Maxibloom PH 4.0 after mixing to 1.6 EC..

[twentyeight.threefive]

Yeah to be a Grand Master Grower you need 20 bottles preferably by different brands.

Nah but really I was using filtered RO water and tried mixing in Maxibloom and the PH using a calibrated bluelabs pen showed 4.0 PH once mixed to 1.6 EC.. I can mix FloraFlex base or Athena Pro base and land around 5.7-5.8...

I've been trying different dry ferts and so far Floraflex and Athena are winning the race. Maxi is always super acidic when mixed up and unless I have hot water it doesn't dissolve properly.

Something isn't going on correctly. Mixing process, nutrient batch, or pH calibration are probably the most likely culprits. What's the starting pH of your RO water?

 

[Kassiopeija]

What's the starting pH of your RO water?

and EC?

 

[calvin.m16]

Water comes from my well at a filthy 480 PPM of pure iron and who knows what else (house built on farm land) and then goes through my Hydro Logic RO-300 system directly into my 50 gallon fresh water holding tank where I never mix anything else into, just pump water into 20-30 gallon brute buckets respectively.

The water is testing after the filter at 6.5 PH but I don't think you can actually "read" the PH of RO. PPMs are 7 so there is no EC readable on my bluelab truncheon. On my Guardian meter though it says 7 PPM.

I take the water, put it into a large 1 liter pitcher and stir like crazy until its all dissolved, pour into my 5 gallons of the same pure water and mix again, few mins later I test the PH and it is 4.0-4.1, EC 1.5-1.6 both drip testing and using 2 different bluelab ph meters a soil pen style and their guardian meter with a newly replaced and calibrated probe that accurately reads testing solutions of 4 and 7 PH.

Once I started digging through the forum I noticed other people are having the same issue.. The fresh water tank is emptied out and rinsed with pure RO every month and I do not treat the water with anything.. It's just pure water..

 

[calvin.m16]

and EC?

0 EC 7 PPM (x700 scale)

 

[Rurumo]

I think CYCO and a couple others are winning the race though in that regard.. I will try to ask my busy buddy if he can share his last test results using CYCO Platinum. He swears by it for passing testing and also just overall quality. I have used their bases but I don't run all their extra bottles. Tumuchi.

Either way I'm sure coco coir has some metals in it.. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯



The real issue here is still why the hell is the PH 4.0 after mixing lol..

Most of the main Coir brands have ND to very low levels of heavy metals-Hydrofarm and Botanicare are two that I use for that reason. Surprisingly, canna is a bit higher but still not bad at all. BUT, some brands have failed testing miserably, but most of those were premixed bags of coir/perlite. Perlite is one thing people overlook a lot, but can be quite polluted with metals. Maxibloom was formulated for tap water use, and the acidity is one of the big selling points-I still have to add citric acid to get the PH where I need it. It's not great for use with RO water for that reason, although if you have extremely alkaline Tap or well water, you can always mix some of that into your RO to give it the bicarbonates/carbonates it needs to buffer the Maxibloom and keep the PH steady.

 

[calvin.m16]

Most of the main Coir brands have ND to very low levels of heavy metals-Hydrofarm and Botanicare are two that I use for that reason. Surprisingly, canna is a bit higher but still not bad at all. BUT, some brands have failed testing miserably, but most of those were premixed bags of coir/perlite. Perlite is one thing people overlook a lot, but can be quite polluted with metals. Maxibloom was formulated for tap water use, and the acidity is one of the big selling points-I still have to add citric acid to get the PH where I need it. It's not great for use with RO water for that reason, although if you have extremely alkaline Tap or well water, you can always mix some of that into your RO to give it the bicarbonates/carbonates it needs to buffer the Maxibloom and keep the PH steady.

Is there a supplement other than tap water that I could use to maintain PH and provide the necessary buffers that you can think of?

My tap water is really bad..

 

[Rurumo]

Is there a supplement other than tap water that I could use to maintain PH and provide the necessary buffers that you can think of?

My tap water is really bad..

I would get a LB of Potassium Bicarbonate and try that with the RO water to buffer it (you can buy it cheap in bulk if you like it). I'd mix the maxibloom in well first, then use that powder to buffer it up to where you want it and just keep track of how much you use so you can weigh it out in the future to save time. It will be way cheaper than buying bottles of PH up, which is just Potassium Hydroxide. Plus, the Potassium Bicarb is a great anti-fungal agent to have on hand in case you need it or want to use it as part of an IPM program.

