 Okay, so after doing a pretty harsh harvest of lettuce here off of my let pot system I'm going to replenish the nutrient waters here in the container You can see here. It's at about three and a half liters I'm just going to top it right up to the to the max which is five five liters I have mixed up a new batch of nutrients. I got a four liter batch here Using the A&B plant food that come with the let pot So first of all, we're going to just top up the water the nutrient water And then we are going to do a pH and an EC test just to see where it's at So I found with now that the lettuce was really taking off here and really growing fast in the last week that it did Drink up the nutrient waters pretty fast So that's something to watch for once your vegetables really get growing and producing fruit Keep a closer eye on the nutrient water because those roots really will start sucking it up So I have it to the max now I'll just give you a visual of what all those roots look like It's pretty crazy So we're just going to now I'm just going to try to push this to the side so we can get to the water here and we'll do our pH and EC testing So I've just moved the top here over a little bit to the side so that we can get to the water and Do our testing? So when you do your pH and EC you start off by doing your pH Make sure it's at the right level and then once you've got it adjusted if necessary Then you can test the the nutrient level or the EC level. So I have it written down here for lettuce I just did a Google I checked two or three different Spots because sometimes you get a variation of numbers, but it says the pH for lettuce Growing hydroponically should be somewhere in the 5.5 to 6 range so with these pH meters you usually have to Leave it in the water for about 30 seconds to get a final reading and I can see already that the pH is a Little bit high. It's showing somewhere in the 7.4 range. It's going down a little bit So as you can see here, it is sitting very close to that 7.00 range and we want to get it into the 5.5 to 6 So let's try using some pH down So this is what you use to adjust your pH. So if you need to bring the pH up It's got the up arrow here This is the one you want to use if you need to bring the pH down use the bottle that's got the down arrow And you don't need very much. So when you start off just put a few drops in I've got what have I got here? I Think I've got two milliliters here. I'm just going to put in one milliliter Don't really worry too much about the exact measurements, but Just put it in let it's Kind of mix in really well stir it around try not to get wrapped up in your roots here And then try another pH test So as you can see here those few drops have Made a bit of a decrease in the pH. It seems to be sitting around 6.3 We want it to get it between 5.5 and 6 so maybe just add a few more drops of the pH down So a few more drops has taken us below that 6.0. So I'm happy with that Now you could keep track of exactly how much drops you put in and keep records of you know Where it was at and where you got it to but I'm so not into doing all that Keeping records of that kind of stuff. I find I write it down somewhere And then I don't keep it accurate or don't keep my records very good So it's up to you if you are person who likes to do that by all means You know keep track of how many drops you put in and what it took to get to you to the right levels I'm just happy to have it sitting here at 5.9. So now we're ready to check the EC level So with this meter you can check the PPM and the EC it always Defaults to PPM when you turn it on I'm going to hit the shift Which will take us to an EC reading instead and this is pretty much instant You don't have to hold it in there too long So the lettuce and leafy greens is recommended EC level of 1.2 to 1.8 So this reading is coming out at 0.09, which is a little bit low Which means our nutrients maybe are a little bit weak on here So with this meter once you get a reading you can click the hold button so you can have a hold that Reading and you can see here after I added just a few more drops of each of the nutrients to the solution Hopefully you can see that The numbers have gone up. I just put a decimal after the first number here Just so it matches what you see on my list here. I want it to get it to 1.2 To 1.8. It's coming out at 1.13. So it's still just a slightly little bit lower so again You could just add a few more drops of the nutrient Directly into your container here Don't want to put too much But it's getting very close to being where it should be Because I'm adding to an existing vessel here of nutrient water. This is why I'm kind of doing it Like trial and error. I'm just going to add another two and a half mils of Each of the nutrients here Give it a good stir So I'm sure some people watching this would just like totally think I'm Doing this all wrong. I just try to keep it as simple Some people will you know dump out this whole container and start from scratch every time and replenish that way I like to just top it up with nutrient water and I am going to just run another test here after adding that extra nutrients and That has bumped it way up now to 1.4 So we are right within that range For lettuces, which is that 1.2 to 1.8. So I'm happy with that So that is a simple way of just adjusting and getting your nutrient waters back to the levels they should be I'm Curious to see how this lettuce will come back now since I chopped it all down I should see some new growth coming here in the next week and be able to get another harvest or two off of this lettuce So if you find that you have added too much Nutrients your EC level is too high That may cause damage to the roots because it would be too strong that could burn your roots So if you find that you have made too much and you got a full vessel here You can you know root remove some of the nutrient water and just add plain water Take a test see if you can get that to EC level down So you can do it two different ways just like I did where I'm just topping up the existing Nutrient water in here running a test and Adjusting it accordingly or if you want you can remove the whole container of existing nutrient water and Start fresh with a whole new batch and then test it from there either way works I prefer just to kind of work with the water that I have in there and adjust it accordingly as This goes down over the next week or two. I have this jug mixed up. I will just top it up I don't really worry too much about checking the EC level every time I add I think with lettuces. It's pretty you know hard to cause too much damage as long as you haven't mixed up a really strong batch here You should be okay So I hope that makes sense to everybody and I didn't over complicate it I try to make hydroponics less complicated I find there's so much scientific information out there about you know, how the EC levels and the pH and how you need to adjust and keep everything balanced I try to make it as simple as possible So if you found my video helpful, please give it a like and leave me a comment if you have anything to share about how you Manage your nutrient water for your hydroponic systems. 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