Hydro questions from a noob

[Coyster]

I am going to start my first hydro grow soon. I’ve read and read and read and feel fairly confident but there is one thing I still don’t understand.

I get that you check the TDS and feed based on that but what I don’t understand is how to make your solution have the proper ppm.
For instance, say I test and find that my ppm is low so I know I need to add nutes. Do I add full strength, half strength? Add a little at a time and keep testing until I get the desired ppm?

Also, say my water has 100 ppm and I want a 1000 ppm solution, would I actually make it 1100 so the water is not included?

Last question is type of water. I read that tap water is no good because of chlorine etc, is this true? Do I need to buy reverse osmosis water or something like that?

[GotGibson420]

Just started myself. I buy RO water. I live in a place where our water is very hard. I so far have only had to adjust the pH on a daily basis. The nutrient solution never drops below the roots. So I only do feeding once a week. I learned the hard way not to cut the cal/mag in half, I ran into a calcium deficiency. Also I was not diluting my pH adjustment solution before adding to my DWC. This was causing a calcium lockout also. I use a General Hydroponics trio+ cal/magic and a seaweed extract supplement. My ppm tests right on when following their schedules. Good luck

[smoorman]

My 2 cents

Use tap water and a dechlorinator from the fish store. If your tap water has ppm's above 250 or so then you may want to re-consider using it.

Measure the ppm of your tap water and Calmag. Nutes should be in addition to those numbers. Add small amounts of straight non-diluted nutes until you've reached your target ppm.

Measure the water in your hydro system. If it is rich (high ppm's) then make the next nute addition a little weaker. If it's lower than you're adding then you probably aren't adding enough nutes.

Always pay attention to your ph values.

Other people here will have much more to say and probably more experience than I to base it on.

Enjoy!

[gbauto]

Welcome, Coyster.
I've been growing in rdwc for 5 years now.
The basics of a happy system are stable nutes( I run Jacks 3-2-1 dry nutes), decent water, tools to monitor ph and ec, and buffers to correct ph.
Unless your tap water is wretched, just allowing it to sit will dissipate chlorine.
If you don't have a means to control rez temps, running a sterile system with pool shock will make it easier to keep everything happy.
I find that most of the strains I run are happy when I run them @ 1.6ec(800ppm 500scale) but ultimately, you need to let the plants tell you what they want.
You will see rapid changes in new growth with hydro, so use that to help see if the plants need an adjustment.

[YYCannabis]

I don’t believe that targeting a specific ppm of 1000 is the way to go. Watching your plants and learning what they are telling you, is what’s needs to be done. One growers “guide” to nutes and lights is only a guide, not the rule. Each growers space and technique is different, and the plants have varying needs. As a gardener it is our job to watch what the plants are saying they need.

My water is chlorinated and is 250ppm out of the tap. I don’t worry about the chlorination since the bubbling in the reservoir will get rid of it in only a few minutes.

[DW2]

Howdy Coyster, I'm currently finishing up my tenth hydro grow. I am using GH MaxiGrow and MaxiBloom with some of their supplements.I use the city tap water, the small amount of chlorine in it is not enough to harm the plants. I use the GH feeding schedule (from the GH web site for the nutrient and method used) and I use pH test strips to monitor and adjust the pH of the water and feed solution. I always get a little 'nute burn' by the end of the grow, but feeding half strength nutes is like having a Ferrari nd never getting it out of first gear!

[YYCannabis]

Agree. I only do partial strength nutes for the first couple of weeks of veg. I like your Ferrari analogy.