New Grower ec vs ml per gallon

[wwwillie]

I would say yes. EC would be what I would / will use for hydro. (once I get there!)
I use a cheap TDS meter to record what I mix for my nutrients. I follow the chart by the manufacturer although they don't list the ppm individually they do list the total, (Hmm.. Just thought about that.) Anyways the way I do it is to take a reading on the water and record that, then add one of the nutrients and take another reading. I subtract the first reading and have the ppm of that nutrient. I add the next and take a reading, subtract, etc until I have added all my stuff. I am pretty sure that I have a good measurement of each ingredient and the total is close to what was recommended. That leave me with a record of how many ml was added and how many ppm that made. I will say that through out it was fairly consistent too. IOW if I added 4.9ml CaMg+ I would get 400ppm + or - 30 or so.
Helped that helped and did not confuse thing!!

 

[wg]

EC is the standard for hydro because it lets you know what's going on. Your reservoirs EC is 1250, your water is going down, your EC is now 700 with less water - you know the plants are absorbing nutrients.

Your EC is 1550, your water is going down and your EC is rising - you know your plants are drinking but not absorbing nutrients.

EC/PPM/TDS all give you an idea of the level of salts in your solution so you know the strength they're getting. There's no buffer between the salts and the plants besides the water you add them to. It allows you to have complete control over how much the plants are eating which is a good and bad thing depending on the results you're getting.

I've only grown hydro twice, once successful and once unsuccessful (heat in RDWC caused a lot of root rot).. and the only two things I can tell you for sure is EC/TDS and pH are crucial if you want any sort of realistic result. Understanding them, their application and what they should be at during different stages of plant growth will make an extreme difference in your finished product.

 

[Smokechoke]

I would say yes. EC would be what I would / will use for hydro. (once I get there!)
I use a cheap TDS meter to record what I mix for my nutrients. I follow the chart by the manufacturer although they don't list the ppm individually they do list the total, (Hmm.. Just thought about that.) Anyways the way I do it is to take a reading on the water and record that, then add one of the nutrients and take another reading. I subtract the first reading and have the ppm of that nutrient. I add the next and take a reading, subtract, etc until I have added all my stuff. I am pretty sure that I have a good measurement of each ingredient and the total is close to what was recommended. That leave me with a record of how many ml was added and how many ppm that made. I will say that through out it was fairly consistent too. IOW if I added 4.9ml CaMg+ I would get 400ppm + or - 30 or so.
Helped that helped and did not confuse thing!!

well although it sounds like a small PITA it seems pretty damn accurate for sure. And no worries it made perfect sence to me as ill be sure to be keeping a nute journal and will start getting more in depth

EC is the standard for hydro because it lets you know what's going on. Your reservoirs EC is 1250, your water is going down, your EC is now 700 with less water - you know the plants are absorbing nutrients.

Your EC is 1550, your water is going down and your EC is rising - you know your plants are drinking but not absorbing nutrients.

EC/PPM/TDS all give you an idea of the level of salts in your solution so you know the strength they're getting. There's no buffer between the salts and the plants besides the water you add them to. It allows you to have complete control over how much the plants are eating which is a good and bad thing depending on the results you're getting.

I've only grown hydro twice, once successful and once unsuccessful (heat in RDWC caused a lot of root rot).. and the only two things I can tell you for sure is EC/TDS and pH are crucial if you want any sort of realistic result. Understanding them, their application and what they should be at during different stages of plant growth will make an extreme difference in your finished product.

sorry to hear about the rott issue, I dodged near catastrophe with that by adding nuted/phd ice cubes to the ress, also did it by freezing water bottles and putting them in the res as well.. I appriciate your responce as it further broke down the understanding of this whole learning curve, about ec/tds/ph being incredibly crucial I have all the tools at my fingertips as well as everything I would need to make a decent harvest, I just need to have a better understanding of what to use when
Examples you just gave in particular are things I need to be educated in...also with certain nutes needed when like to back off of N when shes too dark