Hydroponics question. Need help!!!!!!!!!

[viper]

Hi peeps, I am having trouble finding an answer to a question i really need to know and wondered if anyone on here could help me? I need to know how often i should set my timer for the water pump on my hydroponics unit. I have an altami 8 pot ( 11L pots ) hydroponics system and am using coco with a 600w hps lamp.

what i`m not sure is...............

1. what intervals shall i set the timer on for my pump?

2. how long should i leave the pump running so it gives the plants the right amount of feeding?

thats all i need to know for now so once again your help would be great.

thanks

 

[viper]

in other words how many times a day should i turn my pump on and for how long lol

 

[D9420]

not familiar with that sytem is it flood and drain, ebb & flow, drip system?

 

[Mr.PurplePumpkn]

alrighty viper, the easiest way to tell you this is not going to be " x " times for " X " amount of time....

For Flood & Drain

As a nooberton, You need to first; check the porosity and water retention capacity of your medium, ie

Water it, does the water immed. run out or does it take a whole pitcher of water before some trickles out the bottom, this will let you know the porosity and water retention capacity... the larger amount of micro pores the greater your porosity will be thus the larger water retention capacity, the larger number of macro pores the lower the water retention capacity? Do you understand....very basic soil science

If this is too complicated I would first start off with 3-4waterings a day, say for 10-15 min a piece depending on the stage of maturity... you dont want your roots sitting in non moving water or they will drown, but that 600 depending on how close may dry things up a bit throughout... you need to experiment man

:scared0016:

if you need more help it might be better to give some more specifics

plant maturity, system, retention capacity ( poor a cup of water over med. - how fast does it take to drain out - etc etc

 

[viper]

not familiar with that sytem is it flood and drain, ebb & flow, drip system?

arrow drippers

 

[viper]

alrighty viper, the easiest way to tell you this is not going to be " x " times for " X " amount of time....

For Flood & Drain

As a nooberton, You need to first; check the porosity and water retention capacity of your medium, ie

Water it, does the water immed. run out or does it take a whole pitcher of water before some trickles out the bottom, this will let you know the porosity and water retention capacity... the larger amount of micro pores the greater your porosity will be thus the larger water retention capacity, the larger number of macro pores the lower the water retention capacity? Do you understand....very basic soil science

If this is too complicated I would first start off with 3-4waterings a day, say for 10-15 min a piece depending on the stage of maturity... you dont want your roots sitting in non moving water or they will drown, but that 600 depending on how close may dry things up a bit throughout... you need to experiment man

:scared0016:

if you need more help it might be better to give some more specifics

plant maturity, system, retention capacity ( poor a cup of water over med. - how fast does it take to drain out - etc etc

ok will do. i`ll be keeping my 600 24" above plants

 

[D9420]

i made a DIY drip sytem using net pots and hydroton and i let it drip constantly. had real good results thats what worked for me. your gonna have to check the medium for moisture and figure out how long it takes to dry out between waterings.

 

[Jalisco Kid]

I do not know what arrow drippers are but if they Have emmitters slowly dripping like 1-2 gal/hr I would toss them. I run my feeding in coir with mature plants at 2 cups a min for 15 min. Slowly will allow salts to build up. 24" is to far unless seedling just popped. What I would do is use a container similar and fill it with the same medium. Water it the same as your plants. Turn sample container upside down and look to see how wet it is.Before you want to water again check the sample one more time. Some go by weight I need to see it. Young plants drink very little and maybe once a day will be enough, in the summer on flowering plants I might cycle 8x a day. JK