Tomatoesonly
Active member
Where can a person get this stuff raw, and not raped to death $$$ by a nute company?
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monosilicic acid
- Thread starter Tomatoesonly
- Start date
troutman
Seed Whore
I use potassium silicate which is sold by a nutrient company.
en.wikipedia.org
I know a person could make it with silica gel beads, potassium hydroxide
and water by heating the solution. In the following video this person makes
Sodium Silicate from drain cleaner (lye) and kitty litter (silica gel}.
Just replace the drain cleaner with potassium hydroxide. I purchased
some from a soap making supply shop. You can get pure white silica gel
beads online. I got a bunch on Amazon. It will have a high pH so use
very little. Good luck.
Potassium silicate - Wikipedia
I know a person could make it with silica gel beads, potassium hydroxide
and water by heating the solution. In the following video this person makes
Sodium Silicate from drain cleaner (lye) and kitty litter (silica gel}.
Just replace the drain cleaner with potassium hydroxide. I purchased
some from a soap making supply shop. You can get pure white silica gel
beads online. I got a bunch on Amazon. It will have a high pH so use
very little. Good luck.
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Tomatoesonly
Active member
Very interesting. Ok, this one is outside my "willing to do" list. I'll just buy a commercial product if I feel like I really need it.
Alchemist Stout MSA is the cheapest.. The concentration is not the same
1.25% for Alchemist vs 1.71% for PowerSi.
You don't need to use monosilicic acid to add a good source of Silica. Agsil16H is good enough for our needs.
1.25% for Alchemist vs 1.71% for PowerSi.
You don't need to use monosilicic acid to add a good source of Silica. Agsil16H is good enough for our needs.
Tomatoesonly
Active member
I read or heard or watched, that potassium silicate (which I do have) is NOT available naturally and has to be broken down by specific bacteria.
I'm in coco drip, using all salts, so I don't know what it would take to get that stuff broken down.
IMO We don't need to use a lot of silica. I might give my plants some silica 1x a month at best. Always remember that all Nutrient vendors will suggest using their products more often than needed and at a much higher level than needed. MSA is more than capable of giving plenty of Silica to our plants.
1 gallon MSA $75 1.25%
1 gallon Powers si $350 1.7%
1 liter Aptus fasilitor $400 1.4%
1 gallon MSA $75 1.25%
1 gallon Powers si $350 1.7%
1 liter Aptus fasilitor $400 1.4%
greyfader
Well-known member
Diatomaceous Earth as a Source of Plant Available Silica · Dicalite Management Group
Not all sources of silicon are created equal. Learn about the importance of plant available silica to support your plant's health.
www.dicalite.com
Gooseman23
Active member
The most concentrated I’ve found on the market is grow genius mono silicic acid. The others are 1% 2% bla blah but this one is 40% and I compared it to the others. At the recommended dosage it’s the best bang for the buck. 100ml is $60 usd but will treat 880 gallons. Vs something like alchemist stout that appears cheap but you have to apply much more. For example you can get a gallon of it for about $80 but at 5ml per gallon that only treats 758 gallons. So it seems cheaper but you’re actually spending $20 more to treat 120 gallons less…
We don't need to use a lot of silica. 1 gallon would last me years. I was given a liter of Aptus over a year ago its just about half gone. The biggest error I see bar far is using way too much nutrients/additives than needed.. If grow genius MSA cost less that's all that matters to me. At 40% I would dilute that big time. 1% MSA has plenty of bioavailability of Silica for our plants. More % doesn't mean better for our plants.
I use 1ml of Aptus per 5 gallons every 3-4 weeks in veg. That's it.
I use 1ml of Aptus per 5 gallons every 3-4 weeks in veg. That's it.
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Gooseman23
Active member
with grow genius you use even less than that .12ml per gallon. The recommended dosage is only .3ml per 10 L
Whatever cost less is the product to buy. I would dilute 40% down a lot before using it.. Silica can help cannabis uptake nutrients but isn't necessary to grow quality cannabis. IMO Silca isn't even needed in flower. It's why I only use it in veg.
