Hydro in a Nutshell

 Hydroponics is quite easy and can produce many hours of enjoyment, when I first started my wife was not very happy about some of the contraptions I made and when I started running a water line and drain into a room she was not a happy camper at all, but now she loves it, in fact she is the one that does most of the planting and picking. I dedicate one hour per week at most to the hydroponic room cleaning, adding water and nutrients if needed.

Here are basic rules for good hydroponics,

Temperature: Maintain an average temperature as close to 78 degrees as possible. 

Humidity: Some plants like tomato and cucumbers require a little more humidity or vapor pressure this can easily be accomplish by spraying water on the leaves several times per day if possible.. 

Good Lighting
There is no replacement for the sun, however if you are using artificial lighting there are a few things you need to know. When purchasing lighting I recommend using LED especially in small confined areas. Please read lighting and extended lighting sections for detail information. I recommend using minimum 2000 watt LED's lights or higher for most plants.

Maintain a good Ph.
The ideal Ph range for most plants is 6.3 easily achievable using distilled or rain water however in the real world the water that you use will determine what Ph is best for your plants. Because most of the water from your tap is considered hard water which means there is a concentration of carbonates that can clog the roots from being able to absorb the nutrients effectively a lower Ph will be 
required to dissolve the carbonate. We have had to use Ph levels as low as 2 in order to achieve good plant health with city water with
concentration as high as 400 PPM.

Monitor nutrient concentration
Maintain your nutrient concentrations between 600 and 1000 PPM, with 800 being ideal for most plants. Although some plants 
prefer higher TDS Levels than 1000 PPM some also prefer lower than 600.  

Getting to know your water
If you are a newbie there is no need for you to know precisely what nutrients are in your water just knowing the TDS value is sufficient to adjust your nutrients TDS to maintain 800 PPM. 

Knowing what is in you water will allow you to adjust your nutrients for maximum growth and fruit production. Nutrients in your water will vary from time to time, measuring your TDS prior to adding your nutrients will allow you to better adjust your nutrients TDS without having to know precisely what is in the water. Ex. If your water has an initial TDS of say 300 then adding 800 ppm the ideal TDS for most plants of the added nutrients should give you 1100 PPM.
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