I'm on tap water but ppm of 35 so clean compared to most on here. Currently feeding 2:1 brown to calcnit at week 7 flower. It does indeed stay a bit more stable at a 1:1 ratio, but obviously tapering off the nitrogen for late flower. I aim for an EC of 1.2 - 1.4. I'm not sure how quick it drops off as it's a ppk system, so the majority of water is elsewhere in the system not my res
-
ICMag with help from Phlizon, Landrace Warden and The Vault is running a NEW contest for Christmas! You can check it here. Prizes are: full spectrum led light, seeds & forum premium access. Come join in!
Low pH with kristalon brown
- Thread starter 967
- Start date
Look, it contains a lot of K2SO4 and of course you have to add Calcinit. The game you play is balacing too much S with too much Ca. Why working like this? I would not use a fertilizer with too much S in the first place.
This is 1g of Braunmarke and 1g of Calcinit in just water. See right side what is in your initial solution.
If you read my post you will see that I replaced calcinit with nitric acid because the tap water has a sufficient supply of calcium and also nitric acid helps to increase the availability of the calcium in the hard tap water while supplying a good amount of NO3, this gives me a much more stable pH, the reason why I do not know, either there was an overload of calcium when using kristalon and calcinit or the combination of the NH4 that is in the tap water and the NH4 in the calcinit was causing the pH to drop as the plants consumed it, which can happen very quickly.
Yara on their website also recommend replacing calcinit with nitric acid in certain situations. There is no one size fits all solution, everyone has different tap water and it's about experimenting until you get it right. Rather than plugging numbers into nutrient calculators (which many times are not accurate) I prefer to experiment properly and observe results with my own eyes rather than just do what the nutrient calculator tells me to
The use of CAN has to be the first thing mentioned, unlike some other posters.
Well, it does not change anything, whether you have lime in tap water and use nitric acid or you have just pure water and use calcium nitrate. It has the same result.
Your pH is down as there is acid in your solution, that is not taken up and this is your problem. The NH4 is much to low in Calcinit to cause permanent low pH and the NH4 in Calcinit is balanced by NO3, which is also taken up.
Come on man, you seriously? You are not able to calculate how many nutrients in your solution and you want to play instead of using numbers you should use? This why cannot figure out what is the problem with your solution I guess. You need to mix your plan and apply your plan.
And by the way I am not plugging in random numbers in calculators. I have a target what is supposed to be in solution because I know what is going to be taken up and what is left over and how this makes dynamics of your pH.
Can you tell me what is in your tap Ca, Mg, SO4 and K?
Ca++
Well-known member
I do pretty much this, for the later half of flower. It's not rdwc, but only because I keep taking the water out, and putting it back in again.
It sounds like your only Ca source, is the tap. Made available, by your use of nitric. There have been many discussions regarding the availability of tap Ca, where I have taken this stance. It would be good to get such a confirmation, that your only Ca is the tap, and Yara endorsed this.
Any amount of ammonium lowers pH and plants need not be present for this happen.
when taken up or what do you mean?
CaCO3 - 257 (as alkalinity 194)
Mg - 4.5
SO4 - 60
K - unknown
Look, I tried everything with different ratios of calcinit:krista and the final experiment was to eliminate the calcinit and it has been a success.
Before I would exclusively use phosphoric acid, which caused huge amounts of precipitation in the system and top off, where as with nitric things are so much cleaner and clearer. When I make up a solution for a res change now I will use nitric only aiming for final pH of between 5.2 and 5.5, first neutralizing the plain water before adding nutes and estimating as closely as possible how much the nutes will drop the pH, if it's slightly off I will make a final adjustment after adding nutes.
The make up is as follows
(500 scale)
starting tap water - 300-320ppm
nitric acid added to acheive a pH of somewhere between 5.8-6 - brings things to 380ppm
solufeed sodium free tec micro nutrients - 390ppm
kristalon brown - 520ppm
epsom salts - 600ppm
This causes ph to rocket towards 7 quite fast, which is then neutralized finally with phosphoric acid down towards 6 and remains stable from there on out.
Part of the CALCINIT can also be replaced by nitric acid. In this way the nutrient solution is adjusted to the quality of the water source. The amount of nitric acid naturally depends on the amount of bicarbonate present in the water. - from Yara website
YaraTera KRISTALON BROWN | Yara UK
www.yara.co.uk
I think the next step might be to replace/reduce magnesium sulfate with magnesium nitrate and see how that goes
There is also yara kristalon red, which contains more calcium that could potentially be better than kristalon brown when trying to eliminate calcinit
It's good to experiment rather than make assumptions about how things 'should' be based on what you read online. I done that for a while and results were miserable
There is also yara kristalon red, which contains more calcium that could potentially be better than kristalon brown when trying to eliminate calcinit
It's good to experiment rather than make assumptions about how things 'should' be based on what you read online. I done that for a while and results were miserable
Last edited:
Where does it say it's for soil?
