Who out there changes their res every week?

[Sgt.Stedenko]

Every 2 weeks in a small 2 gallon SWC bubbler.
Like Geo said, use the old nutes to water your veggies and house plants.
If res size and nute costs are an issue, consider Lucas.

 

[takeiteazy]

I NEVER used to change mine in 120l RDWC and all was fine for years until pythium hit me.

I now replace every 7-10 days and it's cleared.

 

[newgrower123]

Why not look at the feeding schedule for whatever nutes you are using and change when they tell you too.

 

[Sgt.Stedenko]

Do you follow the direction on your shampoo? Lather, rinse and repeat.
The nute schedules are designed to sell more product.

 

[FreezerBoy]

The nute schedules are designed to sell more product.

Hallelujah! Sing me the truth!

 

[Scrogerman]

Its definately important to change out the solution once the solutions elements ratios have been affected/diminished. Plants eats different elements in different ratios/amounts out of solution, so mearly topping up with fresh nutes as a constant isnt a good idea. Element balance as the solution started out, can only last as long as the solution is compatible for the plants/how its been feeding on the various elements etc. The bigger the Res the longer the solution will last & be balanced. Smaller Res's like 50-70ltrs i change out every 7-10 days, & element balance is restored, only the best for my girls, are they worth the extra expense, yes they are.

Using long term solutions 3-4 wks plus, how does one know how much of each element has been affected/assimilated etc by the plant, an EC meter will not give you this info, which is why imo its much better/safer to change out solutions to restore the element balance, once they've lived out their time. Ive never taken a 70litre Res much longer than 10 days, its about as far as id go. many nute lines, including Canna,Ionic,Vitalinkmax to name a few.
It makes sense to me, that a solution will have an optimal life span(according to element concentration/ratio's) per litre/gal, so i change out accrodingly. You dont start feeding on steak for a week to put on weight & end up on processed rubbish pumped full of water & still expect to put on weight, sure you know what i mean. Seems like a viable metaphor to me.(somewhere near)

Nute companies are robbing bastardo's for sure, but how plants eat different elements out of solution at different times/amounts, sorta puts this theory to sleep for me. unless your running large Res's its wise to change out & reset the balance of elements as required. complete reset of EC/element concentration.

Remember plants do not eat all the elements out of sols at the exact same ratios equally do they!¬)!!!!!
So where does the balance come from? it wont come from just topping-up, some plants Hog N, some Hog Mg etc etc. Thats why its recommended you change out imo, nute companies are robbers though, but i think they get enough from the original sales myself. Some companies are worst than others.
Optimal is one of my favorite words, i will get to optimal one day!
Word! Hydroheads!!!

 

[krest]

Do you follow the direction on your shampoo? Lather, rinse and repeat.
The nute schedules are designed to sell more product.

k+

 

[imadoofus]

id say once a month is more than sufficient.

 

[jacksprout]

did last grow with floranova in 115 gal res with top off water and addback to 1000ppms, never changed res with best results yet. just calculate how much nutes to get back up to 1000. hope this helps. ebb and flow by the way every 2 hrs. mosts roots ive ever seen coming out of net pots.

 

[DMTspice]

What's up everyone. This is my first official post other than one I made in the "introduce yourself threads."

Here's my two cents: Once a week seems to be too often. Once a month not enough. I think it's a safe bet to change your res out every 15 days. That's almost right smack in the middle.

I completely agree with the comment that the manufacturers recommended feeding schedule is aimed at selling more product. Hell, it makes sense from a marketing standpoint.

One final note- plants will let you know when they're sick- they show it. With that being said, I have not personally experienced sickly plants from 30+ day old nutrient solution.

 

[chosen]

Nice 1st post

 

[Chris1]

I top up with fresh cold water, and do res changes about every 10 days. I do this to up PPMs...My girls were at 550, drank about 4 gallons over the week, and with top ups+girls eating, ppm dips down to 400. Instead of guessing how much of nutes to top up with, I just start fresh and get it exactly where I want

 

[GuerrillaRed]

My god that's wasteful. Personally with how expensive and how shady I feel going to a Hydro Store I like to conserve my nutes. Re-filling several 5 gallon buckets every week translates into burning a lot of money on nutes. I only change my reservoirs when I switch from veg to flower. Even then I've let some buckets go without ever changing out the water. And truthfully I see no difference, the plants are still happy and growing just as hard as when I was changing out the res regularly when I first started. As long as you got your water chemistry in check, you're dialed in, and you keep a clean environment, I see no reason to be so wasteful.

Granted I would recommend changing your water out once a month.

 

[Doyu]

Once a week would be way too expensive. I usually change it 3 or 4 times per grow (my strain is 10 weeks to flower) depending on how ambitious I am.

 

[ambertrich]

Dongle69 only used to change her res when going from veg to flower, and she got 14# out of 6KW in her coco grow with SSH. Freakin awesome for an aircooled grow with no CO2!

Yep, ol' Donge69 had it dialed.

Change out maybe once during a grow, since I use Maxibloom throughout there is no change in nutes from veg to flower. I use E&F with coco, recirculating. In addition they get silica, Cal/Mg, Drip Clean and Floralicious Plus here and there at a very low rate.
Also a bit of Clear-zyme powder every few top offs.

I find if I change out the res too often, the solution has a hard time reaching equilibrium again in a decent time frame.

Too many changes and too many additives seem to make things less stable for me.

YMMV.

 

[takeiteazy]

When you guys are changing your nutes do you make up a mix first seperate to the system with correct ec/ph and then add it

OR

Just fill system with water then adjust ph/ec ?


Cheers

 

[Scrogerman]

Mix in Seperate Res(dechlorinated water), Dump old solution & exchange for fresh, top up as required untill solution expires & repeat.

 

[speedemon]

this may surprise some people, but i dont EVER change my res. 3-4 months no res change. i only clean out the system in between grows. i run a 100 gal RCDWC. use floranova nutes, top off about 20-30 gallons a week.

i have not had any ill effects from this. i find that as long as the water is well aerated and light blocked form excessive algae growth its all good. been doing this for 2 years now no issues.

saves nutes, saves time, and labor. win/win

I also use a 100 gallon water butt and run to waste, when the butt is down to about 10 litres I will just fill it back up to 90 litres with fresh water and add nutes for 80 litres. No ill effects either. But saying that I guess the water butt only lasts about 1-2 weeks.

 

[foaf]

I try semi stupid stuff as often as I can, and sometimes it works out.

My current grow uses a 12 gallon bucket, filled with 52 liters of hydroton, that leaves 7 gallons of space for nutes initially and it is at about 4.5 gallons now that there are roots growing throughout, and a small reservoir where the pump is that holds about 2 gallons.

I put an automated pool/spa valve on the bottom drain, and I have a timer and solenoid setup that automatically drains the bucket every 92 hours, lets the bucket sit dry for 4 hours, then refills.

Its a big plant and getting bigger, so draining 5 or 6 gallons every 4 days really isnt that bad. So far I havent had any ph drift, spotting or yellowing of any leafage, and the plant looks just fabulous.

The nutrient tank that tops off automatically and that refills the system every 4 days holds 15 gallons and it is topped off automatically with RO water, so its ppms drop as it tops off the bucket and as it refills every 4 days. I just manually add the flora nova and the cal mag about every other day.

I'm very happy with the stability and the ease of management with this low volume, frequent dump reservoir setup I have now.

 

[WelderDan]

DWC using PBP. I don't even change the rez when switching from veg to bloom ferts. I let 'em get pretty low, top 'em off with bloom ferts and that's it. I just top 'em off when needed.

I don't even follow the measurement directions, just read the plants