3 days on jack's 5-12-26 and the plants are loving it! Bye bye General Hydroponics forever

twentyeight.threefive

twentyeight.threefive

Well-Known Member
newguy41410 said:
I got a new RO Filter a year ago. I just realized recently that it might be the reason I have been seeing my pH drift up so high. With my old RO filter I would mix up my Jack's mix and it would come out to 5.8 on the dot every time. My RO water was 50 ppm so I thought it would be beneficial if I get a new RO filter. My new RO filter gives me 10 ppm water. When I mix jack's with my RO water now I get a low pH and have to use pH up to bring pH to 5.8

I use potassium silicate to bring pH up since adding silica is beneficial to the plant. I have heard potassium silicate will drift up a lot more than other pH up solutions though although I have been able to keep pH stable with silica in the past. Not so sure if I can with my new RO filter. Also wondering if the lower ppm RO water I'm getting is lacking in magnesium compared to my old 50ppm RO water?
Click to expand...
The difference in Mg content in 10ppm and 50ppm water is negligible.

What is your starting pH of your RO water before adding anything? It must be very acidic. I also use ArmorSi in addition to my Jack's mix and have to pH down my solution to get it to 6.0pH.

I also used to run air stones in my nutrient solution. I recently stopped using them and there almost zero pH drift up.
 
kratosxxl

kratosxxl

Well-Known Member
newguy41410 said:
damn, wish i could use tap water and bypass having an RO system. Wouldn't have to drain so much "waste" water. But my tap water comes out at 500ppm here in socal
Click to expand...
Mix them 50/50 ull have 250 ppm water with enough buffer to keep ur ph stable
 
N

newguy41410

Well-Known Member
twentyeight.threefive said:
The difference in Mg content in 10ppm and 50ppm water is negligible.

What is your starting pH of your RO water before adding anything? It must be very acidic. I also use ArmorSi in addition to my Jack's mix and have to pH down my solution to get it to 6.0pH.

I also used to run air stones in my nutrient solution. I recently stopped using them and there almost zero pH drift up.
Click to expand...
My RO water comes out at 7 pH. Both my old RO system and my new RO system outputs 7 pH water. Which makes it all the more confusing for me trying to pinpoint what exactly's happening

(I currently have four buckets of four different water sources and I mixed in Jack's and am measuring pH as time goes by to see if there's a correlation anywhere. Trying to determine if it's the source of the water causing the pH drift)
 
potpimp

potpimp

Sector 5 Moderator
newguy41410 said:
damn, wish i could use tap water and bypass having an RO system. Wouldn't have to drain so much "waste" water. But my tap water comes out at 500ppm here in socal
Click to expand...
When we lived in Oakhurst, we had uranium and arsenic in our water. A filter that would typically last a year most places wouldn't last but maybe a month.
 
ttystikk

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
potpimp said:
I don't know if it's soluble or not but you can have elements in suspension that are not soluble. One good thing is that we didn't have to have night lights. :)
Click to expand...
Sounds a lot like Westminster, Colorado- right down stream and down wind from the former Rocky Flats "nuclear triggers" manufacturing facility.

Those "triggers" were in fact fission bombs designed to be installed in hydrogen bombs to create the conditions for fusion to occur.

So not only tons (literally) of fissile nuclear materials but also loads of highly poisonous stuff like beryllium and other materials handled routinely by corporations completely indemnified against any liability for their misuse, misplacement or contamination.

Tasty!
 
N

newguy41410

Well-Known Member
Is it common to have to use pH up after mixing Jack's???

Years ago the pH use to always sit at 5.8 after mixing. And I always wait 24 hours to check and adjust pH.

Nowadays my pH drops to about 5.2 and I have to pH up..

I'm using RO water. My tap water use to come out as 550-ish PPM. After the RO filter, water would be at around 40ppm.

Nowadays, my tap water comes out as 400 PPM (I guess my city water changed?). And I got a new RO filter and the PPM comes out to be 10 PPM nowadays. pH is at around 7, maybe 7.4, out the tap.
 
twentyeight.threefive

twentyeight.threefive

Well-Known Member
newguy41410 said:
Is it common to have to use pH up after mixing Jack's???

Years ago the pH use to always sit at 5.8 after mixing. And I always wait 24 hours to check and adjust pH.

Nowadays my pH drops to about 5.2 and I have to pH up..

I'm using RO water. My tap water use to come out as 550-ish PPM. After the RO filter, water would be at around 40ppm.

Nowadays, my tap water comes out as 400 PPM (I guess my city water changed?). And I got a new RO filter and the PPM comes out to be 10 PPM nowadays. pH is at around 7, maybe 7.4, out the tap.
Click to expand...
No, I've never had to use pH up. My tap is 35ppm and about 7 pH.

