Very clear explanation. I especially love it where he explains how if a plant uses more water than the nutrients in solution it will actually increase EC. It must be a challenge to get it all balanced.
It took many hours of searching but I am so glad I found this channel. So much good information and it is actually presented intelligently and clearly. Thanks guys!
The unit is correctly siemens, after Werner von Siemens. Nevertheless, as an electrical engineer, hobby gardener, I really learned a lot from your summary with plenty of very useful practical considerations. Thank you indeed.
OMG Ethan! Thank you! Finally an exceptional explanation of the part of hydroponics I don't find particularly interesting but entirely necessary to know to be successful! You were enjoyable to listen to, made it make sense, and easy to understand! A thousand thank yous! :)
Thank you for this video I've been trying to find lots of videos explaining EC lots of them are very vague as well lots of them are explaining PPM instead of EC I've grown a few times but this video has given me some good insight on EC for my next grow thank you so much!!
You are one of the brightest educational speakers I have found on you tube and this video saved me from getting the wrong one 😂😡 thank you for time that you put in to the educational videos and I'm in Florida and would love to work on a farm. I'm a graduate student from THC University it's ok to laugh, and Senci Grow FL. I did leave a message on the westside about working on farms but I'm not sure you guys have made it down here yet. Well a have a few more things that I have to learn so till next video. Have a great day.
Thank you for your easy to understand vid about ec. I was so confused watching vids but your explanation was so easy to understand. Thanks boss. Subscribed mate.
My Hanna Gro Line Combo HI 98131 meter does EC/TDS ppm with the option of 500 and 700 conversions setting. I've also noticed the meter when set for one of the ppm setting it shows EC first for a couple seconds then the ppm so you get to view both.
It really made me understand. So I check my water. Tap water came to 3742 EC and drinking water was 72. First I thought my meter was broken. PPM for my solution was 832. Can I still use dechlorinated tap water?
Glad we could help. You are also welcome to join our Facebook group where you can share your successes or pose a question. facebook.com/groups/zipgrowers
Thank you for this helpful information! We just got our EC meter, and your video helped us understand how to use it. Janine and Paul of GrowStrong with Tower Gardening, Louisville, CO, USA
@@davidrosa3182 "calibration" is not needed ... however cleaning of the contact points are required (about once per month). After cleaning the Truncheon is tested in 2.77 Conductivity Fluid to see that the contact points are clean and again taking accurate measurements.
I have two meters which are reading in ms and one is reading 2k and the other is reading 5k. There is no calibration for either and they both are new and cheap designs. What gives?
4:20 - Oh god, I have been reading about gardening for almost 10 years and this is something I never heard of before in which PPM is not a good unit of measure as compared to EC unit of measure for hydroponics, interesting. You think it would be a good idea if I took my PPM sensor meter and reverse engineer it by placing some math calculations to shoot out EC unit readings?
Hi, thanks for your question. Anything under 0.4 mS is passable without RO. You’ll need to adjust your dosing to compensate for a baseline above 0.0 however. Having said that municipal water is safer as it goes through treatment already whereas with well water you’d probably want to have it tested for biological activity and/or heavy metals.
WHy s sulphure used on soils. DOes it replace hmic acids? is it needed to increase the conductivity of the soil. Nitrogen can get stuck to clay particles does a high ocnductivity change this help take nitrogen off the clay?
Thank you for your question. There are a lot of variables that contribute to how EC fluctuates in your system, and there is no concrete answer to this. In hydroponics, typically your EC would decrease as it becomes used in your system; however, this all depends on the type of nutrients you use, what type of system you are set up with, what crops and how many of them are currently growing, etc...the list goes on.
I discovered that diffrent temperature has diffrent ec reading. what time of the day do you recommend to measure my ec ? when its the hottest or the coldest ? it ranges from 29-35degrees celcius
I have well water and the EC for it is 0.40. My 3 part hydroponic solutions guide says to use an EC of 2.0. Does this mean that I only add 1.6 EC solution of nutrients for a total of 2.0 or do I add an EC 2.0 of nutrients for a total of 2.4?