 

[calvin.m16]

I would get a LB of Potassium Bicarbonate and try that with the RO water to buffer it (you can buy it cheap in bulk if you like it). I'd mix the maxibloom in well first, then use that powder to buffer it up to where you want it and just keep track of how much you use so you can weigh it out in the future to save time. It will be way cheaper than buying bottles of PH up, which is just Potassium Hydroxide. Plus, the Potassium Bicarb is a great anti-fungal agent to have on hand in case you need it or want to use it as part of an IPM program.

I mixed up some of the maxi with my softened tap water and it came out to 5.4 PH, not bad.. I think Maxibloom just lacks buffering agents, perhaps it was designed for use with hard water.. What's annoying is they advertise that it's buffered when its clearly not....

I'm going to let the solution sit over night and see if it stays stable with no air stones or anything.

I'll likely stick to cyco base and use floraflex bulky b & full tilt as a booster.. I've had great results but I like having other products in my arsenal and with the way things are going where I grow its hard to even buy nutrients right now half of the sh*t is out of stock cause all the massive illegal grows going on here operated by illegal immigrants that literally grow & live in the grow. They just busted one of the grows and they were using 120 volt extension cords to hot wire into electric grid then wrapped around metal pipes to their 1000w 240v double ended gavita fixtures.. LOL not to mention they had 100 pound tanks of butane sitting within feet of these wayyy overloaded extension cords. The fire dpt said if there was a fire that building could've cleared a block with all the butane & propane fuel tanks inside the building and extremely dangerous wiring.

 

[MickFoster]

. I think Maxibloom just lacks buffering agents,

It's never been a problem with me.

 

[Jjgrow420]

I use maxibloom and my ph drops to around 4.5. I add about 2ml per 5gal ph up and that brings me around 5.8-6.0
What's the issue though? Add nutes then ph your feed to what you need.

 

[Jjgrow420]

Something isn't going on correctly. Mixing process, nutrient batch, or pH calibration are probably the most likely culprits. What's the starting pH of your RO water?

You can't read the ph of ro water. There's no conductivity and it can damage the probe. If you try when you stir the ph drops and when you leave it still it will continue to rise. Needs a little ec to get a read.

 

[visajoe1]

i like to use potassium bicarbonate for ph up when needed with MB. Some extra K wont hurt anything

 

[calvin.m16]

That pre-filter is only 4 weeks old. Definitely not pouring that shit into my plants lol.

 

[twentyeight.threefive]

View attachment 5086816View attachment 5086819

That pre-filter is only 4 weeks old. Definitely not pouring that shit into my plants lol.

Guess Flint didn't fix it's water after all.

 

[Jjgrow420]

Holy hell. Mine was lightly yellowed after a year and I changed it.

 

[visajoe1]

View attachment 5086816View attachment 5086819

That pre-filter is only 4 weeks old. Definitely not pouring that shit into my plants lol.

wow is that rust flakes at the bottom?

 

[calvin.m16]

wow is that rust flakes at the bottom?

Yeah, I think we need a new well but I don't have $10,000 right now so gotta work with what I got. On a positive note I gave another run at Maxibloom and found I Just need to use a lot of Potassium Silicate to keep pH around 6. I use 5ml/gal of Armor Si in my RO before mixing 5g/gal of maxibloom. Results have been great but you do gotta water every day to maintain pH or things will start going acidic quick. I noticed my plants that don't have runoff like 1.0 EC (x500 ppm) daily nothing more nothing less. pH is always 6.1-6.2 with 5ml/gal of silica in bare water.

I was using Jacks all last year but their formula is not actually "1 part" like they claim, you gotta add 1g/gal Epsom Salts and some type of P booster or the buds will be starved with their RO formula (12-4-16).

This is my well water post sediment & carbon filter, before the water softener, has a irony smell and who knows wtf is in it. This is why I use RO.

 

[ISK]

I use MaxiBloom and tap water and I have to add pH down........not pH up.

I'm the opposite, I use MaxiBloom and tap water and I have to add pH up......not pH down.

I use pH test drops and it's dark red after mixing.....my tap water is a dark green....what colour is your tap water?

 

[MickFoster]

I'm the opposite, I use MaxiBloom and tap water and I have to add pH up......not pH down.

I use pH test drops and it's dark red after mixing.....my tap water is a dark green....what colour is your tap water?

My tap water is green.
In one gallon of tap water I mix 2 ml of Silica and 1/2 tsp MaxiBloom. .25 ml of pH down puts the color at piss yellow.

 

[ISK]

My tap water is green.
In one gallon of tap water I mix 2 ml of Silica and 1/2 tsp MaxiBloom. .25 ml of pH down puts the color at piss yellow.

What would happen if you didn't use the silica, I'm wondering if that's what raises your pH