Quote:
Originally Posted by JD4x4
I had the same thoughts regarding your solution/balance theory as well as the cost, but like I mentioned I'm also a newb & haven't started growing quite yet so I don't have a clue. I was thinking that a little more solution per plant would give you a bit of 'fudge' room if you were trying to maximize the change interval without depriving the plants, and without a TDS meter. I'm interested to see what the more experienced (and poor, like me) forum members think about that.
I also didn't have the $ for a meter, but then I found the Harbor Freight meter which I'm going to use. It's only $17 + shipping and from what I've been reading about EC & TDS I figure as long as the meter is temp compensated (it is), gives consistent readings (it does), and you 'calibrate' it to your water & nutrients it should work reasonably well. This link and this one are two of the reasons I'm going to try it, even though it's not 'lab' quality by any stretch. |
I just thought I would mention as a reminder that there are any number of things that can go wrong with
nutrient solution. For this reason I personally wouldn't want to use a larger tank just to try to get more time between changes. When I first designed my system I hadn't taken into account the cost of of the nutrients. I would rather use 10 gallons of nutrients and change them once a week, but it takes all of the 32 gallons to flood the system without running the
pump dry (a flaw in my system). I have made some changes and save about 23 gallons (from the original 55) of nutrients per change now, but I know that I can do better after these plants are done. I also hadn't done any research to find out how much nutrient solution was required per plant to give me an Idea of how fast the nutrients would be depleted from the solution (live and learn). I would want to use at least twice as much as required as a buffer zone. Maybe a little more if the plants are heavy feeders (something that I didn't know about before eather). My 32 strawberry require 4 gallons of solution if what I have read is correct, and 10 gallons would be more than twice that giving me that buffer zone I want.
I can easily convert the system into a
aeroponic system, all I need is a pump that doesn't cost an arm and leg. Because the pump needs to be a high pressure pump or the emitters wont spray, but would rather just dribble out. With a Aeroponic system I would be able to support the same 32 plants on as little as 3-4 gallons of solution if I wanted to. I would love to hear from anyone who knows about
aeroponics and about pumps for it.
Sorry I haven't really looked into testers in detail, I just know the basics on how they work so I don't feel I can give any recommendations on which brand to get. But Thanks for the links I will be having a closer look, $17 certainly sounds cheep enough and probably would be better than the nothing I have right now. Let us know how it works for you...