Lights and nutrients

Stink Bug said:

i didn't mean beginner contents. I agree it's complete. I meant it more as ease of use and results.

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chemphlegm said:

your plant will only grow to its weakest resource.
if your light for instance is your weakest resource then of course your plants will require less nutrients to thrive to their potential.
cool thing is you already know ever necessary resource now decide which one you're going to short your plants, that one will be your limiting factor, no matter what you do nothing will improve until that does.
higher heat means faster/greater metabolism, more nutrients, more light, more c02 more water too, but does this mean to increase your heat? no ! not unless you can also provide all the new necessary resources in a timely manner.

my first harvest was with a 400 watt mh, I followed directions, full strength with technaflora, then AN, no issues at all. I had ac, heat, dehuey, c02 also. I put all this into a huge room and repeated the success. full strength per directions these performed very well.
my 1k lights penetrated my canopy even deeper, so I could grow bigger yielding plants...they didnt require stronger ppm's though.
hope that puts things in perspective for you

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Calicode said:

That's exactly what my local guy said. Should I order the $10-$20 meters off of Amazon? His start at $50 in store.

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kingtitan said:

I have tried many PH meters in the last 15+ years ( I do saltwater aquariums also). I have tried expensive ones, mid grade (blue lab) and many cheap ebay/amazon china pens.

Expensive ($300+) are very nice
Mid grade ones I was not a fan of for the value and maintenance.
Cheap ones are pretty much useless EXCEPT the Milwaukee Instruments Ph600 at around $25

I have been using this model for Aquarium, Hot Tub and Grow for a long time, probably 10 years now (I am on my second Ph600, i sold my last one with my old grow gear). I know there may be some not so good reviews on this model but I can tell you that it takes a lot to break it.

I have left this thing without lid in the summer sun for 2 days, I have used RO water testing (yeah it kinda broke but it came back to life after a 4.0 soak, don't measure RO water folks!). I constantly let the probe dry out and the thing keeps chugging.

It does need to be checked before using most of the time as reviews say but I have found the calibration goes off a bit onlu if the lid is not put back on right away within minutes. Air seems to throw it off within 10 -15 minutes.

TDS meters are dirt cheap, i have been using my 10 dollar one since 2001. It was a chinese ebay item, works good and has temp as a bonus, but the Fahrenheit conversion math is really bad and off by 20 or so LOL (ironic?) so I only use the Celcius setting

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kingtitan said:

I have tried many PH meters in the last 15+ years ( I do saltwater aquariums also). I have tried expensive ones, mid grade (blue lab) and many cheap ebay/amazon china pens.

Expensive ($300+) are very nice
Mid grade ones I was not a fan of for the value and maintenance.
Cheap ones are pretty much useless EXCEPT the Milwaukee Instruments Ph600 at around $25

I have been using this model for Aquarium, Hot Tub and Grow for a long time, probably 10 years now (I am on my second Ph600, i sold my last one with my old grow gear). I know there may be some not so good reviews on this model but I can tell you that it takes a lot to break it. its a single point calibration which makes it nice, though i keep both 7 and 4 solutions just to test the probe. I store in the 4.0 solution also ( no need to school me on this )

I have left this thing without lid in the summer sun for 2 days, I have used RO water testing (yeah it kinda broke but it came back to life after a 4.0 soak, don't measure RO water folks!). I constantly let the probe dry out and the thing keeps chugging.

It does need to be checked before using most of the time as reviews say but I have found the calibration goes off a bit onlu if the lid is not put back on right away within minutes. Air seems to throw it off within 10 -15 minutes.

TDS meters are dirt cheap, i have been using my 10 dollar one since 2001. It was a chinese ebay item, works good and has temp as a bonus, but the Fahrenheit conversion math is really bad and off by 20 or so LOL (ironic?) so I only use the Celcius setting

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since1991 said:

The cheap pens and meters are just fine. Especially for dope growing. As long as you do routine cleaning and calibration. Just fine. Like all pH pens..never let the glass probe/junction dry. Never used deionized/r.o. water to keep them hydrated. You will be fine. The ppm/ec meter is much less finicky. More robust. All they do is measure the electrical conductivity of the salts in your water (salts = fertilizers) and give this to you in a number. If you interpret this number (sometimes on a certain scale but I would stick with true EC numbers)...you can figure out how strong to make the fertilizer depending on what stage your plants are in and how they are doing. Believe me...it is WAY simpler than it sounds. Once you get over the jargon..you will see. Just use the cheaper costing pH pens and ec meters for now. Like I said...keep them clean and the pH calibrated often. Most EC meters need little calibrating if at all. Now you got that out the way I highly suggest you start with 3 to 5 gallons (final pot) of simple Promix HP or BX for a substrate. All this is is a peat/perlite soilless mix and its perfect for beginners and pros alike. Grows fat buds just fine. And finally..dont let anyone talk you into anything but a simple bottled Grow and Bloom hydroponic (complete) nutrient. I always suggest a super simple one part too. Like Ionic Grow and Ionic Bloom. Or Dynagro Grow amd Bloom. Nothing else. No boosters. No root stimulator. No kelp. No humics. No silica. None of it. Your new. Your trying to limit variables and you have enough of those with your skill level..strains..and the overall growroom environment.

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