Mnemo- It's a basic setup, 40 gallon reservoir with a 4x4 table-tray sitting on top, we have 4 of them butted against each other for a raging 8x8 multi-table....
Yes, we have mothers......they are in stasis now, trying to just keep them small for a minute, my own preference is that I would like to do mothers in some nice, mycorrhizae-enriched soil, ultimately, but right now they are just in 4 inch grodan blocks.
My understanding is that coco is compatible with the mycorrhizae and thats my reasoning; I want the benefits of that fungi, but also want the benefits of the hydroton. (thx for the tip on the washing,saved me a bit of trouble)
My water here is pretty good, about 150 ppm from municipal water, ph 7.5
A little deduction says that most of the ppms are probably Ca+ and Mg+ ions, in the form of the carbonates, which is the reason the ph is 7.5 and pretty stable....the big problem in this area is evaporative losses in the reservoir leading to increases in ppm and ph fluctuation....I figured out that allowing algae to grow on the rockwool is a no-no, not for the usual reasons either (which normally are along the lines of: 'algae steals oxygen') no, this algae crap acidifies the nutrient solution in its own right through some metabolic process) so black plastic covers on the blocks...
onebadpup- you and I have discussed this briefly, but I want to air this topic because I know there are other people here who may have something to say;
We use General Hydroponics 3-part series plant food, which consists of 'grow' 'micro' 'bloom' components that are mixed in ratios based on life stage. GH recommends 5 ml per gallon of water of each component as a basic '1-1-1' formulation.....if they say, for instance,
" a Grow phase is a 3-2-1 formulation for heavy vegetative growth with this being 15ml of 'grow' 10 ml of 'micro' and 5 ml of 'bloom' per gallon of water"
We used this on our plants, as they said. Our plants begin showing classic over-fert symptoms before flowering, we were lucky and was able to flush out the build up, but there was definitely a toxic amount accumulating. You could see the dehydration occurring by the twisting and wilting leaves, etc....
We got an EC/ppm meter and found that the recommended dosages were so high our EC meter wouldn't read it, the ppm were about 1700 !!!!
so......you cannot trust these manufacturers to shoot straight with you on AMOUNTS but we find that their ratios are good. Always remember, these guys are more interested in selling you plant food than seeing you finish a crop.
I think my future within all of this is going in one of two directions; open a grow store or begin formulating and marketing hydroponic plant food.
PT Barnum said so