What is a PPM meter and how important is it for your grow?

deejay123

deejay123

Well-Known Member
Yo boys & girls!

Many people seem to have mixed opinions on PPM meters, i personally havnt got one my self but everything seems to be going ok at the minute. Im currently in coco and keeping my PH at 5.8 and the girls seem to be liking it. Alot of people say they are essential but then other people say as long as your PH is in check then you should be fine. What does one do? I might invest in one! What are your views?? :)
 
postedup610

postedup610

Well-Known Member
measures how many parts per million are in your water...In a nut shell it tells you how many particles are in inside of your water on a scale. Most growers use them to determine how pure their water is after filtertraion or Reverse Osmosis treatments, and to use them to determine how strong or weak ones nutrient solution is. So in week one flower you may want to keep your nutrient solution below 700PPM, but in week two maybe your plants would tolerate 750 or 800PPM. PH is more important of the two IMO, but it is nice to have a ppm meter to determine when you need to replace filters and the membrane in an RO, and to see how strong of blends one is making. Anyone else is more than welcome to chime in.
 
BBB1974

BBB1974

Active Member
With coco, it's more about the type of water you are starting with (soft, normal or hard water). As you add nutrients it increases the ppm of the now mixture. If your ppm's get too high, your plants won't like it. If you can check the ppm levels of your water and know what they are (they will be the same all the time obviously), and it's not "hard" water, you should be just fine. I'm starting with distilled water for my grow which has 0 ppm, but eventually I'll get tired of buying it and will want to use my tap water. So.......I'm actually picking a meter up tomorrow ;)
 
postedup610

postedup610

Well-Known Member
BTW that whole scenario of what PPM weeks 1 or two should be at was just an example to show you how one might use a PPM meter...Im not saying keep your solution at 700PPM for week one just to clarify.
 
postedup610

postedup610

Well-Known Member
BBB1974 said:
With coco, it's more about the type of water you are starting with (soft, normal or hard water). As you add nutrients it increases the ppm of the now mixture. If your ppm's get too high, your plants won't like it. If you can check the ppm levels of your water and know what they are (they will be the same all the time obviously), and it's not "hard" water, you should be just fine. I'm starting with distilled water for my grow which has 0 ppm, but eventually I'll get tired of buying it and will want to use my tap water. So.......I'm actually picking a meter up tomorrow ;)
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You should just pick up an RO and save yourself some money.
 
deejay123

deejay123

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the info guys! The water i use is normal to soft i would say, not hard at all. I duno if i should buy one. Obviously every strain is different so there cant be a "set ppm" for any stage of the grow could there? My girls dont really like a lot of nutes to be honest, im only feeding 13ml of canna A&B, 10ml of rhizo and 5ml of calmax and they are nice and green
 
BBB1974

BBB1974

Active Member
postedup610 said:
You should just pick up an RO and save yourself some money.
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Ok, but if my tap water end's up being fine in terms of ppm, then I save even more money..lol A 4L jug of distilled water is only $1 anyway and my grow is small (5 plants) ;)
 
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