first grow with DWC, have a few questions.

Is cleaning the buckets and adding a fresh feeding every Saturday a good thing or am i wasting nutrients?
I notice that the ppms like to raise and jump around, its there any way to settle them down?
And is adding ph.d RO water to the buckets ok? the ppms lower and i haven't seen any nutrient defects.

A change once a week is great, if you can afford it.

You're not going to stabilize the ppm because they eat and drink at varying rates...

Topping up with ro water ph'd water is fine, when doing DWC I would keep the PH and ppm at around the same levels good for my grow. So just keep an eye on them both, daily.

Do you keep the water level the same or do you let it deplete, only adding water when its necessary. Don't get me wrong I'm in there everyday and add atleast a cup full of water to try and being the ppms down..
What's a good range for flower ppm? There currently at 850 in week 1 of flower and this being my first grow i don't know what to expect.
Any idea on when plants usually stop stretching?

Keep the water level about an inch below your pot, all the time, topping up as needed. It's crazy how much a plant can drink! Much more than they eat...
850 ppm (1.40ish ec) is the highest I took them until nute burn. But if yours is sativa dominant it could take more.
I would slowly up ppm/ec until I got a hint of nute burn, then kept it just below this level.
Two weeks into flower they'll stop stretching...but longer if you have a sativa type..

This'll help future ppm/ec conversions
View attachment 2378512

Really, keep that much water?? I'm putting 2 and a half gallons every Saturday. they don't show signs of stress or anything..

An inch below your pot...like this

View attachment 2378523

But as long as your roots are getting wet, I guess the level is somewhat academic...

You only add water when the ppms get high/water gets low. Most times they'll spike from the plant using the water faster than the nutes. If the ppms aren't too high and the water level is ok, you can leave it alone. You don't have to keep the water one inch from the basket at all times like the other person said. It's not important. But the less water in the bucket, the more the ppms will spike when the plant drinks. One thing too, unless your tap water is complete shit, using RO water is pointless.

i run dwc and aero only, with my dwc i fill it and never check it again until the following week when i change it. if your ppm is going up you have too much nutes and the plant is taking more water than nutes. i never go above 600ppm in dwc and 1000 ppm in aero. drop your nute levels. this topping off topic has gotten popular again lately, but just a shitload of wasted time and work. let the plant use the res.

^^^What they said, entirely.

My tap water is shit, just the water alone is at 320 ppm where I'm at. Or else i would of used that along time ago instead of hauling 5 gall DDS of water up stairs every 4 days. My next feeding ill go 4 gall of water with a 600ppm mix and see how they react.. Headband gets to 1129 ppm sometimes and seems to flourish when it does.. Anyone else have any experience with this strain?

in DWC growing I thought you just top off your water every week with some fresh nutients. Don't do a full water change. You want to build up your beneficial bacteria to avoid root rot. And keep that water cold. if it get warm your plants are SOL

Beneficial bacteria? It would depend on the method of cultivation...he could be running sterile...etc.

Any idea as to why my headband is over taking my space? . Its bigger then the blue dreams and those are the biggest in my buddies set up b, but he is using soil with different light and methods ( i top and lst, he lets the plant do its own thing, not even taking clones out cutting off the bottom canopy... I'm just dumb founded i guess)

I guess you're just lucky!

Lucky, or shitty genetics?? Haha

Lucky.

You'll be needing this dude

Haha i can't tell if its sarcasm or you being serious haha.. But thank you for all the input so far on DWC