Testing Individual Dissolved Nutrients in a Hydroponic System

[Serapium]

Hello all. Looking for some help. I built a 4,000 gallon 270 plant RDWC system for commercial cultivation. Running into an issue I didn't anticipate.

Generally in DWC I would change out the reservoir on a bi-weekly basis and re-dose with the proper nutrient ratios for whatever stage of growth I'm in at the time.

However, doing so with 4,000 gallons isn't practical. That means I need to manually monitor and adjust individual macro and micro nutrients as the plants progress through the growth cycle.

I've found a few labs where you can send a water sample to, but they're excessively expensive. Also found a few test kits, but anything under $1,000 doesn't seem to give the accuracy needed (more like a range of low/medium/high, not an actual measurement.

Lamott makes one that is $350 but it only tests for NPK, not the micronutrients.

Any suggestions for me? Thanks in advance.

[BaccaRacca]

Giving a business perspective here. Don't cut costs on quality control. Invest the money in a quality test kit. Looking at your numbers, isn't ~$4 a plant worth it to assure consistency, quality and success? And that's just cost on your first grow.


BR

[FlyingDutchPaddy]

Out of curiosity, what would testing equipment cost that can measure NPK and the micro nutrients?
might be a substantial upfront investment cost but you would have your own testing equipment and not be dependent on other labs.

with added convenience of being able to test any time you want and get results almost immediately, you’d be able to make adjustments to the nutrient solution before problems show up.

FDP

[Serapium]

Giving a business perspective here. Don't cut costs on quality control. Invest the money in a quality test kit. Looking at your numbers, isn't ~$4 a plant worth it to assure consistency, quality and success? And that's just cost on your first grow.


BR

Yeah, it's on the list of things to purchase. Eventually I have my eye on a high dollar piece ($3800) but can't get there yet. This is the first run in the system, and we're still on a pretty tight budget. I was hoping someone was familiar with a more budget friendly item that also tests micronutrients. I just can't find one.

[Serapium]

Out of curiosity, what would testing equipment cost that can measure NPK and the micro nutrients?
might be a substantial upfront investment cost but you would have your own testing equipment and not be dependent on other labs.

with added convenience of being able to test any time you want and get results almost immediately, you’d be able to make adjustments to the nutrient solution before problems show up.

FDP

Cheapest option I've found so far is north of $2k. I'll eventually invest in a good unit that uses spectrography and refractometers to measure individual micronutrients with a colorimeter, but by the time I have all that set up I'll be well into 5 figures. Just not in the budget yet.