Thought I'd drop a little witchcraft on Y'all with a rez change day.
The players
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55 gallons of purified water is loaded into the white barrel about one week ahead of the change keeping it aerated and set to room temp.
Two buckets are used during a change...the white 3 gallon is for emptying the rez and the black 2 gallon is for filling it.
The nutrient reservoir is the large 40 gallon livestock tub on the floor and it's plumbed up to the grow bed to flood and drain the bed.
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First, the old rez is emptied then I use the black bucket to refill it and count how many buckets I use. On an empty rez, it's 50 buckets and that makes 30 gallons.
My water base ppm is 140 and pH is 9.0 so that's where things start.
There's some nuance to my water and how it reacts to hydroponic fertilizer. Long story short, my water plays excellent with the stuff but it's very ez to get too hot.
If I'm mixing up a batch of nutes to max strength, I set that for 20 gallons and not the full 30. Little lesson learned the hard way.
The plumbing is disconnected so the pump can circulate the water for mixing and I begin adding the ingredients.
This particular formula calls for a 2-1-1 parts mix of grow, micro, and calmag so for this 30 gallon rez it wll be 40tsp of grow going in first and letting circulate for 10-15 minutes. Next up is micro and then calmag, each with a 10-15 minute gap between additions.
When I set up this medium the pH came out a little on the high side at 6.8 so for this first change after upcan I'm gonna set the pH a little on the low side between 6.0 and 6.2. and bring that 6.8 down into a more preferred range around 6.3-6.5 correcting it. 6.8 aint bad but I like that 6.5 more.
After the nutes mix for about an hour I check the pH. It was at 6.7 and I want it down a few ticks before I send it upstairs.
These are the adjusters I have to use and both are for hydroponic nutrient solutions specifically so they're not for pools or fish, just for hydroponics.
They're used to adjust a little at a time and to be used very sparingly after nutes are mixed with the water.
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The 30 gallons at 6.7 only needed two tablespoons of pH down before I saw this...6.04 and a happy face!
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So my rez is set and now I check my moisture sensors.....
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Two probes confirming > 50% moisture along with a 6.04 and 1000ppm fresh rez only means one thing now...Send it!!!
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A couple hours after the flood and checking the return....
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Will keep this rez going for a week then change it out and repeat this process all over again every 7-10 days.