Hello! The latter is what you should do… if forgoing an RO unit you should use the incoming EC as if it’s 0 and then add the recommended nutrients accordingly 2:45 Target EC is raised by same amount as incoming source water
Great explanation. But I'm still confused. My EC meter (Vivosun) reads 148 for plain water and 1446 for my solution. On PPM it reads 68 in plain water and 690 in solution. I don't see 1.2 or 2.5. There are numbers at the bottom of the screen:78.0 and 63.0. I don't know what any of this means. :(
The electrical conductivity of water is normally measured in millisiemens per centimeter (mS/cm). This unit of measurement would give you either the 1.2 or 2.5 you are looking for. In regards to converting from PPM to EC, you can take the reading of 690 and divide it by 1000. This will leave you with 0.69 and then multiply that number by 2. You should end up with an EC reading of 1.38 (mS/cm).
Love your videos. I'm a new subscriber! One thing i'm still confused about tho: EC represents the electrical conductivity in a solution, and we use it to give us an indication of how much nutrients are present in a solution, since more nutrients = higher EC. But are all EC enhancers necessarily nutrients? I think they say that lettuces require an EC of about 1.4, so lets say i'm growing lettuce and therefore aiming at an EC of 1.4. Scenario 1: My tap water is 0.3. Therefore I should add a decent amount of nutrients to get to 1.4. Scenario 2: My tap water is 1.1. Therefore I should add a small amount of nutrients to get to 1.4. Will both scenarios lead to the same results? Is the difference between the original tap water EC in the two scenarios (0.3 vs 1.1) necessarily due to the 1.1 tap water containg more nutrients, and therfore requiring less plant food to be added to the solution? Or does it contain other random particles you might find in various water supplies? And even if it contains nutrients, are these nutrients necessarily beneficial to the plants im growing? Hope I was able to convey my question :)
I love all of your videos, they have helped me understand what is going on in my garden. I checked the Bright Agrotech link for Bluelab combo meters and the link was broken. I checked other sources for this meter and it is quite expensive for a backyard gardener. Do you have a cheaper suggestion. I see some on Amazon but they read in ppm not EC. Thank you in advance for any help you can give me.
This might sound dumb but am gonna ask anyway. 1. What standard solution do use to calibrate your EC parameter(specifically)? Can I make my own solution for this? 2. I have some standard solution to measure PH alone for lower end and higher end but any means I can make my own solution that I can use for testing? Thanks.
technically you could produce your own standard solutions, all it takes is the ingredient salts and distillated RO water, a fine scale and the rest is mixing a big batch to reduce your inaccuracy in measurements. In practice, even in a lab with all bells n whistles you just grab a pack of standard and rip it open. Due to the fast denigration of these standards labs use single use packages too - so go figure what that means for your big batch ;) So for the economical question, get a cheap source of these standards in little packs and stocking a stash of 7.01/4.01/1,413µS/KCL will get you the furthest.
Is it possible to differ EC from salinity? How these two parameters interact? I know you dont use salt in hidroponics, but I wonder if i found a use for my EC Meter in my Aquaponics system.
So helpful!! Thank you! But dang it, I got a ppm :( ... question about combining what I learned from your diagnosing plant deficiencies video & this - if a plant is in soil that does not have the correct ph so certain nutrients are not available... can you correct or at least help that deficiency by spraying a custom mixed nutrient solution on top? Is this why people get those misting spray things?
Easy and very informative. I got a question please, if I have a city water of ec 0.4, will amino acids help to chelate those insoluble nutrients and make them available to the plant (especially calcium)?
