NVGrower
Well-Known Member
Newbie to newbie. Here are some things I've learned about hydroponics so far.
Hydro and soil are different when it comes to pH and nutrient absorption. With soil we've all been taught the magic number is 7.0 pH
In hydroponics the range is 5.5 to 6.3 pH with a target of 5.80 pH
If your pH isn't in that range. Your plants get locked out of absorbing key nuetirients.
1) Tap water is not 5.5 pH and needs to be adjusted with far more mL pH Up than reverse osmosis water. Tap water varies city to city: visit your cities water website for full reports on the levels of certain things in you water: magnesium and calcium are touted big time for hydro and some tap water has it and some doesn't: that's another reason to get a water filter system; skewed PPM from tap water minerals.
2) The problem with chasing pH is you add to the PPM of the resivor. Skewing the PPM from dropping on a digital reader (ppm drops if the plants eating the nutrients) and you don't know what your nutrient count really is.
3) Make sure you buy nutrients for hydroponics and not for soil. Make sure they have all the correct micronutrients. I am using Foxfarm for hydroponics and Voodoo juice for roots beneficial bacteria.
Don't use fertilizer just because it's liquid. That doesn't mean it's broken down to be absorbed outside of soil. You plant won't get what it needs to.
4) Get your lights as close to the plant tops as possible without burning the plants.
5) Buy a material like a tarp space blanket and cover your tubs. They repel light and keep algea from growing.
6) Clean your tub with water and hydrogen peroxide and run your equipment with it and then flush it all of contaminates. Make a calendar alert in your phone to do this each week.
7) Your resivors water tempature needs to be stay in the 60s -- because it's cold outside I ran a 4" duct fan through a 4" Mylar insulated A/C line into an unused 3.75" hole on the top of my resivor and pump the cold air into it from outside: it goes through an expensive air filter first. I average 66-64* F.
8] Use half of the required nuetirients solution they say to or you'll go way over your resivor PPM. Use more as your plants get bigger.
9) Don't mess with them and leave them alone. My plants are two weeks into it and the roots are abundant already, they're going to go crazy.
10) Roots should be white beautiful strings that glow white. Water should be clean and clear. Root rot is prevalent. The more oxygen the better and the less light and heat the better for a clean stable resivor.
11) If your pH is rising and your PPM is dropping this is normal. It shows the plants eating the neutrients and thus making the water more alkaline, the rising pH.
If you pH is steady and your PPM is increasing. You should top off your resivor with water pH adjusted. It'll drop your PPM back into your required levels almost immediately.
What can you add to this Rollitup?
Hydro and soil are different when it comes to pH and nutrient absorption. With soil we've all been taught the magic number is 7.0 pH
In hydroponics the range is 5.5 to 6.3 pH with a target of 5.80 pH
If your pH isn't in that range. Your plants get locked out of absorbing key nuetirients.
1) Tap water is not 5.5 pH and needs to be adjusted with far more mL pH Up than reverse osmosis water. Tap water varies city to city: visit your cities water website for full reports on the levels of certain things in you water: magnesium and calcium are touted big time for hydro and some tap water has it and some doesn't: that's another reason to get a water filter system; skewed PPM from tap water minerals.
2) The problem with chasing pH is you add to the PPM of the resivor. Skewing the PPM from dropping on a digital reader (ppm drops if the plants eating the nutrients) and you don't know what your nutrient count really is.
3) Make sure you buy nutrients for hydroponics and not for soil. Make sure they have all the correct micronutrients. I am using Foxfarm for hydroponics and Voodoo juice for roots beneficial bacteria.
Don't use fertilizer just because it's liquid. That doesn't mean it's broken down to be absorbed outside of soil. You plant won't get what it needs to.
4) Get your lights as close to the plant tops as possible without burning the plants.
5) Buy a material like a tarp space blanket and cover your tubs. They repel light and keep algea from growing.
6) Clean your tub with water and hydrogen peroxide and run your equipment with it and then flush it all of contaminates. Make a calendar alert in your phone to do this each week.
7) Your resivors water tempature needs to be stay in the 60s -- because it's cold outside I ran a 4" duct fan through a 4" Mylar insulated A/C line into an unused 3.75" hole on the top of my resivor and pump the cold air into it from outside: it goes through an expensive air filter first. I average 66-64* F.
8] Use half of the required nuetirients solution they say to or you'll go way over your resivor PPM. Use more as your plants get bigger.
9) Don't mess with them and leave them alone. My plants are two weeks into it and the roots are abundant already, they're going to go crazy.
10) Roots should be white beautiful strings that glow white. Water should be clean and clear. Root rot is prevalent. The more oxygen the better and the less light and heat the better for a clean stable resivor.
11) If your pH is rising and your PPM is dropping this is normal. It shows the plants eating the neutrients and thus making the water more alkaline, the rising pH.
If you pH is steady and your PPM is increasing. You should top off your resivor with water pH adjusted. It'll drop your PPM back into your required levels almost immediately.
What can you add to this Rollitup?
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