Currently mixing my Jack's to 1.3 EC and I have to pH down to 6.0 pH.

Stronger ECs using more nutrients will lower your pH more.
 
Offmymeds

Offmymeds

Well-Known Member
The 1 in the Jack's formula is the Epsom Salts.
1645267512784.png

I use RO & I discovered pH rising in my rez. It turned out to be the wet Part B I had decided to use. It looked like crystals instead of tiny pellets.

I use Cal-Mag the 1st 2 weeks in coco just to make sure of the buffering capability.
 
Rurumo

Rurumo

Well-Known Member
Offmymeds said:
The 1 in the Jack's formula is the Epsom Salts.
View attachment 5088343

I use RO & I discovered pH rising in my rez. It turned out to be the wet Part B I had decided to use. It looked like crystals instead of tiny pellets.

I use Cal-Mag the 1st 2 weeks in coco just to make sure of the buffering capability.
Click to expand...
I keep a bagful of food grade dessicant packs around mainly for my seed collection but also for adding to each bag of nutrients. Calnit does suck up the RH so it's good to add a few dessicant packs and push the air out after each use-I hate when calnit gets moist, just totally messes up the accuracy of weighing it out. I usually only check ec a couple of times when I alter my "recipe" for plant stage and then just rely on weight after that. I just ordered a 25 lb bag of Calnit and was thinking about the best way to keep it dry-I'll probably add a bunch of dessicant packs to the big bag and then fill a smaller bag for my daily use.
 
N

newguy41410

Well-Known Member
Offmymeds said:
The 1 in the Jack's formula is the Epsom Salts.
View attachment 5088343

I use RO & I discovered pH rising in my rez. It turned out to be the wet Part B I had decided to use. It looked like crystals instead of tiny pellets.

I use Cal-Mag the 1st 2 weeks in coco just to make sure of the buffering capability.
Click to expand...
Damn you might've hit the nail on the head. My CalCinit has clumped up because I left the lid off for a couple days and hadn't realized it. This happened maybe a year or two ago. It's so hydroscopic that it absorbed rH and clumped up. Do you think that's definitely attributing to my problem? Should I just get a new bag of CalCinit maybe?

I bought a 50 lb bag of Yara Live and have only used maybe two pounds, tops, in the past 4 years. I wonder if I scoop off all the top of the bucket if there will be no more clumps? Will check when I get home
 
N

newguy41410

Well-Known Member
Rurumo said:
I keep a bagful of food grade dessicant packs around mainly for my seed collection but also for adding to each bag of nutrients. Calnit does suck up the RH so it's good to add a few dessicant packs and push the air out after each use-I hate when calnit gets moist, just totally messes up the accuracy of weighing it out. I usually only check ec a couple of times when I alter my "recipe" for plant stage and then just rely on weight after that. I just ordered a 25 lb bag of Calnit and was thinking about the best way to keep it dry-I'll probably add a bunch of dessicant packs to the big bag and then fill a smaller bag for my daily use.
Click to expand...
I left the lid of my gamma bucket off for a couple days and didn't realize. Due to the CalCinit being hydroscopic it looks like it absorbed some moisture and some clumped up. I would say at least 90-95% of the bucket is NOT clumped up though. I am able to easily break the clumps up by hand and they fall apart back into granules. Do you think this clumping up would/could be attributing to pH drift or any other deficiency issues that arise maybe?

calcinit.jpg
Offmymeds said:
The 1 in the Jack's formula is the Epsom Salts.
View attachment 5088343

I use RO & I discovered pH rising in my rez. It turned out to be the wet Part B I had decided to use. It looked like crystals instead of tiny pellets.

I use Cal-Mag the 1st 2 weeks in coco just to make sure of the buffering capability.
Click to expand...
when you say your part B looked like crystals, do you mean like salt crystals? like they took on a lot of water? Mine are clumped up, i wouldn't say they look like crystals though. I'm guessing you had a more extreme case of moisture in your part B?
 
Offmymeds

Offmymeds

Well-Known Member
newguy41410 said:
I left the lid of my gamma bucket off for a couple days and didn't realize. Due to the CalCinit being hydroscopic it looks like it absorbed some moisture and some clumped up. I would say at least 90-95% of the bucket is NOT clumped up though. I am able to easily break the clumps up by hand and they fall apart back into granules. Do you think this clumping up would/could be attributing to pH drift or any other deficiency issues that arise maybe?

View attachment 5088552

when you say your part B looked like crystals, do you mean like salt crystals? like they took on a lot of water? Mine are clumped up, i wouldn't say they look like crystals though. I'm guessing you had a more extreme case of moisture in your part B?
Click to expand...
Yes, mine was a little worse than that.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top