It took me a while to understand that EC measures ALL the nutrients in solution, basically the sum of all the ionic compounds. You can't measure how much phosphorus you need to add, because it's just a part of the reading. If you keep adding an "all-in-one" solution, at some point you have to dump everything out and start over because the proportions are out of whack. How do you know when you get to that point?
nice information...thanks. in my region wich is saline track the ec is more than 2 and sometimes go up to 4 for soil as well as water. how can we help the farmers in this region. due to less affordable capacity farmers cannot afford to install RO plants. can you suggest the remedy/ solution for the problem
Hi, good informative video. Just one small query. Understood the concept of EC, and how to increase or decrease it. But what should be the ratios of each individual nutrients if i wish to increase the EC?
Your additives are always the same, it's just your base nutrients (grow or bloom) that you vary. Put your additives in first and then just keep adding your base nutrients until you hit your desired EC value
@@GodDamnBender additive as in what? Since we did not discuss any here in this video, if i am not mistaken. Btw you people have a nice channel, keep going :)
I am a beginner wrt Hydrophonics. I had questions wrt EC value.what is the relationship of EC wrt Temp..i am seeing strange values ex morning 1.1 to 1.2 temp 18C evening .7 to .9 temp 22C for continuous three days. Need help on this
Finally! Someone who really explains EC. Thank you.
Finally! Clear like water!!!
Right
YES, and it was in english , no bad room noise, and the subject was very well covered. God bless, Stan
I know right?
Finally, real information! The other TH-camrs need to watch this video and stop giving vague answers. Thank you.
Thank you sir. After watching 5 other videos trying to explain EC I watched yours and it clicked. 👍
Very clear explanation. I especially love it where he explains how if a plant uses more water than the nutrients in solution it will actually increase EC. It must be a challenge to get it all balanced.
It took many hours of searching but I am so glad I found this channel. So much good information and it is actually presented intelligently and clearly. Thanks guys!
Thank you for adding the Idiocracy cherry onto the top of an excellent EC cake.
My EC reading is in units 400 us/cm. But all the grow guides I've seen talking about EC 1.7, 1.0, 1 - 3.
This is the video I have been searching for. Thank you for an easy explanation for this beginning hydroponic dummy. I think I finally understand!!!
Glad to hear it was helpful Leanna!
I need to watch this again 🫶🏾
Very informative
The unit is correctly siemens, after Werner von Siemens. Nevertheless, as an electrical engineer, hobby gardener, I really learned a lot from your summary with plenty of very useful practical considerations. Thank you indeed.
Great content. Keep it up!
Happy to hear it was helpful, MisterBassBoost!
Ethan Thank you! I learnt a lot from you. So glad you went straight to the subject. Hate small talk.
Woah, you proved plants really do crave electrolytes! Great video
Man, love your videos. You make the complicated, easy. Explain things clearly and understandable.
Thank you for such a great explanation on EC. Thumbs Up
OMG Ethan! Thank you! Finally an exceptional explanation of the part of hydroponics I don't find particularly interesting but entirely necessary to know to be successful! You were enjoyable to listen to, made it make sense, and easy to understand! A thousand thank yous! :)
You're very welcome. Be sure to subscribe if you didn't already!
CF/EC警棍仪表 YM-2005A - YM 仪器仪表有限公司
Thank you for this video I've been trying to find lots of videos explaining EC lots of them are very vague as well lots of them are explaining PPM instead of EC I've grown a few times but this video has given me some good insight on EC for my next grow thank you so much!!
Glad it was helpful Zack!
You are one of the brightest educational speakers I have found on you tube and this video saved me from getting the wrong one 😂😡 thank you for time that you put in to the educational videos and I'm in Florida and would love to work on a farm. I'm a graduate student from THC University it's ok to laugh, and Senci Grow FL. I did leave a message on the westside about working on farms but I'm not sure you guys have made it down here yet. Well a have a few more things that I have to learn so till next video. Have a great day.
Man you rock! Finally someone that breaks it down simply!
Thanks for the video man. I had no idea why the ec sensor was used in my project. You cleared it. Perfect video for starters.
