pH drop and cloudiness from monosilicic acid in reservoir

[billyypilgrim]

hello I’ve been having a mind boggling problem the past few months with my water.

currently in my reservoirs Im using RO water with si28, ambrosia nutrients, cyco ph up, and 500ppm hypochlorous acid. added in that order.

Ambrosia consists of CalNit, Mag (epsom salts), and their bases

I switched from powersi to si28 about 6-8mo ago because it was cleaner but the last month I’ve been getting cloudy reservoirs 24 hours after mixing when in the past I usually could leave the solution sitting in the reservoir being circulated for 72hr with no problems with ph or cloudiness whatsoever.

I’ve tried replacing the membranes in my RO, adding a chloramine filter, adding more circulation to my res, removing hypochlorous, topping the res off with more hypochlorous acid after cloudiness begins and letting the silica the mix for longer to buffer the water. the only thing that eliminates the the problem is cutting out the silica completely.

the strangest thing is I can make 3 reservoirs at the same time - all the exact same solution and only one or sometimes 2 will go cloudy in in 24 hrs with a ph drop. sometimes it’s all of them. it’s pretty random how it happens.

I also have wave makers in my 50 gal reservoirs and Ive increased the circulation in the past and watch the res go from cloudy to clear again in a few hours, but this doesn’t always work.

I’m not really trying to cut out the silica I like the benefits of using it and for months I had extremely clean reservoirs using it. I would never have to clean my res until the end of the round. now I am scrubbing it weekly.

at this point I believe there may be some sort of bacteria in my water? or some sort of chemical reaction I’m unaware taking my place? improper buffering?

usually after I ph it up again after 24 hrs, it will not drop after another 24hrs. I typically use my reservoirs within 48hrs. if I make a res without hypochlorous acid and just silica/nutes it will be even more cloudy than normal the next day.

I should also add my temps of my res stay between 68-72 and the temperature doesn’t seem to be correlated to the problem.

the plants seem to have no problem with the issue either.

I’m considering buying a inline uv light for my water line

 

[Creeperpark]

You posted a hard one Billy and I'm not too sure. I found that Mono-silicic acid is the form of silicon (Si) that plants naturally use but plants must turn normal silicates into mono-silicic before it is bio-available.

Make sure your starting water is acidic before adding the monosilicic acid. If I'm not mistaking the cloudiness is coming from the bicarbonate in the water. Someone will come along and know for sure. Thanks for posting.

 

[TheBlessedPlant]

Order of opp

 

[billyypilgrim]

You posted a hard one Billy and I'm not too sure. I found that Mono-silicic acid is the form of silicon (Si) that plants naturally use but plants must turn normal silicates into mono-silicic before it is bio-available.

Make sure your starting water is acidic before adding the monosilicic acid. If I'm not mistaking the cloudiness is coming from the bicarbonate in the water. Someone will come along and know for sure. Thanks for posting.

I believe my ro water is a neutral ph of about 7 before I add the silica. are you suggesting I ph it down slightly before adding the silica so it properly buffers?

I’ve also been under the impression that there may be some sort of bicarbonate in the water causing the cloudiness. I’m unsure where it’s coming from though and how to deal with it.

thank you for your response I appreciate any help on this matter

 

[billyypilgrim]

update: I made 2 50gal reservoirs a little less than 48hr ago. same solution in each. 24hrs later they were both cloudy with a 0.4 ph drop from 6.0 to 5.6. so I increased the water circulation in both yesterday with the wave makers and added ph up to 6.2.

today I checked again, there’s about 10 gal left in each res. both have cleared up a significant amount, not as clear as the original solution but definitely clearer than yesterday.

it also seems the ph has risen slightly.. strange. the ph was 6.3 in one res and 6.4 in the other today.

there’s a slight dried up bio film on the side of the reservoirs. temperature of each res is 69*f

 

[billyypilgrim]

Plants are happy regardless of the reservoir issues thankfully

just worried about clogged drippers mostly, nothing yet though

 

[billyypilgrim]

update: I made a rez 24 hours ago and expected it to be cloudy when I came in today but it was crystal clear

however my two 50 gal flower reservoirs have gone from clear -> cloudy/ ph drop after 24 hrs -> somewhat clear again after another 24 hr

I’m going to try to ph down my res with phosphoric acid before mixing the nutrients to see if it will help break down any bicarbonates and help the silica mix better

 

[troutman]

I have Potassium silicate and it raises the pH.

Use a little pH up and it will neutralize your silicic acid to make the same as I got.