The overarching goal is to give your starter enough food (flour/water) so that it doesn’t over-ferment, over-acidify, and collapse before you can feed it again! Build up of acids (lactic and acetic acid produced by the lactobacili) can weaken your starter over time. It’s best to refresh at peak at every opportunity.Ratios are usually written such as “1:1:1”, and they tell you how many parts each of starter, flour, and water to mix together. Equal parts 1:1:1 could mean you’re mixing 5 grams (g) each; or it could mean you’re mixing 15g each starter, flour, and water; or 100g each! The ratio can stay the same though the total volume/weight can change. For a 1:2:2 ratio on the other hand, you could feed 1 part starter (5g) with 2 parts flour (10g) and 2 parts water (10g). It is still a 1:2:2 ratio if you’re mixing 100g starter, 200g flour, and 200g water.Lower ratio feeds (1:1:1 or 1:2:2) will need to be performed more often, while higher ratio feeds (1:5:5 or 1:10:10) will need to be performed less often. This is due to how much you are diluting your starter. In essence, it will take longer for a heavily diluted starter to ferment.Use this information to your advantage to schedule out your feeding routine. If your starter is peaking too soon, you can increase your feed ratio to help slow down your fermentation. If your starter is taking too long to peak, try lowering the ratio to allow it to ferment more quickly.