Thanks a lot Ethan!
Wow great presentation! 👌
Thank you! Cheers!
Thank you for your easy to understand vid about ec. I was so confused watching vids but your explanation was so easy to understand. Thanks boss. Subscribed mate.
So glad it helped Mathew, thank you for subscribing. More great videos to come!
THIS WAS AWESOME ,
Good basic information :) keep them coming:)
Glad it was helpful! We've got a few more up our sleeve. Stay tuned and thanks for subscribing.
My Hanna Gro Line Combo HI 98131 meter does EC/TDS ppm with the option of 500 and 700 conversions setting. I've also noticed the meter when set for one of the ppm setting it shows EC first for a couple seconds then the ppm so you get to view both.
Thanks Ethan. Very informative! Much appreciated.
Glad it was helpful!
great video. I learned a lot and now can move forward.
It really made me understand. So I check my water. Tap water came to 3742 EC and drinking water was 72. First I thought my meter was broken. PPM for my solution was 832. Can I still use dechlorinated tap water?
excellent video . well explained . You must have been a teacher
GOOD EXPLANATION‼️
Glad it was helpful!
100% 🙏 Thank you
Thanks guys you cleared up so much
Glad we could help. You are also welcome to join our Facebook group where you can share your successes or pose a question. facebook.com/groups/zipgrowers
Brilliant! Thanks so much for dummies guide to EC!
Thx bro. Great video to being a beginner to the next level
Thank you for this helpful information! We just got our EC meter, and your video helped us understand how to use it. Janine and Paul of GrowStrong with Tower Gardening, Louisville, CO, USA
Brawndo! It’s got the stuff plants crave 😂
Very informative, cheers great video
Awsome Vid bro !! Thank you !!
Glad you liked it John!
What is a high starting EC in tap water? when should I need a filter?
Thanks clearly explained!!
Glad it was helpful!
Thank you Sir! You explain it so well!
Blue lab E.C truchen best on the market no calibration needed
Is that still true?
@@davidrosa3182 "calibration" is not needed ... however cleaning of the contact points are required (about once per month). After cleaning the Truncheon is tested in 2.77 Conductivity Fluid to see that the contact points are clean and again taking accurate measurements.
it's what plants crave!
Brawndo.
Nice Idiocracy reference
ethan you are awesome!!!
Please explain selective ion uptake
My brain is not getting the conductivity aspect but I am learning more about plants.
I have two meters which are reading in ms and one is reading 2k and the other is reading 5k. There is no calibration for either and they both are new and cheap designs. What gives?
informative video. Thank you
can anyone explain why ec in soil rises when being watered with a solution thats below its current ec?
congratulation ,precise and clear
very good
excellent!
Glad that it helped!
4:20 - Oh god, I have been reading about gardening for almost 10 years and this is something I never heard of before in which PPM is not a good unit of measure as compared to EC unit of measure for hydroponics, interesting. You think it would be a good idea if I took my PPM sensor meter and reverse engineer it by placing some math calculations to shoot out EC unit readings?
yeah, go ahead, we'd love to see that Max!
what would you consider "high" enough EC to require RO filtration?
Hi, thanks for your question. Anything under 0.4 mS is passable without RO. You’ll need to adjust your dosing to compensate for a baseline above 0.0 however. Having said that municipal water is safer as it goes through treatment already whereas with well water you’d probably want to have it tested for biological activity and/or heavy metals.
can you show more of the construct of the vertical tower at 1:46 time stamp please
Hi there! You can check out our website for more details about our Tower- zipgrow.com/zipgrow-towers/
Hi Ethan, what is the ideal EC for Maize grown in hydroponics for fodder?
Thank you!
You're welcome!
Great video thx
WHy s sulphure used on soils. DOes it replace hmic acids? is it needed to increase the conductivity of the soil. Nitrogen can get stuck to clay particles does a high ocnductivity change this help take nitrogen off the clay?
