Reservoir Changes

[Puffin Afatty]

:) Howdy fellow Puffins !!!

although I've been smokin for a while, I have undertaken my 1st grow...
I am growing Snow White from seeds I picked up in the Dam this spring...I am using a flood and drain system with a 15 gallon reservoir under a 430w phillips Sun Agro HPS...I started with ROD water and a 3:2:1 ratio of GH Flora nutes...once in bloom I switched to a 1:2:3 ratio and Floralicious Plus...My ladies are now blooming well and I was wondering how often I should change the nutes???

[caribbean_smoker_20]

As necessary...monitor your PPM.As the food is used up, the ppm will decrease

[RatherBBurnin]

If you dont have a ppm meter... you are looking to change every 7-10 days... round that area...

[Puffin Afatty]

I have a meter, and when the ppm rises I add rod water to bring it back to starting levels...I keep it at around 800ppm now...as the nutes get used, the res gets shallower...the addition of water just makes up for evaporation I figger and as soon as the res gets too shallow, I'll redo the nutes altogether...

I read somewhere that nutes need to be changed each week (made popular by those who sell nutes) and then somewhere else that they dont need to be changed until they are used up...

considering the ppm can be controlled, by adding water and then watching the res volume decrease while keeping the ppm constant, I just wondered if the ppm is acurately reflecting what is really in the nute solution...ie., is the balance of nutes the same now, as it was at start-up???

thanks in advance for your replies!!!!

[Growdude]

, I just wondered if the ppm is acurately reflecting what is really in the nute solution...ie., is the balance of nutes the same now, as it was at start-up???

thanks in advance for your replies!!!!

This is exactly why you need to change out the rez, every 2 weeks for me.
The PPM might be the same but as the plants use N, for example, and uses up more and more, other elements that are not being used up by the plant are building up.
PPM is just total disolved solids not a brakedown of the solution.

[lax4wm]

This is exactly why you need to change out the rez, every 2 weeks for me.
The PPM might be the same but as the plants use N, for example, and uses up more and more, other elements that are not being used up by the plant are building up.
PPM is just total disolved solids not a brakedown of the solution.

Great post Growdude. Thanks.