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I’m sure that you are accurate with needing a larger reservoir and I plan to take this advice and increase the size. What I do find strange is that up to this point I was able to feed them for 3 weeks on less than a gallon of nutrient/water solution but once in hydro system they are requiring that much more so immediately. I also wander if evaporation is playing a big part here.
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Evaporation (non plant
transpiration evaporation) could defensively play a part. I don't know how ether system is really built, so I don't know where gaps in the system may be. Also I don't know how much they have grown sense you transplanted them. Also I don't really know from where you are measuring it. For instance, the
growing medium will suck up (absorb) some, lets say each plants growing medium sucked up 1/4 cup, 1/4x62= 15.5 cups or about 1 gallon. A little here, a little there all adds up.
Also no mater how much you try to drain it all, some will be left in the system. With that many plants I can only gather it's not a small system, half a gallon left in 10 tubes, well that is five gallons. I assume you have checked for leaks. Once it's up and running and the system is topped off, I would check it every day at the same time. Then measure how much you need to add back daily, that should give you a good idea how much is being used, provided there is no leaks. I mark the inside of my reservoirs with a permanent marker so I know the exact level.
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what can I do at this point to make them happy/spot free prior to adding larger reservoir? Obviously I need to add water, but how do I know how much nutrients to add with that water? It states that my PPM should be 472 at this young vegetative stage. Should I next day a PPM meter and add nutrients until I reach this level?
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I cant guarantee that they will be spot free by replenishing the water and/or any nutrients. But I would fix the water fluctuation problem first in order to eliminate it from the list of suspects. I don't even have a PPM/TDS or EC meter myself, but for that size setup I would probably recommend one. Though I don't see any need to overnight anything at all. These meters just tell you how concentrated the solution is, they cant tell you what nutrients are actually in it, and in what concentrations each of them are in, it's just the total amount, including what was in the water in the first place. Kind of like saying I have $14.87 in my pocket, that doesn't tell you how many 10's, 5's, 1's, quarters, dimes, nickels and penny's I have. They could be all penny's.
But they can tell you how fast the nutrients are being absorbed, assuming you are testing it at the same water level every time. You don't need a meter to let you know that the nutrient solution is concentrated when you have less than 25% of the water left in a couple of days. I would not add any nutrients back if it has only been a couple of days, just fresh water. And check pH every day after replenishing the used water. I wouldn't even bother with PPM/TDS or EC at this point, with such a small reservoir it's likely to change hourly with that many plants.
Even by adding more nutrients back to bring it back up to a particular level, the elements that were not used by the plants will become concentrated, and possibly cause nutrient lockout, especially in such a small reservoir. It's much simpler and easier to change the small reservoir much more frequently. Possibly twice a week. That's 40 gallons of nutrient solution a week, and replenish the water daily, as well as checking pH daily. I use pH drops, but I would suggest a
pH meter for you first (needing to check it so often), then a PPM/TDS or EC meter.
P.S. I would love to see pictures of your setup. Also the plants don't use up the nutrients in proportion to the amount of water, they simply take what they need and leave the rest. I wouldn't add any more nutrients at this point, as mentioned I would just change the reservoir more frequently. Just so you know I'm not an expert, I'm just a guy that tries to help others from my experiences when I can.