*The K.I.S.S. Method*

[oti$]

Yup, I fill a100 gal top off res that feeds another 60 gallon res and the ph holds steady for 10 days or so.

 

[beta]

.

 

[beta]

.

 

[Deftoner]

Just a Thought for others with small setups. I have a 75 gallon Freshwater Aquarium and I simply use water from it to feed my DWC with 5g/gal MaxiBloom. The aquarium buffers my tap ph from an extremely high 8.8 down to 6.5 and once Its in the res its lowers down to 6.2-6.3. I have been doing this for almost a solid year and have amazing results. No Deficiencies all the way til it was time to starve the girls before chop. No Root rot or fungus of any kind. The key is to keep your aquarium running as clean as possible at all times. I also made a DIY water chiller using a 12v personal refrigerator and some copper tubing. Hope this helps.

 

[oti$]

My water has a pH of appx. 7.4 - Will MaxiBloom lower my pH enough that I can use a silica like Protekt which significantly raises pH? If not, what's a rez safe stable pH down I can use so that I can still add silica to my regimine? For what it's worth I plan on running MB at 1/2-3/4 strength continuous feed via Trompf Blumats

Thanks!

I add 2ml\gal protekt to maxibloom and my ph ends up right around 6+- with no need for Adjustments. When I add the same amount to maxigrow the solution requires about1ml/gal ph down. Hope this helps.

 

[LeeROI]

My water has a pH of appx. 7.4 - Will MaxiBloom lower my pH enough that I can use a silica like Protekt which significantly raises pH? If not, what's a rez safe stable pH down I can use so that I can still add silica to my regimine? For what it's worth I plan on running MB at 1/2-3/4 strength continuous feed via Trompf Blumats

Thanks!

Your situation is identical to what I ran. General Hydroponics pH Down works great. Bring the pH of the water down before adding ProTekt and then mix in the MB. I kept the res at pH 5.8, EC 1.35mS.
Edit: I also used Drip Clean.

 

[beta]

.

 

[oti$]

Mixing the silica after other inputs can cause it to fall out of solution. Add it last and you'll sometimes see the solution cloud up. I second the drip clean for coco, especially in a blumat grow our any situation with little or no run off...1ml/gal.

 

[beta]

.

 

[beta]

.

 

[stoned40yrs]

What's the best rate (in EC) to charge coco with and transplant clones into?

Thanks!

From .6-.8 is plenty high enough. You can add protect last. So what if it makes a little cloud. Never saw anything fall out of suspension. Plenty of us use it as a ph up when the res ph lowers after a few days. Dripclean is snake oil. I used it for two years with both handwater and blumats, then some guys on here said it wasn't necessary stuff so I tried both handwater and blumats without it. No difference with or without. Haven't used it in a year. I never read where even one person said they had nutes fall out of suspension by adding silica/protekt last but everyone repeats the warning that it can happen. You CAN get hit by a meteor also. I don't use any AN products except their ph up and down, potent stable stuff, use drops instead of ml.

 

[Maj.Cottonmouth]

Just an FYI, full strength will not hurt clones. I use full strength all the way through. I fill a party cup with coco, soak completely with full strength nutes, poke a small hole in the coco, apply rooting hormone to clone stem, stick it in the hole and pinch the coco around the stem a little. I then leave them under my T5 floro bank and don't touch them for a weekish. Depends on the strain, faster rooting ones will want water in about 5 days and some go 10 days and then I start watering them everyday to run off with full strength nutes. I have over 95% strike rate doing it this way for the last few years. I use tap water, 5ml per gallon SilicaBlast, 1ml per gallon drip clean and 7 grams per gallon MaxiBloom. EC is 1.8 and pH is 5.8 - 6.

 

[stoned40yrs]

ha Maj C you're one of the guys that made me quit dripclean

 

[beta]

.

 

[canna_cardinal]

How many days can I keep Maxibloom + Protekt + AN pH down in a rez before I need to drain it and start over fresh? Will an airstone or a pump to circulate water help keep it clean / stable?

Is 0.9-1.0EC strong enough for a drain-to-waste system feeding small pots (with runoff) multiple times per day?

I don't use Protekt, but Maxi and PH up stays stable for about 4 days, give or take. Just check PH and ec once or twice a day to make sure. And an airstone and pump should definitely help. If nothing else, it should help keep any bad stuff from growing in there.

And I don't know the ins and outs of ec and different conversions, but my meter usually reads about 600-700. I used the same PH and ppm for dwa and dirt, works fine in dirt, but a little light for DWC.

Hope this helps a little bit.

 

[Maj.Cottonmouth]

ha Maj C you're one of the guys that made me quit dripclean

I am dropping it after my bottle is gone, I have seen no difference using it.

 

[oti$]

I thought the cloud was the silica falling out of suspension. As for the Drip clean, I no longer user it either, but I also feed@ a much lower ec now. I was going by the instructions on the bottles and when I finally got a truncheon I found my ec to be2.5+ and my run off ec was of the meter and I attributed the dc to being able to have such high readings without issue. I could be wrong about both things. At this point in my grows I'm a less is best kind of guy. 1.0-1.2 ec with all inputs shoot for some run off (don't currently run blumats) and watch the plants to try and read them for what they need. Its not so easy with new strains or running multiple varitals which is why my current grows aren't looking great.
I some times have to use protekt as a ph ^ and I found that if I stir it in vigorously adding the silica slowly I do not get the cloud.

 

[GET MO]

i been using pro-tekt for years as ph up, always got clouds and never had issues.

 

[beta]

.

 

[oti$]

I've got some of my best yields with blumats. If you feed low ec(1.0-1.2) no problems with salt build up should arise. I would, at the last two weeks of the grow, start adding water only to the res dwindling down the nutes until the last week it was water only. The cool thing about blumats is that the plant determines how much water it gets. With a dtw grow there are always some that are drinking more or less. Blumats are giving each plant a custom irrigation. I'm currently growing coco dtw bc the parts were available locally.