Quote Originally Posted by herbie the love bud
Yes you just said it completely correct. And, if you did it correctly you should be out of water too. If you are not out of water (or very close) than you diluted your nutrient strength.

I know that everything you have read on the forums seems contrary to that, it is a very fundemental misunderstanding.
The only problem with that is that if I am almost out of water I will run the risk of frying my pump. Even at the lowest possible water leve,l I have four five gallon buckets that need to be full along with probably 2 to 4 gallons of water that need to be covering the pump. Is this what you mean by being almost out of water? What if I just keep filling it with plain water so the water level stays up but the ppm continues to drop?