this might be a dumb question but....

can anyone explain to me the process of topping off a res? i always just dumped and refilled in my flood and drain but after reading around on here i see a lot of ppl topping off in aero setups (what im trying now for the first time) so im not really sure how to top off the res

Find out what your ppm is for your plain tap water, always helpful to know for various reasons.

Add water to res, check ppm, calculate how much higher you need to go.
Slowly add nutes in correct ratios, keep checking the ppm each dose (make sure to let it mix up), stop 100 or so before your mark, check and adjust pH then give things time to stabilize. Check again later.

There's a formula somewhere to calculate approx. top off doses, but I forget where. x.x

In an aero set up you need to keep the misters covered.
Air stone set up,the water level should be very close to the pots.

Nutes and Nugs said:

In an aero set up you need to keep the misters covered.
Air stone set up,the water level should be very close to the pots.

Click to expand...

Dont think he's asking about the level lol. And in aero why would water level be up to pots? Think you are confused maybe, perhaps thinking DWC?

I dont top off very often as I find being a newb things are a bit easier to monitor by dumping and refilling but as uncle said just add water and nutes to original starting levels and yes add nutes slowly lol.

i thought i would just add 1 or 2 gallons at a time mixed to portion separately and then just add to rez. guess thats not the way to do it?

ag843 said:

i thought i would just add 1 or 2 gallons at a time mixed to portion separately and then just add to rez. guess thats not the way to do it?

Click to expand...

That's how I was doing it mixing it in a gallon jug but found to be much easier just topping the res off with Ro water , and say I dumped in a gallon of water I would then just follow my feeding chart for ml/tsp per gallon of nutes it's pretty simple, once you have done it a few times

Tone5500 said:

That's how I was doing it mixing it in a gallon jug but found to be much easier just topping the res off with Ro water , and say I dumped in a gallon of water I would then just follow my feeding chart for ml/tsp per gallon of nutes it's pretty simple, once you have done it a few times

Click to expand...

yea that makess sense as well. ty i'll try that

you'd generally change a res once a week. top off with plain water daily to keep res full. this replaces the water the plants use without spiking your nute levels.

cat of curiosity said:

you'd generally change a res once a week. top off with plain water daily to keep res full. this replaces the water the plants use without spiking your nute levels.

Click to expand...

what are you guys using to monitor the level of water being used? just est or are you marking inside of res?

my res was 40g, after measuring once i scratched a full mark into the plastic. my top off was auto, used a toilet float valve to keep res topped off without having to check daily. res change every weekend.

cat of curiosity said:

you'd generally change a res once a week. top off with plain water daily to keep res full. this replaces the water the plants use without spiking your nute levels.

Click to expand...

How big is your rez that you have to top it off daily? Sorry missed the 40 gal. Do you really think it necessary to fill daily? I dont have to touch mine until i dump it and nute levels only rise slightly. FYI my rez is 135 litres.

waterdawg said:

How big is your rez that you have to top it off daily? Sorry missed the 40 gal. Do you really think it necessary to fill daily? I dont have to touch mine until i dump it and nute levels only rise slightly. FYI my rez is 135 litres.

Click to expand...

i don't have to worry about it. once the level drops below two gallons, the float valve activates and the res is back to full,

If you keep your conditions right changing your res once a week is crazy . I change mine every 14-21 days just top off with water and feed her when the ppms hit a certain number , but remember I said under right conditions!!!

Tone5500 said:

If you keep your conditions right changing your res once a week is crazy . I change mine every 14-21 days just top off with water and feed her when the ppms hit a certain number , but remember I said under right conditions!!!

Click to expand...

Seems about half the threads I read reference changing every 7 days and the other half change 2-3 weeks. I prefer to do it once a week to ensure proper ratio's and its really not a huge deal for me to do it, call me crazy lol. Really what is the difference in doing it more often?

cat of curiosity said:

i don't have to worry about it. once the level drops below two gallons, the float valve activates and the res is back to full,

Click to expand...

Also it takes me the same amount of time to change and add exact same amount of nutes every time. Again call me crazy lol.

I was going to set up a float as well but never got around to it and after running the system I realized that it could go for a week without water levels getting to low. I also have an injection pump I was going to use for nutes as well when float activated. Maybe next year lol.

Yea if your using 50 gallon res and u dump it every week , seems like you would be wasting a ton of nutes , I don't no everyone has there ways no knock to ya , bro

I hear ya re: the nutes but if your adding back, not great at math, but would it not kinda be close to the same if conditions are right? And yes I did top up at first but honestly I'm kinda lazy lol, and found weekly changes easier. Also I buy my nutes from a manufacturer that bottles for name brand retailers (unique situation I know) so they are quite reasonably priced, about $50 gets me three or four complete runs. Oh thats until I have a weak moment and buy an over priced, over hyped additive from the overpriced hydro store lol.