PPM limbo. how low can you go?

I am not a proclaimed master grower nor am I a noob. I just have grown the way that i was taught too for years. Without alot of reason to get on the internet to join pot websites. So I was very suprised when I joined RIU to learn of the bolsterous claims of how high ppl run there PPM. My question is why? I see no reason to run anything over 1000ppm ever. I almost never run over 800ppm really. And I have super fat dense cola's and get the same yields that are claimed but the same guys that post that there ppm's are 1400 and up.

To me this seems like it would cause more problems than anything. Nute lock up's overfert ect. ect. I have grown alot of strains this way Indica, Sativa, hybrids.
Is it just a pissing contest? Or the good ole internet bragging. To me it seems like a HUGE waist of money. You can pack your res full of all the nutes you want but the plants are not going to take it if they dont want it.

So I cant be the only one out here who isn't caught up in the more is better idea. So if you are one of those growers this isn't the place for you I am wanting to talk to the ppl who think less is way more. And the recipes they use for great yeilds.

Well I cant speak for the guys that run high EC, I've often wondered the same thing. My guess is that some nutes are just quicker to be taken up by the plant than others. For instance, ammonium nitrate will give you quicker burn than say calcium nitrate. something like calcium carbonate could probably go pretty high before it caused any nute burn. For me, I'll run with 420 ppm and save money.

FEEDING WHITE WIDOW(light feeders thou) NOW just starting week 4. e.c 1.3 and thats with pk13/14 and cal/mag or in coco to. might at most max out at 1.5.. as im only adding 0.5 mill to a liter of pk13/14. might takes this to 1.5

stupid caps.. sorry

Oh, and when I went through my run 1000 ppm period I only fucked up most of my plants. some strains handled it better than others, and the ones furthest from the light suffered less. I've had a maui and a lemon skunk that still produced OK nugs while being overfed.

I was reading up on EC levels in tomatoes, turns out hydro growers often add table salt to the mix to bump up the EC. they claim a better tasting tomato out of a plant fed a very high EC, and a bland tomato from a lightly fed plant. made me wonder if the best EC lies somewhere between my 420 ppm and the overfed clawed plant of a 1400 ppm grow.

Well here is where the noob in me comes out. I dont follow EC mainly because I have never studied this. I just use the PPM number when I change my res out. But to tell you the truth its just a tool. Almost always I will add something this does not mean just nutes sometimes its plain water after the res change depending on what my plants tell me they want. And I also do the unthinkable, at week 4 I give them 72hrs of Ph'd water only till they yellow only slightly. Then back to the nutes.