Silica is highly alkaline. It’s even used as a pH up by some. Much of the literature says that after adding silica, the pH needs to be brought down below 7 before adding other nutes, or the pH shock of adding acidic nutes to such a high base can cause precipitate and other issues. I imagine the pH of the source water plays a big role in the variability between user experiences.
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You used a bunch of really big words that convinced me silica isn’t worth my time lol.
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Well, i thought i had cleaned my system of all of the silica blogs in it. Damn was i wrong. I’m in the middle of rebuilding the entire drain. It was much too small and now it’s a 2 inch drain.
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I’ve never seen or heard of silica coagulating. What brand were you using 
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Sorry 
I’ve been spending way too much time reading online lately. I need another hobby! This whole retirement thing is gonna take a while to get used to…
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I used botanicare.
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The system is back together and running. I also swapped out my water pump from a 640gpm to an 800gpm pump. The drain system is now a 2 inch and everything is looking good.
Now if i could just get my seeds to germinate. I’ve never had a problem with ILGM seeds not working so i think i got a bad batch. 11 out of 15 seeds have failed to germinate using the ILGM method. I have the last 4 of them going and hoping that 3 of them pop.
Yes, I’m working wroth customer service and they are awesome. Already said they were replacing them and asked me to drop the rest of that batch.
I’m hoping for success this time. I have one lonely zkittles seedling hoping for some sisters.
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morning Bama…I have been using Silica in my hydro grows for nearly 4 years now and I cannot say I have had an issue with it…and like @OGIncognito said I don’t think I have seen anyone on the forum have a bad experience if used correctly…I start with 0ppm water then add the Silica first then calmag then nutrients and finally Hydroguard…adjust PH if needed…and I do believe it makes the stems stronger because in my first 2 grows I didn’t use it and I had branches break easily when handled…started using it and no more weak stems…just my experience…have a great smoke session
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@retiredoldguy
Well, I’ve come to the conclusion that silica is not my problem, at least I’m thinking so. It just all started at the time i added the silica.
Anyway, I’m thinking it was some kind of fungus growth. It seemed to keep coming back, but i thought it was just washing out of the system.
I went down this morning and my reservoir was very cloudy and it was foaming.
So, i dumped 3 cups of black in the system and let it circulate for a couple of hours. It washed all kinds of crap out of the system.
I replaced all of the water and now everything looks and smells very nice again.
What do you use to keep crap from growing?
I turned the chiller down to 65° from 68°.
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morning Bama…I don’t use an external circulating pump/reservoir/chiller…I grow in a single tote/reservoir so I don’t have all the external pipes like you and others…what @OGIncognito is showing works for him and I use the Hydroguard brand but they are basically the same…my tote/reservoir typically runs around 71-72F on the floor in my grow room…I completely change out the water/nutes @ 7day intervals and start over with fresh nutes each time and only add 0ppm water when needed to keep the level up over the air stones between change outs…as @robert365 said he had to flush his system a couple times to get it cleaned after a grow…a clean system to start and use Hydroguard to keep any new algae/fungus from growing is my suggestion for a happy grow…keep good notes on what you do so you can learn what works and doesn’t in your setup…have patience and you will get the grow you want…I like to sit and eat in front of my grows and I think they like it too…
…have a good smoke session today and I am back off to the woods for more good camping and hunting
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Maybe there was something odd in those used kitty litter buckets? Sure sounding like more than just a little “precipitate” gel from silica. You haven’t completely scared me away from trying it, just kicked it down the road a bit lol
I did start trying the Southern Ag stuff a couple weeks ago. Another learning curve. Apparently the little critters expire 6 months after opening, so I purchased the little bottle like @OGIncognito shows in his pic. It’s a different strain than hydroguard (which HG claims is more conducive to a hydro environment I guess) and is 1mm times more concentrated. Sorry for the comparison, but it looks like runny baby poo… and kinda smells like it too actually… It’s a gray area for dosage, but I went with 1ml per 3-4 gallons, which might be a little strong, but I don’t see any negative effects beyond this one plant…
I tried it in 4 separate containers/systems, and the frequent fungiciders can correct me here if I’m wrong, but from various forums and my initial observations, it seems it’s definitely a preventative inoculant, and not really to be used as a cure. One of my containers had some possibly sketchy root damage from transplanting, and when the critters were added, they super-colonized on any bad areas and created a big slimy mess that had to be rinsed off. I wouldn’t have known what was going on, except for the reports in other online posts. The other plants took it in stride, and haven’t seen any changes. The affected plant is thriving again, and it actually did cure it, but at the expense of a bit of a mess and another nute changeout.