Particularly suitable for fruit crops grown using hydroponics as contains only nitrate N. If required the N:K ratio can be adjusted using YaraTera CALCINIT.
As far as I know there is only two versions one is a greenhouse version that is less soluble and the other is for all applications, they are identifiable by the drip/water logo on the front of the bag.
They don't make clear how much of the 'part' of the calcinit can be replaced by nitric acid based on the language used, you adjust it based on your water.. that could mean replacing it fully or only in part
I do sometimes add 30ppm of calcinit too, but I try and keep it to the minimum. I might try and push it as much as possible and see at which point it starts to cause a problem for the pH.
Ca++
Well-known member
I logged out.. I was trying to edit.
I was gong for
So you didn't partly replace the calnit as they suggested. You entirely replaced the calnit, as your water is very hard.
You realise you posted the soil version, not the hydro one.
Edit: The range is a bit mystical. I have seen the brown, and it's 3-6-32 unlike the soil one. However, it's not on their site, and takes some finding on others. Where it's also 3-11-38
Bloody odd, but as my first thoughts towards buffering are the standard no brainer one's of hard water and calcium, it's hard to shake the fact that non is being added. My water is only moderate, but in soil, growing at full steam, I had to add Ca.
Have you done leaf samples? Perhaps now Germany is getting legal, that opens a door? I presume you are EU, as you sound like you are southern English, except your spelling.
I was gong for
So you didn't partly replace the calnit as they suggested. You entirely replaced the calnit, as your water is very hard.
You realise you posted the soil version, not the hydro one.
Edit: The range is a bit mystical. I have seen the brown, and it's 3-6-32 unlike the soil one. However, it's not on their site, and takes some finding on others. Where it's also 3-11-38
Bloody odd, but as my first thoughts towards buffering are the standard no brainer one's of hard water and calcium, it's hard to shake the fact that non is being added. My water is only moderate, but in soil, growing at full steam, I had to add Ca.
Have you done leaf samples? Perhaps now Germany is getting legal, that opens a door? I presume you are EU, as you sound like you are southern English, except your spelling.
Ca++
Well-known member
People seem to of eyed up the finer details, and it's passed inspection. Dissolves fine. I guess it doesn't matter what they call it. Though I may go up there and take a glove to them. Adding Tera to the name, is unacceptable
Update - harvested and had a fairly obvious P deficiency in one strain in particular, and mild in the other strain I ran. Wasn't really paying enough attention and only caught it at the end. So now my question is would it be a good idea to add some form of potassium phosphate (dipotassium phosphate) which has a pH of 9, in an attempt to stabilize the rez pH and adding extra P at the same time? The last dry fert I used before kristalon was a masterblend copy with a much higher P content and I didn't have any pH stability issues
If I did this would it also add up to an excess K concentration?
Are there any other options to raise P and pH at the same time without throwing the balance of other elements out of whack?
Many thanks
If I did this would it also add up to an excess K concentration?
Are there any other options to raise P and pH at the same time without throwing the balance of other elements out of whack?
Many thanks
Orange's Greenhouse
Active member
Phosphate will buffer the pH, while it is in solution. But is rapidly absorsorbed (similiar to the K) and then it is no longer in solution, having no effect. The K is also rapidly absorbed. You can fix a nutrient deficiency with it but can't stabilize pH. If you just want Phosphate you can also use phosphoric acid to adjust pH, if you have alkalinity in your water you need to compensate.
To buffer pH you can use citrate or carbonate. Ion exchange resin is also an option if you feel like tinkering.
To buffer pH you can use citrate or carbonate. Ion exchange resin is also an option if you feel like tinkering.
Turns out it's somewhat restricted in my home country anyway 
. Will look into those options. Have around 24kg of kristalon brown left and pH stability was my only concern when I ordered it, to which I convinced myself I would find a way of amending with other raw compounds. Would be nice to not have to up to 6.4 on the daily when lowering calcnit in flower. With the calcnit in equal ratio it stays fairly stable
. Will look into those options. Have around 24kg of kristalon brown left and pH stability was my only concern when I ordered it, to which I convinced myself I would find a way of amending with other raw compounds. Would be nice to not have to up to 6.4 on the daily when lowering calcnit in flower. With the calcnit in equal ratio it stays fairly stable
