Newbie to hydro. Meter/Monitoring ?

[plutok420]

First off sorry if this has been answered before. I am excited to try hydro. So far there is one topic that I can't seem to understand when reading various articles on the web. Is there a simple chart to follow on what the ph, ppm or ec should be during each stage a plants life? Is it true that ec is better than ppm? I read that in one of the articles. I see on the bottles on what strength of nutes to add at the various stages but dont know how to use a ppm/ec pen to see if all is as it should be. Any help? I just started listening to the podcasts and look forward to learning. So far they are great.

Thanks!

[Cyclonite]

EC and TDS are pretty much the same...TDS just gives you an estimate of what the PPMs are.

PH always try to stay 5.8

Roughly with GH 3 part

Seedling - 200ppm (Assuming a 0 base)
Vegetative - 750ish
Flower - 1400ish

There is no set numbers some plants take more than others, the numbers I gave you should give you an idea though, generally bump it up till you get a little tip burn then back off a bit.

[plutok420]

Thanks for the information. I was coming back to the forum to let everyone know that Zandor did cover this in episode 4. I am still confused a bit but am learning. Thanks

[Zandor]

Here is a quick chart based on GH 3 part as the base NPK.

Remember if you are using RO water then you need to add CalMag Plus after you set your base NKP.

Hope that helps a little.

Peace

Z