Plants are taking in more water than nutrients after week 3 flower defoliation

Hey guys. I have these monster cropped clones in week 4 flowering right now. Ever since I defoliated during the previous week at week 3, they are drinking more water than taking up nutrients. At week 3, my ppm was 1000 ppm and now it’s at around 800 ppm. I haven’t added any bloom nutrients at all and just been topping off the reservoir with fresh water and can’t seem to dial in the “sweet spot” between nutrient and water intake. The rule of thumb is to add water if the ppm raises and ph lowers right? Well ever since that week 3 defoliation, the ppm and ph have been behaving in that manner which makes me think that the plants wants more water. They look healthy and the budlets/buds are developing and growing bigger. No leaf discolorations, curling or anything. It’s just weird to me that these monster cropped clones are behaving this way because they came from clones in which I had the ppms at 1100 ppm from early flowering to 1600 ppm during late flowering. However, those clones were not monster cropped. My setup is a recirculating hydro setup and I’m not using r/o water. Is it possible that these plants can just thrive on water and little nutes? Why are they not taking up nutrients the same way as the previous non-monster cropped clones? Am I just worrying for no reason? Any suggestions or info would be help. Thanks and peace

Update: Hello everyone. Since this thread is pretty dead and nobody suggested anything to me (lol), I ended up diagnosing the problem myself. I noticed a little bit of nute burn on some leaves so I figured that the issue I was having was probably nutrient lockout or something. I flushed the plants, re-did the nutrient mix at a light mix of 600 ppm and behold, the plants are eating again. No crazy ppm rise and ph fluctuations. I may go higher next week but for now, I rather they starve and quickly recover than have too many nutes again. I went from 900-1000 ppm at week 3 to 600 ppm at week 5. Apparently these ladies like their ppms lower in flowering than compared to their predecessors. But I guess no one plant is the same even if clones of clones. The moral of the story, my friends and fellow growers, is that your plants will tell you what they need or don’t need. You just have to look out for the signs and do your own deductive reasoning. Happy growing everyone and peace