PPM and Nutrients

[Gjohnstone]

Hello,

I would like to dial in my DWC buckets in a little better. If the nutrient company suggest for the ppm to be at 600 do I ad the starting PPM of the water to the total. Ie 600+200 =800 ppm. Thanks for the help!

[Mr.furley]

The ppm you are reading from your base water it part of the total 200ppm water + 400 ppm nutes =600 total ppm's.
what Nute line are you using and week are you in?

[Gjohnstone]

green leaf nutrients, mega crop, PK and candy, I am in week five of flower. Been good so far without checking PPM much but more then likely should be focusing on it

[Mr.furley]

Being that far along in a grow it is not going to be to important especially if your plant have been doing good to the point. Good practice though.

[Obi-Wan]

I’ve found that it will depend on what the composition of your tap water is as well as what nutrient line your running and what they include in their base.....take a second to digest that because it took me about 1 1/2 years to figure it out.

My municipal tap has a fairly high calcium content and calcium weighs heavily in the base ppm your looking for. I don’t subtract my tap ppm from my total anymore but I also don’t add a cal/mag supplement either. Get a solid report from your municipality that states what’s in your water. Pay close attention to the trace minerals. If your water supply contains proportional levels of these trace minerals then I would use less base to reach the desired EC/PPM. If your water is relatively barren of trace minerals then I would treat your tap water the same as RO water and start from zero by subtracting your tap EC/PPM from your total. Most base nutrient lines provide what your plant needs, some are designed for tap and some are designed for RO. They can all be used with both if you know what’s in the water you’re starting with.