Calibrate PPM Meter With Tap Water?

waterdawg

waterdawg

Well-Known Member
AlphaPhase said:
i'm confused to lmao, 450 does sound low, but as tightpockt said "That 250 isnt just nothing..it contributes to the overall "strength" of your nutrient solution." which makes sense, but also would leave the nutrient solution a little low. My advice would be to start low and add nutes until the perfect amount is being used for happy plants, and then see what the total ppm is, subtract the 250ppm after the max nute dose is reached, and see how much nute ppm is in there just for peace of mind. a total 650 ppm (including the water ppm) might be perfect for certain strains (at only 450ppm nute strength.) But some plants might be able to take a 1250ppm during veg (1000ppm nute strength) with no negative effects. Also, some ppm meters are different, some have an EC conversion of .5 and some have an EC conversion of .7, and that also makes a huge difference of what the ppm meter is reading, because one persons meter may read 500ppm, and someone elses meter may read 700ppm, in the same exact reservoir :???:
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AlphaPhase said:
i'm confused to lmao, 450 does sound low, but as tightpockt said "That 250 isnt just nothing..it contributes to the overall "strength" of your nutrient solution." which makes sense, but also would leave the nutrient solution a little low. My advice would be to start low and add nutes until the perfect amount is being used for happy plants, and then see what the total ppm is, subtract the 250ppm after the max nute dose is reached, and see how much nute ppm is in there just for peace of mind. a total 650 ppm (including the water ppm) might be perfect for certain strains (at only 450ppm nute strength.) But some plants might be able to take a 1250ppm during veg (1000ppm nute strength) with no negative effects. Also, some ppm meters are different, some have an EC conversion of .5 and some have an EC conversion of .7, and that also makes a huge difference of what the ppm meter is reading, because one persons meter may read 500ppm, and someone elses meter may read 700ppm, in the same exact reservoir :???:
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LOL!!! My pen is .5 but if stating ppm's it should all be the same i would hope. Yes I see lots of people running high pom's but every strain I do never seems to do well over 700 and yes thats again confused me??
 
tightpockt

tightpockt

Well-Known Member
I find tap water to be advantageous. It's like a free micro's supplement.
I have really good tap though. 167 ppm last i checked and consistent 6.0 ph +/- .2
If you have well water or high ppm's from the start thats another story.
so let's look at it this way. Say hypothetically your plant can tolerate 1500 ppm before it starts burning or stressing. If you start with 250 that means the other 1250 is your nutrients
(Npk + micros + ph up or down or whatever else you're mixing up)
that means if you use RO water with a 0 ppm starting point all of that 1500 that your plant can take can be nutrients of your choice.
If you are really that worried about it you could just add straight NPK using your taP water as the micros. you would really have to be familiar with your County water report for that though.

Keep doing your thing though..if its working.

I personally take the less is more approach. I believe healthy plants will produce as much if not more than ones pushed to the limit, just on the verge of toxicity or lockout.
These take time to recover from, time they should be spending building buds.
 
Alaric

Alaric

Well-Known Member
Hey all u potheads,

My take on this subject:

Feed your ladies all they can stand------until you start to c leaf tip burn-------a little is ok.

AlphaPhase----The most important element in hydro nutes-----is your starting water quality. Learn that my friend and it save you much "head scratching"

A~~~
 
AlphaPhase

AlphaPhase

Well-Known Member
lol @waterdawg my ppm meter is .7 conversion, so my meter would read different numbers than yours in the same reservior, so if you're using a .5 scale TDS, which its PPM is just another way to display an EC reading (I think). Basically .5 and .7 TDS readings is converting the EC into PPM. (I think)

I think this is the formula TDS meters use..
EC x .5 OR .7 (depending which meter you have) = ppm

So if the EC is 1.0

EC= 1 x 500 = TDS of 500ppm

or in my case my meter is a .7 conversion so it would be this:

EC= 1 x 700 = TDS of 700ppm

That's why PPM is confusing when people post about their PPM numbers, because some people are using .5 meters and others are using .7 meters. But EC is always the same, it's universal I think. Don't quote me though lol

@tightpockt and Alaric - you are both spot on, if tap water is good enough to use, defintiley use it, but if it's not too good RO seems to be the way to go for sure!
 
