fartoblue
Well-Known Member
I haven't read all of the posts on this thread but here's my twopeneth. I had some great advice from "Dr. Who" a few months ago. I have followed this advice and tweaked it to my own setup and plants, so far this seems to be working fine. Everything looks healthy and happy.
I have 2 x 200 litre rez grows, each has a 200 litre top up tank gravity fed through a float valve (ballcock).
I fill my rez up with everything I want in there to 1.6 ec and 5.8 to 6.2 PH (if it is within this PH range I don't adjust it). I am 2.5 weeks into flower.
I then fill my 200 litre top up tanks with tap water (in my case it is zero - 0.2 ec straight from the faucet 7.2 PH), firstly I add cal.mag to 0.5 - 0.6 ec, I then add nutrients to just over 1/2 the rez strength (somewhere around 0.9 - 1.0 ec in my case @ 2.5 weeks into flower). If it is under 6.5 PH (in the storage tanks) I don't adjust it
As soon as the 200 litre storage tank has been used up or in 2 weeks time whichever comes first I do a rez change and do just the same again until I am in the last few weeks when I only add water and cal/mag to the storage tank (in other words as soon as the rez has used up its volume in added nutrient solution or in 2 weeks time I change out). I don't add any boosters or anything to my storage tanks just nutes, I do put additives into the main rez at every res change. When I res change I flush the system with clean water to remove the residual old nutrients and test the ec until it is 0.2 before I refill the rez.
I adjust the nute strength in the res itself. With this technique (in my setup) my rez strength seems to stay stable or drops slightly every few days.
I run top feed 60/40 coco/clay in 20 litre pots recirculated (24/7 recirculating pump water falling back into main res). My storage tanks are also recirculated 24/7 with a small pump from bottom of tank to top and water falling back just to keep them fresh. I DO NOT have any air stones anywhere.
This works well for my setup but if your roots are in the main rez water then it may be more complicated adding nutes directly to the main res you may be better off adjusting the storage tank which IMO would take to long to get into the system. I suppose you could add it to the main rez very slowly. The flushing of the system before a refill would also probably cause problems (this (and root rot) is why I will never put roots into a rez ever again, I know it works for some but for me RDWC roots in res was a nightmare for over a year)
This is just how I have started to do it and it works for me and my setup, not telling people how it should be done as I don't have the experience to advise anyone (only been growing around 3 years).
I have 2 x 200 litre rez grows, each has a 200 litre top up tank gravity fed through a float valve (ballcock).
I fill my rez up with everything I want in there to 1.6 ec and 5.8 to 6.2 PH (if it is within this PH range I don't adjust it). I am 2.5 weeks into flower.
I then fill my 200 litre top up tanks with tap water (in my case it is zero - 0.2 ec straight from the faucet 7.2 PH), firstly I add cal.mag to 0.5 - 0.6 ec, I then add nutrients to just over 1/2 the rez strength (somewhere around 0.9 - 1.0 ec in my case @ 2.5 weeks into flower). If it is under 6.5 PH (in the storage tanks) I don't adjust it
As soon as the 200 litre storage tank has been used up or in 2 weeks time whichever comes first I do a rez change and do just the same again until I am in the last few weeks when I only add water and cal/mag to the storage tank (in other words as soon as the rez has used up its volume in added nutrient solution or in 2 weeks time I change out). I don't add any boosters or anything to my storage tanks just nutes, I do put additives into the main rez at every res change. When I res change I flush the system with clean water to remove the residual old nutrients and test the ec until it is 0.2 before I refill the rez.
I adjust the nute strength in the res itself. With this technique (in my setup) my rez strength seems to stay stable or drops slightly every few days.
I run top feed 60/40 coco/clay in 20 litre pots recirculated (24/7 recirculating pump water falling back into main res). My storage tanks are also recirculated 24/7 with a small pump from bottom of tank to top and water falling back just to keep them fresh. I DO NOT have any air stones anywhere.
This works well for my setup but if your roots are in the main rez water then it may be more complicated adding nutes directly to the main res you may be better off adjusting the storage tank which IMO would take to long to get into the system. I suppose you could add it to the main rez very slowly. The flushing of the system before a refill would also probably cause problems (this (and root rot) is why I will never put roots into a rez ever again, I know it works for some but for me RDWC roots in res was a nightmare for over a year)
This is just how I have started to do it and it works for me and my setup, not telling people how it should be done as I don't have the experience to advise anyone (only been growing around 3 years).
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