[muzler83]

Hi guys, was just wondering how i should top up my res. Basically say i need my e.c. to be 1.5 and i set it at the beginning of the week. then after 2 days the res has gone down 5-10 ltrs and say the e.c. is at 1.4 what would i do? does the ec have to be maintained at 1.5 all week long till next res change or do i just top with water or half strength nutes? I under stand topping up full strength solution may cause inballance of certain nutes, but when i topped up using half strength my ec went down to 1.1 meaning for the remainder of the week it was too low and by the end of the week it had gone down to like 0.8
any help/advice on the sitch wud be most appreciated
nice 1

[hydro2]

Are they in flower or veg bud?

H2

[muzler83]

ive just switched to flowering

[muzler83]

ive kinda just been topping up half strength till now, but the reason im asking is coz the new growthy was looking a bit pale and thought it mite be some sorta def. what makes me think this aswell is the fact that the ec seems to be dropping, showing that they are eating a fare bit.

[sensiblue]

Try and keep your ec as stable as you can mate. If it's dropping at 1.5 try upping it to 1.6 and see if it stays consistent then. Good luck with it.

This post has been edited by sensiblue: 13 May 2012 - 08:17 PM

[Mr Bond]

Do you not have an e.c meter? If not they're worth every penny. Good luck mate

[muzler83]

thanks for the replys. yeah i have an ec meter. so basically if i want it to stay the same all week long, then when the solution drops in the res do i top up with full strength nutes? i mean say i set ec to 1.5 then 2 days later the waters dropped 5 ltr but the ec is still 1.5, wud i then just top up with 5 ltr of solution which also has an ec of 1.5, which in turn would keep the over all ec in the res 1.5? is this correct and would it not cause imbalance of certain nutes. soz to go on i just wana get it right. thanks guys

[Mr Bond]

muzler83, on 14 May 2012 - 09:24 PM, said:

thanks for the replys. yeah i have an ec meter. so basically if i want it to stay the same all week long, then when the solution drops in the res do i top up with full strength nutes? i mean say i set ec to 1.5 then 2 days later the waters dropped 5 ltr but the ec is still 1.5, wud i then just top up with 5 ltr of solution which also has an ec of 1.5, which in turn would keep the over all ec in the res 1.5? is this correct and would it not cause imbalance of certain nutes. soz to go on i just wana get it right. thanks guys

I know what you mean mate. . If youre readings are as they say then the plants are getting exactly what they need and are using water and nutez at the exact rate that they want too so they will be getting exactly what they need. How I top u,p is to top up with water first, leave a pump running in the tank to mix it all for 15 mins and then take another reading then add a small ammount of nutrient until I get back to the original reading, as you practise you get to know how much to add the first time. Every 2 weeks I dump the lot and make a completely fresh mix just so I know that everything is fresh..

[hydro2]

If the ec starts dropping, then add some more feed to your res to bring it back up to your desired ec, i.e 1.4/1.5 & if the ec starts rising then add some more water to dilute your nutes back down to your desired ec, all the time maintaining your desired Ph.

Hope this helps.
H2

P.s. Don't forget to change your res once a week/fortnight.

[madgiz]

hydro2, on 15 May 2012 - 11:49 AM, said:

if the ec starts rising then add some more water to dilute your nutes back down to your desired ec,

My link

[muzler83]

Thankyou for every1s input, think i understand now. also the roots are growing down into the res. im using nft gt 424. and its got to the point where i noticed a few roots heading back up towards the pump end! ive checked the bottom end and the gap where water runs back into res is almost blocked by roots! is this guna be a problem, is it normal? i just dont want it to become blocked and flood,! soz to go on. its my first grow and i swear ive hit every damn hurdle! thanks all