N.f.t Newbie...question?

[sticky_fingers]

Evening Folks.

So Ive bit the bullet & decided to give hydro a bash,managed to grab a nft 424 grow tank and wacked 10 mazar rooted (3") blocks into my system,these are under a 600hps a fair distance away for now..

Ive set my ec at 1.0 by adding 20ml grow nutes and its dropped to 0.8 in 24 hours,so I up it to 1.2 next time i add nutes..correct so far? my ec background is 0.7 straight from the tap with no nutriets added.

Heres where Im having problems now..my PH !

The ph pen i had yesterday was loaded up with 3 new batteries and when I dipped it in,i managed to get it down to 5.5 so that was sweet..then i tried/double checked it and it starting playing silly buggers with readings of 10.0 and 12.0 lol So now knowing thats that fcuked the wife went out today and bought a ph test kit for fish..this any good? basically you take 10ml of the solution x7 drops of ph test shake it and compare it with the coulor coded strip,and doing so try getting it to a urine coulor wich is supposed to be within the digital range ie: 5.5 to 6.2 roughly.

Since then ive been looking at ph pens new and at £32 its a bit steap at the moment so ive opted on the cheaper version ph test kits at £2.99 a go,really what I want to know is what one do i go for? theres 2 one with a ph range of 6 to 7.6 and the other is 4 to 10.0 what do i go for? my ph has a background of 7.3 and im using ionic nutes grow and bloom (hard water nutes) Any advice much appreciated.

Sticky.

[THOMAS CHONG]

u need the 4 to 10 m8

[sticky_fingers]

Exellent chief...So what you rekon on theses cheaper versions of ph testers will i get as close to the range as they say or should I buy another digital pen? I wont be vegging them long only days infact,so im thinking ill get away with them this time just to flower..what ya rekon?

Appreciate your time..

Sticky.

[THOMAS CHONG]

Exellent chief...So what you rekon on theses cheaper versions of ph testers will i get as close to the range as they say or should I buy another digital pen? I wont be vegging them long only days infact,so im thinking ill get away with them this time just to flower..what ya rekon?

Appreciate your time..

Sticky.

yeah they r fine m8 thats all i use and never had ph problems with my n.f.t system, all this talking about nft makes me want 2 get myn out again lol hmm ive got some blue cheese cuts.

[sticky_fingers]

Niceone..go on get them out you know you wanna,to be honnest I was getting sick of compost all that watering and humping things around,so i thought yeah go on give it a go,i have in the past and maybe thats why I changed to dirt..my ph pen was knackered lol

Sticky.

ps. Kent..found memorys over that way,was married in Maidstoned and lived in Shepway :P

[THOMAS CHONG]

Niceone..go on get them out you know you wanna,to be honnest I was getting sick of compost all that watering and humping things around,so i thought yeah go on give it a go,i have in the past and maybe thats why I changed to dirt..my ph pen was knackered lol

Sticky.

ps. Kent..found memorys over that way,was married in Maidstoned and lived in Shepway :P

yeah m8 its a small world ime from MAIDSTONE LOL
And yeah why not ive got a while to veg the b/c b4 the girls r finished in the flower room.

[sticky_fingers]

Well so much for me going for the cheapest version,ordered x2 ph kits online today and the deliverys more than the items lol

Not to worry,surely theses will last for 9 weeks or so then Ill maybe invest in a digital pen.

Sticky.

[organix]

liquid test kits are ok but if you want to be accurate in your readings then you want a digital ph meter, drops are good enough to get by though batteries have died on mine and I've been using the GH liquid drops for the past week no problems.

[sticky_fingers]

Cheers for your time in replying Organix much appreciate it. Well its been 6 days since I started the nft up and so far so good,the ph has been ajusted just the once using a pipette and has stayed stable since,my ec was at 0.8 for a day or two and dropped 0.6 over that time,but last night I reset it after adding bloom nutes..they have been in flower 2 days now and alls good..Ill probally buy a new digital pen in the near future..

Another question if you dont mind..when topping up my resivior do I top up with ph ajusted wated or just plain then ajust my ph? I know if my ec is high I can add water to dilute it and bring it down,what I meen is what to do when just topping up the tank when they are drinking quick?..with me? gees I cant get my words out must be the c99 hahaha

Sticky.!

[organix]

You should have stayed on veg nutes for a while, whilst he plant stretches but never mind you know for next time.

As for topping up you can either just op up with ph'd water or with nutes I've tried both ways.

you can also get a top up valve which connects to a header tank which will keep the level in the res the same and nutriculture reccomend to fill the header tank with half strength nutes(or rather half the strength of the res rather than what he label on the bottle says) this helps not to disturb the roots as when the res level goes down roots that were underwater will be exposed to air and they will try to change to air roots and as the level of the res is constantly going up and down the plant the roots are constsntly trying to change back and forth=waste of energy.

Really as long as your EC is stable and you change res once a week toppping up will usually be done the way the grower prefers.

[sticky_fingers]

Exellent mate,thanks for your time.

The tank hasn,t been emptied as of yet so theres still some grow nutes (ionic) in there from when I started,my ec: was reajusted to 1.0 2 days ago after adding some flower nutes and I aint had to change nowt since so I guess alls sweet,Ive done this before,but it was a few years back,just abit rusty at the moment,Ill get there eventually as I plan on nft all the way after I get shot of theses in flower. I my mind serves me right during flower I can add 0.5 ml per litre of grow nutes aswell helping combat any "n" def..Its coming back to me now..anyway heres a wee pic and thanks again.

Sticky.

[organix]

Looks nice and neat.:)

[girlpower]

Just To Let You Know Ive Been Nfting It For 2 Years Found Ph Doesnt Really Matter

[sticky_fingers]

Well Ive been doing it for a week now & can assure you when growing in hydro your ph is probally the most important part of it..

Sticky.

[lady420]

Just To Let You Know Ive Been Nfting It For 2 Years Found Ph Doesnt Really Matter

Hi there welcome to forums :D

Another lady grower woohoo!, love the name.

[Growz]

just remember with nft you need to veg in nft and flower in nft for it to work out properly

the amount of plants i have killed by not doing this is unreal

something so simple to grasp but my fucked head couldnt understand it

doing cheese in nft soon, cant wait

[sticky_fingers]

Cheers Lewy...It can be a bit scientific mate at times,but once you achieve the basics with the ph and learn to read your truncheon is quite easy & believe me when Im stoned my mind is complete awol,but I still check the ph twice a day,what is it they say:"you only get out what you put in" so true eh! I cant wait to these finish,then Ill have 3 nft trays under 3x600hps..anyway heres a pic at 9 days 12/12 aweek after the one above! The other pic are 6 mazar in almix and all seem to be happy enough,oh and a stragley white russian lol Ive neglected this poor soul shes stretched like a limo,I might just take another cut and keep her as a mum as i dont think she,ll produce much as she is.."starving" Ill update this every 2 weeks and show what progress has been made,till then be lucky folks.

Sticky.