First DWC. overwhelmed with names and chemicals and additives

[Aqua Man]

I’m still a tad iffy about it. Trust issues. I feel like something as important as ph needs to be bang on. No fking around.

I’ll give this pen a shot and see how it goes.

Definitely can replace with something more reliable. But you can verify that pen with those solutions as much as needed until you get one

 

[PK1]

And now ya have a ph pen... Definitely better than nothing bro.

lol, he still had the ph sticks, but the pen is allot better. one thing to note is that if you look at the graph he posted on where the nutrient levels start and end. ph at 5.5 is the start of nitrogen. IMO this puts the plant at the higher level of nitrogen consumption which involves in his dark green leaves which is the stress point and abilities to tip burns.

 

[Aqua Man]

lol, he still had the ph sticks, but the pen is allot better. one thing to note is that if you look at the graph he posted on where the nutrient levels start and end. ph at 5.5 is the start of nitrogen. IMO this puts the plant at the higher level of nitrogen consumption which involves in his dark green leaves which is the stress point and abilities to tip burns.

Idk depends one the fert ratios and concentration.

 

[PK1]

I’m still a tad iffy about it. Trust issues. I feel like something as important as ph needs to be bang on. No fking around.

I’ll give this pen a shot and see how it goes.

you can always use the ph sticks to double confirm the reading until you get a proper ph pen but honestly i use kinda the same one but its just adjustable.

 

[airedog]

im showing pics of it.
Now that I look. Not much at all. The 4.0 was almost bang on.

the 6.86 read as 7.1 so that’s off by like 5% almost.

Are you rinsing the meter with fresh water between stages? Can you check the calibratin solution with a second meter? Are all your solutions within a close temperature range, is your rinse water at room temperature?

 

[User59204626117]

Yes. Flinging the water off then dipping into distilled water.

no second meter

yes they’re the same temp. Rinse water was 4 degrees colder

 

[airedog]

Then you may need to look at budgeting for better quality meters. Doesn't matter how good your nutes or other gear is, if you don't have the ability to reliably and consistently measure and run within a reasonable solution strength/temperature/pH range all the rest will be for naught. Personally, i like BlueLab, they're robust and reliable in my experience.

I run in RDWC so i like to have a constant reading, so i use a Blue Lab Guardian, for rooting and starting seedlings those connecting cables and power supply are a bitch so i went with their pens. I haven't used the soil probe on the Guardian yet so i can't comment; my wife is fond of her Kelway though.

 

[dusty68]

I run a rdwc also and have been through tons of pens and those stupid strips. Blue lab is one and done. Very important to check my ph daily depending on the size of the girls.

 

[Aqua Man]

I run a rdwc also and have been through tons of pens and those stupid strips. Blue lab is one and done. Very important to check my ph daily depending on the size of the girls.

Love my bluelab... have an apera also and its served me very well now for a couple years. I upgraded and lent mine to a buddy. I still verify it once every couple weeks for him and its still holding steady. I definitely like the sponge in the cap of the bluelab over the cap of of the apera.

I agree bluelab and done.

 

[airedog]

FWIW, i've found that my Blue Lab Guardian was happier when run on it's own dedicated cct. It was one of the reasons i went breaker per duplex box when the grow space was wired as part of a reno. 8 duplex boxes - 8 breakers.

Definitely don't want to run them off one of those extension strips with a GFI and surge protection, i ran humidity and temperature controllers off one of those for convenience and all were fine but the meter. Similarly, leaving the probes too close to air diffusers or pump discharge flow can also mess with readings.

 

[User59204626117]

I can afford the blue lab. I’m just bitter. And nothings working out. I finally bit the bullet. Found a good price $119cad. Ordered online. they didn’t ship. So I cancelled. Went to grow store. They would match their price. Had none in stock. It’s gonna be a week.

I’m trying to get one

 

[Aqua Man]

I can afford the blue lab. I’m just bitter. And nothings working out. I finally bit the bullet. Found a good price $119cad. Ordered online. they didn’t ship. So I cancelled. Went to grow store. They would match their price. Had none in stock. It’s gonna be a week.

I’m trying to get one

Have to enjoy the times bro....every day your learning and that will continue for a long time. I learn something everyday.

