[GpsFrontier]

Hello brandonbelew,

The water level dropped partially below the top of the intake screen on the pump. It was still pumping water but the water was going through the path of least resistance and making it to the rear two runs first, not leaving enough water for the front one i'm guessing.

Ah, the plants drank most of the water so water level drooped to much and the pump was sucking partial air. It's always one of the first lessons new hydroponic growers learn the hard way. Their amazed at how much water the plants will drink. When their small they don't drink much because they don't have much foliage to support. But as the plants get bigger and grow more foliage, they quickly drink more and more water daily, and new growers just aren't expecting it and are not ready for it. I don't know if you have seen it, but that's why I wrote this article What size reservoir do I need, to help people avoid learning this lesson the hard way.

Not only does low water levels run the risk of running the pump dry and/or killing the plants. But low water levels also affect the nutrient concentrations, and the fluctuating nutrient concentrations cause stress for the plants. The more the water level fluctuates, the more the nutrient concentrations fluctuate (normal, strong, normal, strong), and thus the higher the stress on the plants.

I need to redesign my tubes a bit, right now they drain completely when the water is off. I don't have an off cycle though, the water is pumping 24/7.

I'm sorry, for some reason I thought you were running it as a flood and drain system. Probably because earlier you mentioned you were having an issue with the overflow not working right all the time, so I assumed it was a flood and drain system. You don't need a water pocket (reserve) with a NFT system because you run the pump 24/7 and there is always supposed to be flowing water at the bottom anyway. The flowing water is the water pocket.

I have a 17 gallon tote that I started filling with 10 gallons. I've been increasing it to 15 gallons since I had my water issue. I've been putting nutrients back in, i'll stop doing that and just put the plain RO water in.

The bigger the plants get, the more water they will be drinking, so you'll want to keep an eye on the water level daily. You'll want to keep the water volume up/topped off so the water volume doesn't fluctuate to much. Like I mentioned earlier, when the water volume fluctuates, so does the nutrient concentrations. The more the water level and nutrient concentrations fluctuate, the more stress on the plants.

Just to be clear, you still want/need to do regular complete nutrient solution changes. Considering the current size of the plants, amount of plants, and total water volume you mentioned of 15 gallons, I would probably do complete nutrient changes every 2 weeks. In-between these complete nutrient solution changes is when you just want to add plain water back in order to replace the water the plants drink, thus keep the total water volume up and the nutrient concentrations from fluctuating. I always mark the inside of my nutrient reservoirs so I know exactly where the water volume should be, as well as know exactly how much the plants are drinking.

I am using vertigrow, I couldn't remember how the mix was setup when I wrote my post. I'm doing the 1/2 to 3/4 oz per gallon. I'm mixing it closer to 3/4 oz per gallon at the moment.

I'm not sure if your using them correctly because you say your using 1/2 to 3/4 oz per gallon of water. So just to be clear, first you should NOT mix the fertilizer and calcium nitrate concentrates together in the same container. Doing so will cause the calcium nitrate to bond with mineral salts in the fertilizer, and thus become useless to the plants. I use 2 one gallon water bottles. One for the calcium nitrate, and one for the fertilizer. I take a clean 5 gallon bucket and heat about 1/4 of the water to boiling point, then mix it with 2 lbs of the dry mix in the 5 gallon bucket. The hot water helps it to dissolve quicker and completely. Then I add the rest of the gallon of water and mix completely. Then I use a funnel and pour the mixed concentrate into the one gallon water bottle. After I clean the bucket out, I do the same thing with the calcium nitrate. So now you have two bottles of concentrates, one the fertilizer, and the other the calcium nitrate.

Now note mixing 2 lbs of dry mix with one gallon of water will increase the total liquid volume by about one cup (8 oz). So in the end you have one gallon and one cup. I also have a smaller water bottle with a drinking nipple lid (like on a sports bottle) I use for the extra cup of concentrate. The drinking nipple makes it easy to pour and measure smaller amounts. Trying to pour a tablespoon out of a gallon jug can be messy and spill a lot. But it's easy to pour out of the drinking nipple.

Now you say your using between 1/2 and 3/4 ounce per gallon. One ounce is 30 mL (two tbsp). I don't know if your saying your using 3/4 oz of each calcium nitrate and fertilizer, or calcium nitrate and fertilizer together. That's why I feared you may have mixed both concentrates together.

Total of 30 mL per gallon (or less) is fine
15 mL (one tbsp) per gallon (or less) of calcium nitrate
15 mL (one tbsp) per gallon (or less) of fertilizer
Total 30 mL

Total of 60 mL per gallon (or less) is too strong
30 mL (two tbsp) per gallon (or less) of calcium nitrate
30 mL (two tbsp) per gallon (or less) of fertilizer
Total 60 mL

You want to use equal amounts of each, and you don't really want to exceed 30 mL total (except for especially heavy feeders like peppers). You don't want to mix the concentrates together. You should be adding them to the full volume of water in the reservoir one at a time.

I'll send you a PM for those papers, that would be great.

Not a problem, you can either send me a PM with an e-mail address you want me to send the articles to, or e-mail me at the e-mail address on the contact us page of my website from the address you want me to send them to.

P.S. if you e-mail me at my website, be sure to mention who you are and you wanted me to e-mail you the articles on strawberries. I get lots of e-mails daily from all over the world, so I won't know who it is e-mailing me unless you mention it.