Do you really need to drain the system completely week 2-3 & 4-5?

[mikeross]

I am running DD nute schedule with H&G drip clean and hydrofungicide added to the mix.

I wanted to ask your opinion regarding flushing between weeks. I am now going into week 3 and the nute schedule is the same in week 2 and 3 just slightly higher ppm in week 3.

Draining 200+ gallons of week 2 nutes just to add in the exact same nute combo for week 3 seems like a waste. I was thinking of just draining say 25-50%, top up the res water only, at this point the ppms will be probably half what they should be. Let that run for a couple hour then bring up the ppm about an hour or 2 before lights on. What do you think? Same thing can be done with week 4-5. What problems can arise doing this? I have read many members going weeks without res changes so I figured I would ask how this would be applied in a rdwc setup..

thanks guys for the insight... No idea how much I appreciate it:friday:

 

[Giddeon]

I flush out my system every week.


Drain out whats in the system.

Add Ph 5.9 - 6.3 fresh Tap water (no sitting out) run this for at least 2 hours.

In a separate res Mix a new (even if its just a higher ppm of the last weeks nutes) nutrient solution for the next week with water that has sat out at 80 degrees for 24hrs Ph to 5.5 - 5.6

Drain out the fresh Tap water from the system

Add the new weeks nutrients to the system Turn the chiller back on and get the water cold before the lights turn on for the next day

With this schedule I have had no problems with anything building up in any of my res's. I believe that if I went 2 weeks between when I scrubbed my res's out they would get to an unmanageable point and start causing problems.

Just my .02 on the matter,
Giddeon

 

[GBOOST]

Some people do, some people don't. The theory in it is that the plants are only using up SOME of the nutrients faster than others, so eventually you have a buildup for a particular nutrient despite the same ppm/ec reading, and can often cause a deficiency of various nutrients. In saying that, on my first run I never flushed weekly and had no ill effects, the longest I went was 4 weeks without flushing and they looked as healthy as the first week as they did in the 4th, however I try and keep it to 2 where possible.

Ozzie

 

[mikeross]

Thanks guys for the clarifications.

Another noob questions... When members refer to salt built up are they refering to these nutes that are not being absorbed during the week or are they talking about build ups like you would see on your shower door? Or is it a mix of both.

 

[TrichromeFan]

Mike,
It's build up like on your shower door, except this is dried up nutes, and can cause problems with toxicity if let out of control.

 

[happyinmendo]

Your salinity level in the water. Sodium build up.