D

~Dankster~420

Well-Known Member
Thats pretty good. I sure wished my tap came out at that 6.0. Hell mine comes out 7.0 or higher. I go through allot of ph down sorry to say. lol
tightpockt said:
I find tap water to be advantageous. It's like a free micro's supplement.
I have really good tap though. 167 ppm last i checked and consistent 6.0 ph +/- .2
If you have well water or high ppm's from the start thats another story.
so let's look at it this way. Say hypothetically your plant can tolerate 1500 ppm before it starts burning or stressing. If you start with 250 that means the other 1250 is your nutrients
(Npk + micros + ph up or down or whatever else you're mixing up)
that means if you use RO water with a 0 ppm starting point all of that 1500 that your plant can take can be nutrients of your choice.
If you are really that worried about it you could just add straight NPK using your taP water as the micros. you would really have to be familiar with your County water report for that though.

Keep doing your thing though..if its working.

I personally take the less is more approach. I believe healthy plants will produce as much if not more than ones pushed to the limit, just on the verge of toxicity or lockout.
These take time to recover from, time they should be spending building buds.
Click to expand...
 
AlphaPhase

AlphaPhase

Well-Known Member
Dankster - My tap comes out at 6.6 and rises to mid 7's over night, The ppms range from 200-250, which isn't too bad, but definitely could be better, especially if the ph came out at 6 like tightpockt's I would be happy as hell lol
 
D

~Dankster~420

Well-Known Member
I hear that. My ppm's are a tad lower then yours. They come out around 150 - 160. with the higher ph. lol.
AlphaPhase said:
Dankster - My tap comes out at 6.6 and rises to mid 7's over night, The ppms range from 200-250, which isn't too bad, but definitely could be better, especially if the ph came out at 6 like tightpockt's I would be happy as hell lol
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mackdx

mackdx

Well-Known Member
Keep in mind that RO water isn't automatically 0ppm. My feed water is about 4,400ppm (really..) out of the well. My aquifer is high in Salt, manganese, hydrogen sulfide, iron, calcium, etc. I have a whole house RO system running a Filmtec XLE4040 membrane. The product water is still around 250 to 300 ppm. I haven't had it analyzed to see what is left over, but it tastes great and the plants seem to love it. Like others, I go by overall ppm without subtracting initial readings. Read your plants. PPM is just a confirmation.
 
waterdawg

waterdawg

Well-Known Member
mackdx said:
Keep in mind that RO water isn't automatically 0ppm. My feed water is about 4,400ppm (really..) out of the well. My aquifer is high in Salt, manganese, hydrogen sulfide, iron, calcium, etc. I have a whole house RO system running a Filmtec XLE4040 membrane. The product water is still around 250 to 300 ppm. I haven't had it analyzed to see what is left over, but it tastes great and the plants seem to love it. Like others, I go by overall ppm without subtracting initial readings. Read your plants. PPM is just a confirmation.
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Does your RO unit add back minerals? Some do as a function to add taste. A true ro filter with no add back should have a very low ec/tds reading. FYI that is the hardest water I have ever heard of :cry:.
 
mackdx

mackdx

Well-Known Member
My RO does not add back minerals. My only presumption is the XLE4040 membrane is a high production brackish water membrane and is not as good at absolute filtering so some minerals "slip" through.

I live about 10 miles from the coast and there is a few square mile area that suffers from the same water I do. My only guess is that sometime in geologic history, my land was part of a tidal inlet and our aquifer is essentially trapped and stagnant seawater. No doubt, it is pretty vicious in untreated form.
 
waterdawg

waterdawg

Well-Known Member
mackdx said:
My RO does not add back minerals. My only presumption is the XLE4040 membrane is a high production brackish water membrane and is not as good at absolute filtering so some minerals "slip" through.

I live about 10 miles from the coast and there is a few square mile area that suffers from the same water I do. My only guess is that sometime in geologic history, my land was part of a tidal inlet and our aquifer is essentially trapped and stagnant seawater. No doubt, it is pretty vicious in untreated form.
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Yukkk lol. I see mineral bath spa in your future
 
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