It gets easier and you seem to have the drive and attention span to really do well. But don't be to critical, this is your first grow and your asking thw right questions and sucking up the info. You will be just fine.

 

[User59204626117]

Thank you. I appreciate that.

looking ahead in the next few weeks.

How does my water change work? when do I know to change it?

Any other small details I should know?

does the water need to sit bubbling in a separate res for a few days to evaporate chlorine?

obviously don’t want to temp shock the roots. What’s the max temp swings roots like?

 

[tobh]

every day your learning and that will continue for a long time. I learn something everyday.

It gets easier and you seem to have the drive and attention span to really do well. But don't be to critical, this is your first grow and your asking thw right questions and sucking up the info. You will be just fine.

Church. The day you stop learning, you might as well keel over and call it done.

And further on the quote, you're doing just fine man. Money comes and goes. Sometimes it's an expensive commodity but more will follow. Don't fret on a few dollars, especially if invested in something you've shown so much investment in to this point.

Time is the only currency more of cannot be acquired. Or whatever the old adage is.

 

[tobh]

Thank you. I appreciate that.

looking ahead in the next few weeks.

How does my water change work? when do I know to change it?

Any other small details I should know?

does the water need to sit bubbling in a separate res for a few days to evaporate chlorine?

obviously don’t want to temp shock the roots. What’s the max temp swings roots like?

The general consesus is ideally you don't change a res, you only top off. That being said, I haven't hit the glory land in that regarding in four months of hydro. I change roughly biweekly.

Start with a fresh full res, add silica, pH to 6.5, add nutes, pH to your target pH.

You've got the small details you need, you know what you're doing at this point.

No need to bubble water if you're not doing a live res. Hell, even in a live res, the chlorine levels are inconsequential imo. sure, they'll hit existing beneficial bacterial cultures (in a live res) but I don't see it being a huge issue, YMMV.

lower temps = higher dissolved oxygen. sure, they might get a little butthurt if you dump 50F water on the roots when they were used to 70F but it won't be consequential enough to cause issues.

 

[User59204626117]

Ok so topping off. When do I top off? And with what? What if there was a ton of nitrogen left in the res still and I add even more? Or what if the silica is all used up and there’s still other stuff remaining. I’m then adding silica to an already nutriented mixture which is wrong as it’s supposed to go first into just plain water. So how does that stuff work?

 

[Aqua Man]

Ok so topping off. When do I top off? And with what? What if there was a ton of nitrogen left in the res still and I add even more? Or what if the silica is all used up and there’s still other stuff remaining. I’m then adding silica to an already nutriented mixture which is wrong as it’s supposed to go first into just plain water. So how does that stuff work?

Lots of ways but fool proof is once you have added back the total volume of water of the system you do a full res changeout. Now this is only how I recommend doing it especially if new.

How to do add backs... have a read here. It sounds more complicated than it is. But you want to keep a log. After you get it all down (and it is alot to learn) you can change and try new things. If you find that to complex for top ups then I can give you another EZ method for new growers. It's more wasteful but honestly there is a lot to learn so maybe the easiest is the best to start with.

DWC, RDWC and RECIRCULATING SYSYEM TOP UP EXPLAINED.

Ok I'm going to explain a more complex way of maintaining our systems for those looking to use best practices (IMO only) There are many ways this can be done but I feel this gives the most stability for PH, PPM, NUTRIENT RATIOS (super important) especially is systems with a low water volume. So...

www.thcfarmer.com

Next to aeroponics i consider DWC/RDWC to have the biggest learning curve as when shot goes wrong it goes wrong fast.

 

[User59204626117]

Yup I’ve read that top up thing. It’s pretty straightforward. I love numbers and math so I can basically do all that mentally.

maybe I’m overthinking it and tired but I still don’t get how you tell what’s used and what’s not when adding another blast of the full line of nutrients.

 

[User59204626117]

You say your system was down to 510ppm in the example... 510ppm of what? Is this where nutrient deficiencies and burns come into play?

Maybe that’s the nutrient ratio that you’re referring to?

Also. In your example. You say your res went down 3.5 gallons. How did you determine this? How are you measuring water loss in your system?

 

[User59204626117]

Ph this morning was 6.0 and ppm was 666. All sixes across the board