@Donaldj This is his exact quote
“Running Maxi series I get a quite stable ph if my ppm is close to or more than 600ppm after a 48hr period (time for water temp to adjust and any residual nutrients in lecca to interact) 10-5-15 for Grow and 5-15-14 Bloom Calcium (ammonium nitrate 30 - 60%) being the primary buffer and product having a ph of 5.8 un-mixed”
So I think partially what he was saying is you can start out with water that has a higher PPM before adding any nutes. The city water around here has a PPM of 350 before adding anything. At the time I was using RO and DI water. So basically you are starting out with dirty water and adding nutes till your PPM is 600 or above.
Actually converting EC to ppm is fairly simple(EC X 500 = ppm) knowing what it consists of is another story for instance too much iron zinc or sodium inhibit growth too little and you are in same boat most people who truly delve into hydro used RO water to reduce unknowns. I cheat and use rain water when at hand but do own a 5 stage RO unit even though my city water is around 120 ppm .189 EC Rain water tends to be fairly close to nuetral ph and has low ppm
Some things buffer ph silicate Calcium making it harder to adjust but more stable I find sterile grows far more ph stable
Please don’t take this as a “poor me” scenario!! But I can’t afford any form of water treatment like RO, I have to use crappy tap water. I know, it’s hard to build a good house with bent timber, but it’s all I got!
After consulting with the internet for a quite a few hours I saw a few things that took my attention. Aerating the water to de-chloronate it before use, seems like it can’t hurt. The dude said let the tap water sit for 24 hours before adding nutes etc, or aerate it via air pump for an hour or so. Then another about adding nutes in certain order and giving time in between adding nutes.
So here’s what I did!!
Aerated my tap water for 4+ hours,
Added Reiziger Grow A, which dropped the pH to 3.3, waited 20+ minutes,
Added Silica, which upped the pH to 5.8, waited,
Added Reiziger Grow B, pH 6.1, wait,
Added Reiziger Grow Boost minerals, pH 6.0, wait,
Added Canna Rhyzotonic, pH 7.3,
pH Down to 5.8, wait,
Added Auxinone, pH 5.8, wait,
Added Great White, pH 5.8.
(All atecommend dose on bottles)
And it’s stayed almost perfectly stable pH wise.
Is there anything wrong in doing it this way??? @Donaldj
P.S I have added a small aquarium pump to run 15 minutes ever 4 hours, gotta help right?!
Cheers.all.
DON’T!!! Unless you are using RO. (Reverse Osmosis water purifier)
I got the bottle and read it and it explains it’s for RO only, adding the good particles back in the water that the RO has taken out. So in other words my water is now heavier with minerals.
So now I’m looking at buying a $200 small portable RO system to use the other 960mls (yes I used 40ml before reading the bloody bottle, used it anyway!! No extra drama!!) and not waste my $45 on the pH+ Stab/Osmosis
What I am looking at wastes 70% of the water to get 30% pure RO water, but that don’t bother me, I can run the excess out into vege garden, and I don’t pay for water!!
Far to many Nutrients bro, I use Reiziger- cut dose in 1/2 to 1/3 rd, use the great white only - dont use any Canna, also Reiziger is worked on EC not PH or PPM- follow there recommendations for dose use the lite feeding- very good product and does work very well- if using tap water just let it sit for a couple days and run it through some fine washed sand and sacks( if you can be bothered) - remember you dont use ro water for the veggy garden/house plants so why bother- if really bothered boil it
To be honest i only used Cyco for my first 2 grows and they came out good for first grows. I changed to Canna and it just worked out too expensive so I tried Reizeger and have used it for 3 grows and will continue to use it as my base nutes. I’m not going to put down Cyco but it’s not for me and my girls, better results with new feed. Personally Reizeger, Great White Myco, SuperSi and Mammoth P are my ideal base. Then additives as needed, CalMagic, Potash, Rock Resonator…
Rain water tends to be fairly close to nuetral ph and has low ppm