Anyway, just my morning thoughts… Good Luck!
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absolutely correct but if you start to see some algae growth you can add some extra and it will get it under control…I know because I did an experiment on root algae to see how far I could push before growth started… I leave my hydro system unattended for days while I travel and so I need to know how far I can push things before they go south…don’t you just love growing this plant 
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I’m going to order some of this asap. I was surprised because of the water tempos as well, but I’m guessing something in the system was contaminated.
I’m guessing my system was just not quite clean enough. But it should be clean now.
I believe you’re correct in this, and it has kicked the silica down the road for me as well.
I plan to use it as a preventative.
What do y’all think about using H2O2?
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I see it as Southern Ag/Hydroguard acts like a probiotic, whereas H2O2 acts like an antibiotic. Not exactly scientifically accurate, but close enough in that one adds life, the other kills it by oxidation. So no mixing, it’s one or the other, prevention or treatment.
When I use H2O2 on living plants, I try to use food grade, as the typical off-the-shelf topical grade will list “Stabilizers” in the ingredients, which the internet lists as any of these: acetanilide, phenol, tin, colloidal stannate, organophosphonates, or nitrate. Probably not stuff you’d want to ingest or is good for the plant. Downside is its short shelf life and need of refrigeration.
I should add if I ever get around to doing a bud wash, I’d go food grade there too.
I’ve never used the food grade, just the otc stuff.
I had no idea about any of this! Great info.
This is a perfect analogy and makes great sense.
Hopefully with the proper prevents care i won’t run into this issue to much in the future.
The system is definitely clean now. I put 3 cups of bleach into the 22 gallon system and let it circular for 12 hours. I then did a total water change. The amount of crap that washed out was unbelievable. I honestly thought i had cleaned it really good. From now on ager each grow there will be a very good bleach cleaning. I’ll just let the water circulate until the chlorine evasive on its own.
Also, since the cleaning my ph is now stable. It was going crazy before the cleaning.
Learning as we go… sucks, but they are lesson ingrained in the heart.
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Pretty much my motto
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I have a question about silica.
I know i must mix it with water first, let it sit and then add the nutrients.
Once that is all mixed we’ll and ph balanced i can add it to the reservoir.
Does the reservoir have to be fresh clean water? Or can i add the silica to a reservoir during the top up?
Taking for your knowledge:
@Low @FUKAZ28 @Cap_Ron @Autos-only @Bubbala @OGIncognito @DevanGuy56288 @JJ520 @OGIncognito @Retiredoldguy
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So I never can get my reservoir completely empty unless I’m cleaning. That means some lingering nutrients
I pump as much into the last feed as possible but leaves a puddle. I add some water to 2 buckets. One for part a and epsom, the other for part b. Now i fill reservoir to maybe a quarter “tank” to dilute left over nutrients then add half the silica I intend on using. Resume adding water and when I’m at half to 3/4 full I add the rest of the silica. I mix well with a paint mixer and add rest of water.
Now I add my nutrients. After nutrients are added I then pH if I need to.
The nutrients I mix individually in those buckets of water. I mix those extremely well with same paint mixer until they are clear and all particles are dissolved.
This works for me with armor si and jacks with no real waiting period on the silica. Just the time it takes me to mix the nutrients up.
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@Low when your reservoir is low, do you add nutrients and silica to the top up water or do you only add nutrients during the reservoir change, and if that’s the case, how often do you change the reservoir.
I want to change the reservoir as little as possible, preferably never.
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