Hydroponics Tips I've Picked Up

[Emmett]

So I'm a newb but I've been doing research for a while and picked up a few tips that sound like they'd be useful. Anyone let me know if you've tried these and how they've worked.

2 asprin tablets to a gallon of solution to drop it from 8 to 6. And to raise PH they suggest to use 1 Tablespoon of baking soda into 3 Gallons of solution then wait 10 minutes until rechecking PH.

Pollination can be achieved by shaking the plant at the first sign of blooms, then daily for about three days. Tomatoes need to be pollinated between 11 a.m. and noon for best results. Flowers do like rather high humidity for pollination, so -if need be- mist the plants twice during the time you shake them. Harvest daily and pick off any deformed or damaged fruit.
(from Secrets to a Successful Greenhouse Business by T.M. Taylor)

Using a Multimeter to determine PPM
I haven't tested this, but it makes sense and it would save a lot of money buying a PPM meter.
I E.C. or 1 Siemen = 1 mho/cm of conductivity. To convert E.C. or Siemen to PPM, multiply them by 650. The Mho is the reciprocal of the Ohm of electrical resistance, Mho=1/ohm

Hydroponics people talk about using hydrogen peroxide to add oxygen to your system and kill off harmful bacterial and pathogens. I'd only think about it in a last ditch effort with an aquaponics system since it should also kill of the beneficial bacteria. I also don't know what it would do to fish, so you'd have to isolate the FT while you were doing this.

[jackalope]

Hi Emmett! Welcome to the forum, (if I haven't already welcomed you). Very interesting ideas ..... I can check out a couple of these ideas with my feeder Guppies and see how they work, if I can find the time before I leave - I won't be back for a month or so .......

1). Hmmmmm aspirin , I'm not sure we have any around, but I will check.

2). Did the shaking thing last year, didn't work for me with tomatoes or squash, a tiny paint brush worked better. Didn't know about the 11-noon thing, sometimes those ideas can prove to be invaluable When you mist them, is that before or after you shake them? I'm not growing anything for now, so someone else will have to test this one.

3). I'm trying to understand the multimeter part ..... what specific PPM are you testing?
Is this just a general test for the amount of salts in the fish poop water, or are you going to add Hydroponics nutrients to your FT/GBs? I would be concerned with that as some of the nutrients may be toxic to the fish.

Parts per million - PPM - is a way of measuring how much nutrient is in the plant water. For example, 1,000 PPM means that 1,000 units of nutrients are present for every million units of water. The PPM number is only a final reading of the total salts (nutrients) in a nutrient solution; it does not tell how much of each salt or what trace elements are in the nutrient mix, or how good the mix is.

Anyone who has eaten salty food knows how thirsty one gets afterwards. Salts in water create a very high osmotic pressure, and the only way this internal pressure can relieve itself is to grab more water to dilute itself. This is why one can drink so much water after eating salty food.

Since all nutrients are salts, the more nutrients that are in the plant water, the more these salts will try to steal water away from the roots. 1,500 PPM is a salty solution. After about 2,000 PPM, the osmotic pressure starts to get so high that the roots struggle to get enough water (see graph on the next page). As a result, the nutrient balance available to the plant changes as the salinity rises.

There are still those who try to jam their plants with nutrients. As the general level of the nutrient salts gets higher and higher in a nutrient mix, the different chemicals start to fight each other for water and this causes the roots to work harder to get water. The more energy the roots must use to extract water, the less they have for growth. This forces the plant to soon show nutrient deficiencies and shortages, and the more salts are added to fix these apparent shortages, the worse the problem gets. It is far better to give the plant the correct amount of nutrients for as long as it needs it.

For reasons mentioned before, all re-circulating water culture systems should have one day a week on straight water. The nutrient should be completely changed on this day. This is the only way to avoid a cumulative error, which can occur if make-up nutrients are continually added.

On a scale of high to low for water culture nutrient concentration:
over 2,000 PPM is high.
1,500 PPM is definitely saline.
1,000 PPM is an average.
500 PPM is workable, but on the low side.

From what I can figure, you multiply the number of Ohms by 650 to get the PPMs. Is that the general idea?

4). I won't have time to set up a small biofilter and small FT to try this out, so I'll have to leave that to someone else at this juncture!

[Emmett]

About the PPM I think it's just the salts. One thing in that tip that is important is that mho is ohms inverted. I don't know what mho is, but this would make sense since higher PPM means better conductivity. So. . .

I think this is how it's supposed to work
PPM = (ohms / -1) x 650

I could be wrong. Also you'd have to hold the test leads about one cm apart in the water to get the right reading.

[dufflight]

aspirin is used as a blood thinner. Not sure how that will affect fish.

[Emmett]

They won't get so many headaches?

[JCO]

Welcome to the show....pull up an easy chair, relax and stay awhile. New voices are always a welcome addition to our family..! Whatever questions you have on you mind, this is the place to get the answers

[Emmett]

Oops bad data earlier. One mho is the reciprocal of one ohm so it's like this.

PPM = (1 / ohms) x 650

mho is the abbreviation for the SI unit Siemens. I think someone was just having way too much fun with that. (mho is the reciprical of ohm . . . anybody? anybody? I'm a geek. )

[urbanrunoff]

i was wondering about hydro peroxide too.
it is used a lot in soil based and hydroponic growing

[Emmett]

I would imagine it would be bad for necessary bacteria but better than having to bleach out your GB if there was a harmful infection. Oh and as an aside, don't use the stuff that you see at the drug store it has chemicals in it to stabilize the peroxide. Use only the 35% peroxide that they use in gardens.

[McStylee]

Hydrogen Peroxide used in the correct quantities is very benefiacial to your entire system. The one you want to use is the food grade 35% that has not had stabilizers added to it. All it effectively does is release the extra oxygen molecule that it carries into your system creating an oxygen rich environment. The bacteria in a biofilter are aerobic bacteria so they will thrive on it. Most nasty bacteria is anaerobic and cannot survive in an oxygen rich environment. I use this chemical alot for the transport of fingerlings from my hatchery to commercial fish farms that buy from me. I also use it as a first attempt cure all for any fish diseases we encounter. Only if this fails do I go onto the other stuff. It is also very effective as a foliar spray for your plants and helps get rid of plant eating pests. Its 1:14 am right now and I'm at home but will get the dosages for you when I go to the office tomorrow.