When topping off water daily- Just Water??

After doing a lot of research I was wondering if people are just topping off daily with just water to the original water level? I see some people are saying using 1/3's worth of the nutrients and others day just water because plants drink a lot of waters but the nutrient levels stay pretty stable. Also the water you are adding in do you have to readjust the ph of that water before adding it back?

Also when you are draining weekly, what do you do with your plants while u drain the water?

Top off with water and measure after. If its less than your starting/desired feed adjust. If its more and you fill to the same spot all the time then i'd back off on the nutes a hair.

Adjust pH after.

As far as weekly change-outs......what system are you running?

The answer is 'it depends'. If you're running a small nutrient reservoir relative to the growing mass of plant material, then you'd likely want to run nutrients in your topups. Drain to waste coco is the extreme example, where a premixed nutrient solution passes through the root zone once and that's it.

The other end is big tub RDWC, where in a well balanced system days can go by without the need for adjustments, simply because the large volume of nutrient solution slows any changes, and the plants are taking up nutrients at nearly the same contain as the solution itself.

http://www.growboxusa.com/cart/hydroponic_grow_boxes/stanley_hydroponic_grow_box_w_cloning_chamber


This is the system I was going to run with the Ebb and Flow. I do not have the ability to build myself and I can afford the box. I also like the fact that it has a PH auto balancing system with a extra water reservoir just incase im on vacation for a few days. This is for hobby only too just fyi.

I was going to get a PPM gauge for the nutrients, are there any nutrient levels you are not suppose to go below?

ALso im reading I should measure in EC but when putting nutrients in its done via PPM? I have tried to read as much as possible and this is the only area thats still a little grey because I don't have any of the nutrients here to look at and see what measurings they call for. I know I should ramp up from seedling to veg to flower.....

EC is preferred because its the same across all meters

firsttimeARE said:

EC is preferred because its the same across all meters

Click to expand...

Correct info and here is a link to help you convert PPM to EC and vice versa. Not you but all readers.

https://4hydroponics.com/site/convert-ppm

And you can print this. HANDY. My Hanna was obviously different than the Bluelab Truncheon.

Go learn a little more about ppm. 0.1EC=50ppm @ the .5scale = 70ppm @the .7 scale = 1CF. Try to always use EC, or if using PPM list it as [email protected], or [email protected], depending on what scale you are using, it helps to avert confusion.


So lets say you mix a new res and set it at 1.0 ec. Next day the water level is down but ec is up to 1.2, the plants are drinking water but not nutes, so top up with plain water to bring it down to say .9EC. Let say the next day it's up to 1.0ec they are still drinking more than eating..so top up with plain water to 0.8 EC. Keep doing this until your EC stays, relatively , stable compared to water usage, i try to keep it within a 0.1 range..

Conversely, lets say you mix a new res and set it at 1.0 ec. Next day the water level is down and ec is down to .8, the plants are drinking and using a lot of nutes, so top up with a nute solution to say 1.2ec. Let say the next day it's down to 1.1ec, they are still eating heavily..so top up again with nutes to say 1.3EC. Keep doing this until your EC stays, relatively , stable compared to water usage, i try to keep it within a 0.1 range.

IDK how to easily explain mixing of top up nutes..it dependent on nute strength and res volume. Let's use a 10gal( appx 38L) res for an example, all math is done by Litres. In my case i know 1ml/L of my base nutes=0.7EC. Assume a nute strength of 0.7EC, but we're shooting for 1.0EC. So to bring a res of 10 gals(38L) up 0.3ec, I'd add 1ml/L for the 2 top up gals to bring that water to the base 0.7 EC. Then I'd add 1/2 ml\L( 19ml for 38L res) for the total res volume to that 2 gals, which would equal an additional 0.3 EC/L for each gallon in the res. So at this point your 2 gals of top off should be about 1.4EC..adding 2 gals of 1.4 ec to 8 gals of .7 EC should avg out to be about 1.0EC.

.I think my math is right, someone want to review this ^^ and confirm it or not..