secret, plus working a normal job, plus having wives, children, families, an actual life, its not a matter of the absolute best way to do things, its a matter of thinking ok, if I change my res weekly and everything else will be the same, then this tray will produce how much extra? Then, add in the time it takes to do nute changes, they are not done in 5 minutes, does that make sense to me? Plus you only have a 12 hour window each day. In a perfect world everything would be different.

There is more to it than weekly is the best way.

You are absolutely right.

But it would be nice to find a sweet spot where..
A. the inbalance in the nutes does not hurt your yield/grams
and
B. the amount of work you put into it.

Exactly, and this will be different for everyone, so there is no best way, there is only the right way for your situation.