I have bought TDS meter but I couldn't make a appropriate hydroponic nutrients solution so for. What would be reason behind this problem.
Hi could i know wat ec should i hv for a flowering chilli plant?
If my EC going in is 1.6 what should my runoff EC be??
Thank you for your question. There are a lot of variables that contribute to how EC fluctuates in your system, and there is no concrete answer to this. In hydroponics, typically your EC would decrease as it becomes used in your system; however, this all depends on the type of nutrients you use, what type of system you are set up with, what crops and how many of them are currently growing, etc...the list goes on.
Thank you. Now I can relate. Question, where can I get a chart listing what my ec should be per plant?
I discovered that diffrent temperature has diffrent ec reading. what time of the day do you recommend to measure my ec ? when its the hottest or the coldest ? it ranges from 29-35degrees celcius
which nutrients solution is the best for growing??
I have well water and the EC for it is 0.40. My 3 part hydroponic solutions guide says to use an EC of 2.0. Does this mean that I only add 1.6 EC solution of nutrients for a total of 2.0 or do I add an EC 2.0 of nutrients for a total of 2.4?
Hello! The latter is what you should do… if forgoing an RO unit you should use the incoming EC as if it’s 0 and then add the recommended nutrients accordingly
2:45
Target EC is raised by same amount as incoming source water
Well said bro
Great explanation. But I'm still confused. My EC meter (Vivosun) reads 148 for plain water and 1446 for my solution. On PPM it reads 68 in plain water and 690 in solution. I don't see 1.2 or 2.5. There are numbers at the bottom of the screen:78.0 and 63.0. I don't know what any of this means. :(
The electrical conductivity of water is normally measured in millisiemens per centimeter (mS/cm). This unit of measurement would give you either the 1.2 or 2.5 you are looking for.
In regards to converting from PPM to EC, you can take the reading of 690 and divide it by 1000. This will leave you with 0.69 and then multiply that number by 2. You should end up with an EC reading of 1.38 (mS/cm).
excellent thanks
Where should my source water be in regards to EC, whats too high? When do i need to filter?
cheers buddy. helpd me untold
how often do I need to change water/nutrient solution in a dwc hydroponic system?
Love your videos. I'm a new subscriber!
One thing i'm still confused about tho:
EC represents the electrical conductivity in a solution, and we use it to give us an indication of how much nutrients are present in a solution, since more nutrients = higher EC.
But are all EC enhancers necessarily nutrients?
I think they say that lettuces require an EC of about 1.4, so lets say i'm growing lettuce and therefore aiming at an EC of 1.4.
Scenario 1: My tap water is 0.3. Therefore I should add a decent amount of nutrients to get to 1.4.
Scenario 2: My tap water is 1.1. Therefore I should add a small amount of nutrients to get to 1.4.
Will both scenarios lead to the same results? Is the difference between the original tap water EC in the two scenarios (0.3 vs 1.1) necessarily due to the 1.1 tap water containg more nutrients, and therfore requiring less plant food to be added to the solution? Or does it contain other random particles you might find in various water supplies? And even if it contains nutrients, are these nutrients necessarily beneficial to the plants im growing?
Hope I was able to convey my question :)
What to do if TDS level increases while adjusting pH of water with pH down/up solutions?
How to balance these both?
I love all of your videos, they have helped me understand what is going on in my garden. I checked the Bright Agrotech link for Bluelab combo meters and the link was broken. I checked other sources for this meter and it is quite expensive for a backyard gardener. Do you have a cheaper suggestion. I see some on Amazon but they read in ppm not EC. Thank you in advance for any help you can give me.
Hanna grow line makes an all in one meter. Ph ec, ppm. About 270$
HAHAHA nice tip o’the hat to Idiocracy!!
Well broken down
2:27 lol
I think I don't want to messure EC no more.
