BluBerry
Well-Known Member
I have read that the res should be changed not just to get fresh water, but also to make sure the nutes are in the right abundancies. For example if say you are using a nute that is 5-5-5, but for some reason your plants are wanting more nitrogen at a certain point in time, it seems like you would quickly run out of nitrogen, and only adding more nutes when you top off wouldnt fix the problem.
That being said if there arent any problems or deficiencies than this works totally fine and is way easier, but i could see how it could create problems.
Personally I stopped changing my res every week, and have been changing it every 2 weeks during flower, but i am going to try to get away without changing it the last month because it is a huge bitch. so far so good.
Next time ill definitely have a different setup with a pump and an exterior res.
Nitrogen loss is a common problem during flowering anyways but at least with my method I am not dumping the nitrogen or veg nutes out of the rez and adding new flower nutes. I kept the veg nutes in the rez and added the flower nutes to the ext rez so they blended together when I switched to flower and since have been adding only flower nutes. So I guess it comes down to a personal choice but I have not had any problems with not changing my rez weekly or bi-weekly as I add the nutes and check the PPM in the ext rez. My ladies look pretty healthy I think. I do not know the scientific specs or anything on the issue but I do know what has worked for me and not having to change the rez every 1-2 weeks makes growing a little more enjoyable.