KrAzY80
Active Member
The size of your rez can play a role in what ppm you maintain from my experience in DWC. Meaning if your using a 50 gal rez than the balance of your nutrient changes very slowly over a longer period of time. If you are using 5 gal bubble bucket which actually is only 4 gal rez than your mix is dropping 1/8th - 1/4 of its original volume in 1 day so you can experience ph fluctuations and nutrient imbalance/salt buildup in 2-3 days, especially if your only using water add backs. PH and Lucas and few other ppl actually recommend mixing rez a little stronger therefore it stays within range even after diluting with water add backs. With a larger rez most nutrient will still be available in the proper range after a week or so because it gives you somewhat of a buffer due to the volume not being depleted so quickly. In short from my experience if you are using a small rez 1-5 gal than a stronger mix will benefit you when using water add backs and Larger rez 6gal and above for a single plant that uses 1/2 gal - 1gal a day can be maintained at a lower ppm that provides enough nutrients for optimal growth is sufficient because the initial mix is not being altered as fast. Its only using a small amount of nutrients a day out of a larger rez. Nutrient Add Backs work well with the larger rez as well because a 1-2 gal addback in a 50 gal rez isnt going to change the entire mix noticeably, only replenish nutrients slightly. Now a 4 gal rez being replenished with a 1 gal add-back will alter the entire rez alot and if your plant isnt using all of the nutrient in equal proportions than their is a good chance your going to experience a build up and/or deficiency in 1 or more nutrient within a few days. Basically with the bubble bucket you need to have your nutes dialed in before you can properly maintain the rez for an entire week with a hungry or thirsty plant. Dialed in meaning you need the water-nute uptake to be spot on everyday so you can add back the proper nutes. daily or mix a little strong and dilute with water daily and change when ppm raises and ph is unstable.
Something I have been experimenting with lately is add backs with base nutes and supplements. I have been told to only add back supplements once a week when maintaining a rez for a longer period of time and use the base nutes to maintain ppm throughout the week. But when doing that I have issues with def. especially if you use advance recommendation of a 1-1 ratio with the 2 part mixes. I got to thinking when I mix a fresh rez and add my supplements and base to reach my desired ppm I am adding more P and K from the supplements than what my base is providing in flower and if add back base through out week I am not giving the plant the extra P and K. So I have been increasing the B bottle nutrient which is 1-5-6 N-P-K to provide the extra P and K the supplements gave me. If I didnt do this than my P and K would dramatically decrease by the end of the week causing deficiency in those nutrients. Advance doesnt really give you an add back formula but just says to use base to maintain ppm, to me their is alot more to it than just maintaining a ppm.
Also another observation I have made when dialing in nutrient is that its not as cut and dry as having your ppm drop equally with the water uptake. Meaning PPMs staying the same each day while water level is dropping. I have found if you have a proper balance/ratio of nutes it will do that regardless of the ppm/ec. Example: I currently have a 8 gal dwc cooler with one plant using A/N Conny in wk 4-5 flower. I mixed rez at 770ppm/1.1EC and next day water level dropped 1 gallon and PH stayed at 5.8. I noticed I was experiencing a slight potassium deficiency so Im like shit should I add more big bud or just increase my entire formula up a notch to bring my EC to 1.3. Well I decided I liked my mix so I am going to increase everything at the same ratios and brought up to 1.35 EC/950ppm and the following day I took reading and water level dropped 1 gallon and EC and PH stayed at 1.35 and 5.8. So what the hell as long as I keep those ratios between base and supplements and increase everything proportionately I will only need to raise and lower according to what the plant is showing me whether it be a def or toxicity or happy. Im not sure yet but I do know just because the plant is eating nutes and water equally does not mean you are providing everything it needs or does not need. This isnt the first time I have done this either. I have been playing around with mixes for awhile and have ran into this same scenario with different results each time on other strains. I think that if you only mix minimal supplements each rez change that you can add back supplements each day if needed. I have also had it to where I used water add backs and it would drop 50 ppm each day and the nute to water uptake stayed spot on for 3 days in a bubble bucket so I recommend playing around with your mixes and addbacks but only make minor adjustments like 50 - 100 ppms difference to prevent over fertilization. If you notice water uptake decreases the next few days than dilute with water by taking out a gallon and replace with 1 gallon of H2O.
I know I kinda rambled but hopefully their is something useful in there for you
Something I have been experimenting with lately is add backs with base nutes and supplements. I have been told to only add back supplements once a week when maintaining a rez for a longer period of time and use the base nutes to maintain ppm throughout the week. But when doing that I have issues with def. especially if you use advance recommendation of a 1-1 ratio with the 2 part mixes. I got to thinking when I mix a fresh rez and add my supplements and base to reach my desired ppm I am adding more P and K from the supplements than what my base is providing in flower and if add back base through out week I am not giving the plant the extra P and K. So I have been increasing the B bottle nutrient which is 1-5-6 N-P-K to provide the extra P and K the supplements gave me. If I didnt do this than my P and K would dramatically decrease by the end of the week causing deficiency in those nutrients. Advance doesnt really give you an add back formula but just says to use base to maintain ppm, to me their is alot more to it than just maintaining a ppm.
Also another observation I have made when dialing in nutrient is that its not as cut and dry as having your ppm drop equally with the water uptake. Meaning PPMs staying the same each day while water level is dropping. I have found if you have a proper balance/ratio of nutes it will do that regardless of the ppm/ec. Example: I currently have a 8 gal dwc cooler with one plant using A/N Conny in wk 4-5 flower. I mixed rez at 770ppm/1.1EC and next day water level dropped 1 gallon and PH stayed at 5.8. I noticed I was experiencing a slight potassium deficiency so Im like shit should I add more big bud or just increase my entire formula up a notch to bring my EC to 1.3. Well I decided I liked my mix so I am going to increase everything at the same ratios and brought up to 1.35 EC/950ppm and the following day I took reading and water level dropped 1 gallon and EC and PH stayed at 1.35 and 5.8. So what the hell as long as I keep those ratios between base and supplements and increase everything proportionately I will only need to raise and lower according to what the plant is showing me whether it be a def or toxicity or happy. Im not sure yet but I do know just because the plant is eating nutes and water equally does not mean you are providing everything it needs or does not need. This isnt the first time I have done this either. I have been playing around with mixes for awhile and have ran into this same scenario with different results each time on other strains. I think that if you only mix minimal supplements each rez change that you can add back supplements each day if needed. I have also had it to where I used water add backs and it would drop 50 ppm each day and the nute to water uptake stayed spot on for 3 days in a bubble bucket so I recommend playing around with your mixes and addbacks but only make minor adjustments like 50 - 100 ppms difference to prevent over fertilization. If you notice water uptake decreases the next few days than dilute with water by taking out a gallon and replace with 1 gallon of H2O.
I know I kinda rambled but hopefully their is something useful in there for you