K-Sil is very much available to the plant, both through the phylosphere and rhizosphere
Ive used Si-solubilizing bacteria. Its cool, didnt really need it tho, so i dont go out if my way to use it anymore.
Gooseman23
Active member
no silica is not needed. That’s well known, but it’s also well known that it is beneficial. And yes grow genius is best bang for buck from what I’ve seen on the market. Also I don’t use silica in flowering. I’d usually cut it out by week 4. As by then the structure is set. If you’re using power si then you can keep feeding it as the power si bloom has very little silica and will give other benefits to flowering from the kelp and aminos included. But if you’ve got that covered already then grow genius for the win. I gave a comparison too what most think is the cheapest alchemist stout MSA. But I did that comparison with all the ones I found. Power si, dune from impello biosciences, etc… and yes you are diluting it down. I was giving you the recommended feeding. It’s super low.
Gooseman23
Active member
I just reread this post. More % does not mean better for your plants. More % means more concentrated which means you have to use much less to get the same effect. More % means less water. Why pay for extra water
billyypilgrim
New member
some interesting stuff about silica
YellowCanaryConsulting
Active member
Perlite/sand dust + microbes is my method.
But in case you're not as cool as me: You don't need them monosilicicicicsicasicans: https://scienceinhydroponics.com/2023/02/common-questions-about-silicon-in-nutrient-solutions.html
But in case you're not as cool as me: You don't need them monosilicicicicsicasicans: https://scienceinhydroponics.com/2023/02/common-questions-about-silicon-in-nutrient-solutions.html
LOL, More % is a waste to use it full strength !!!!. You will not get any benefit from using it at 40% then you would at 1%. You are confused about what I posted. 40% is not better than 1% and has nothing to do with water weight. As I've said 4x now the cost is the only thing that matters not MSA%. Any product with 1% or more is fine. Anything over 3% needs to be diluted IMO, 1% MSA has enough Silica for our needs. More of anything never means better. We don't need to use MSA, Agsil16 is good enough.
If we get more use out of any product for less $ that is what I would buy.
Agsil 16 H is a soluble form of Potassium Silicate that will provide your plants with a 100% available source of silicon and potassium essential for optimum plant growth and health. I see no benefit in using MSA over Agsil.
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Gooseman23
Active member
what you’re saying makes zero sense. The % of the ingredients is in correlation with how much you dilute it. It has everything to do with water weight. You’re not comprehending what is being said. the post is about MSA. What is important to a grower as far as money goes is how many gallons or liters you can treat per dollar. If you can treat 500 gallons for $100 with 1 product but you can only treat 250 gallons for $100 with another product makes a BIG difference… now agsil 16h is fine to use but that’s not MSA which again was the subject of the post. That’s potassium silicate and I’m pretty sure you haven’t ran any side by side tests of agsil vs MSA if you had then you would notice a difference. Well atleast that’s my experience. But both work for sure. Honestly even cheaper would be wollastonite mixed in your medium. But once again the subject of this post is MSA. And if we are talking MSA the % vs the price makes a difference. I gave this example earlier but let me give it to you again in simple terms. Would you rather spend $80 to treat 750 gallons or spend $60 to treat 850 gallons? I’m sure you’d pick the second option and that’s all I was stating. Grow genius you can treat more water for the money than the other MSA products I’ve seen on the market. If you know of a better one please do share?
Gooseman23
Active member
Alchemist stout MSA recommended dose: 5ml per gallon.
Grow genius MSA recommended dose .12ml per gallon.
Do you not see this huge difference in dilution based off the % in the product???
What my point is the OP asked about MSA so I am explaining the best value on the market for MSA. So you’re talking about agsil 16h which is good but again my posts are specifically answering the question that this post is about. Out of the MSA products on the market I was telling the one you can treat the most gallons per dollar with. And again If you’re not using MSA I’d recommend following dr Bruce bugbee who uses vermiculite instead of perlite and also wollastonite for silica. I believe he adds 1 gram per gallon of medium of wollastonite mixed in before planting and his studies show it will be available for the entire grow. Add it once and you’re good in silica. Go check his videos on YouTube. But if you’re going with MSA then grow genius is the best bang for your buck.
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