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I'm using whatever their calculator says to use
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That doesn't help me with anything. I'm not there with when you put in your parameters, I can't see what what your reading and how your interpreting the results etc. etc.. I don't know if you are using additives, and if your checking PPM before you add them, or after you add them. I also don't know what the PPM of the water is before you add anything at all to it. I don't know if your PPM meter is accurate, what conversion rate it uses, if it automatically adjusts for temperature, not to mention if it is being cared for properly. Even properly cared for meters often malfunction for various reasons. I also don't know what the PPM of the plain water consist of. To help with your question I need to know the specifics of what your doing.
The only thing I can take from the reply is you are using 16.9 oz of each gro, micro, and bloom, and I don't even know how your measuring it (I don't have anything accurate enough to measure fluid ounces down to 1 tenth of an ounce). You do know that the GH calculator has an option/setting for milliliters (ml) as well as fluid ounces. I can only assume from your reply that you choose not to use the additional additives, or you are using the same amount of all the additives as well.
Assuming your measuring fluid ounces correctly, one fluid ounce equals 30 ml. So 30 ml x16.9= 507 ml. That's enough to make 51 gallons of full strength
nutrient solution of the GH flora series. For small plants the size in your picture, I wouldn't be using more than a 1/2 strength nutrient. Even full size plants I would probably only be using 3/4 strength
nutrients (375 ml for 50 gallons of water). Likely even just a 1/3 strength for plants that small. And I wouldn't be using any additives at all. For a 50 gallon reservoir, and plants that small I would be using between 166 ml (1/3 strength), 5.5 fluid oz. And no more than 250 ml (1/2 strength) 8.33 fluid ounces. Even less if it's hot. Bottom line 1/3 strength is fine for plants that small. If they grow well, I'd probably bump it up to 1/2 strength in a few weeks.
P.S.
I don't use PPM, TDS, or EC meters because they just cant tell me the only thing I want to know (what the level of "each" mineral salt is). I might get a EC meter in the future for general comparisons, but it's not something I would rely on. Also I think you were running the system as an NFT system. Because I know your having trouble getting the water level to be content, that may be a big problem with your system as well. A NFT system uses a "thin" layer of water running at the bottom of the trough. If the water level is much higher than that, you run the risk suffocating the roots. They need air/oxygen just as much as water.