Thanks Brother very informative brother
I really enjoyed thank you
Hello, great content. I am starting and am looking for an economical EC meter. What would you suggest. Thanks
Hi, we are using Bluelab combo meter for our R&D farm, you can find it in our online store zipgrow.com/product/bluelab-combo-meter-phectemp/
Thanks
Im making a project about measuring salinity of salt ponds. Using ec. How can i convert the value of current to siemens. Any help please.
This might sound dumb but am gonna ask anyway.
1. What standard solution do use to calibrate your EC parameter(specifically)? Can I make my own solution for this?
2. I have some standard solution to measure PH alone for lower end and higher end but any means I can make my own solution that I can use for testing?
Thanks.
technically you could produce your own standard solutions, all it takes is the ingredient salts and distillated RO water, a fine scale and the rest is mixing a big batch to reduce your inaccuracy in measurements.
In practice, even in a lab with all bells n whistles you just grab a pack of standard and rip it open. Due to the fast denigration of these standards labs use single use packages too - so go figure what that means for your big batch ;)
So for the economical question, get a cheap source of these standards in little packs and stocking a stash of 7.01/4.01/1,413µS/KCL will get you the furthest.
Is it possible to differ EC from salinity? How these two parameters interact?
I know you dont use salt in hidroponics, but I wonder if i found a use for my EC Meter in my Aquaponics system.
So helpful!! Thank you! But dang it, I got a ppm :( ... question about combining what I learned from your diagnosing plant deficiencies video & this - if a plant is in soil that does not have the correct ph so certain nutrients are not available... can you correct or at least help that deficiency by spraying a custom mixed nutrient solution on top? Is this why people get those misting spray things?
What is that instrument and how much is it
Hi Ethan.. when you say 1.2 EC u mean 1.2 milliSiemen?? Correct??
1.2 milliSiemens/cm
What is difference between TDS and EC
Easy and very informative. I got a question please, if I have a city water of ec 0.4, will amino acids help to chelate those insoluble nutrients and make them available to the plant (especially calcium)?
About 200-280 ppm.. same as my tap water.. good question
Is mesuring PPM according to the recommended no. will be enouh?
It took me a while to understand that EC measures ALL the nutrients in solution, basically the sum of all the ionic compounds. You can't measure how much phosphorus you need to add, because it's just a part of the reading. If you keep adding an "all-in-one" solution, at some point you have to dump everything out and start over because the proportions are out of whack. How do you know when you get to that point?
Change out weekly is the norm.
nice information...thanks. in my region wich is saline track the ec is more than 2 and sometimes go up to 4 for soil as well as water. how can we help the farmers in this region. due to less affordable capacity farmers cannot afford to install RO plants. can you suggest the remedy/ solution for the problem
Reuse your dehumidifier h20
Haha love the idiocracy quote
Gatorade Nutrient ahah Thanks man =)
Where can I find an EC meter
We have them in our online store here- shop.zipgrow.com/search?type=product&q=ec+
Hi, good informative video. Just one small query. Understood the concept of EC, and how to increase or decrease it. But what should be the ratios of each individual nutrients if i wish to increase the EC?
Your additives are always the same, it's just your base nutrients (grow or bloom) that you vary. Put your additives in first and then just keep adding your base nutrients until you hit your desired EC value
@@GodDamnBender additive as in what? Since we did not discuss any here in this video, if i am not mistaken.
Btw you people have a nice channel, keep going :)
Please, the name and source of the meter you are using.
There are a few great ones out there. We like this one: shop.brightagrotech.com/bluelab-combo-meter/ but there are others out there as well.
How to lower ec with powder
My Hannah meter reads in microsiemens
I am a beginner wrt Hydrophonics. I had questions wrt EC value.what is the relationship of EC wrt Temp..i am seeing strange values ex morning 1.1 to 1.2 temp 18C evening .7 to .9 temp 22C for continuous three days. Need help on this
Higher temp higher EC. Always check ec around 25c or get an ec meter with automatic temperature compensation (ATC)