So if you've ever been interested in creating an exact nutrient profile and breaking free from the money pit that hydro companies are, hopefully this will be of some use.
Don't know if this is the right place for this, but I thought a thread on how to use hydrobuddy where anyone can input their knowledge would be helpful for those who are having problems with it. I know I was at first, and I'm sure I still don't understand it fully. But I know enough to formulate and that's what I'm gonna attempt to share.
so the program opens and looks very overwhelming if it's your first time, simply click on the main page tab.
You click the substance selection.
Here is where you're gonna add your salts that you have in your possession. (Don't use the presets, it's best to enter the exact percentages of the salts you have to ensure accuracy)
Click + Add Custom
Type A name, you can put the chemical formula if you have it, if not just delete that portion. On concentration type, if you're doing multiple stocks (such as A, B, C, D) enter the letter here. typically you'd want to add silica (agsil) first, so that'd be a part A. part B would be calcium nitrate, which you'd want separate from the rest. C would be everything else (typically) minus your micro nutrients.. D would be micro's. at least this is the way i do it. if you aren't mixing multiple bottles of separated stock then just delete this part and make sure you leave it blank when you add your ingredient.
so look at the label of your salt and enter the percentage it says into the appropriate field. purity and cost 100.
I usually put two dashes (--) in front of my salts, so they show up at the top of the list.
have only the salts you made on the right side of the list (this is what ingredients its using to formulate your target goals).. close this small popup to go back to the main page tab.
Now you want to enter your PPM target goals on the list. I use individual chelated micro nutrients instead of STEM (prepackaged micro nutrient mix) because it's better for hydro, and also so I can target an exact nutrient profile instead of being stuck to STEM's ppm levels of micro nutrients.
N (NO3-): enter your nitrogen PPM goal (i use 100-150 depending on light intensity, t5's do fine with 100, under a 1k i'd go up to 150)
P: i use 50
K: i use 200
Mg: i use 50
Ca: i use 100
S: I use 75
Fe: i use 3
Zn: i use 0.4
B: I use 0.3
Mn: I use 1
Cu: i use 0.2
Mo: I use 0.1
Na: I set to 0 (but one of the micro's has a little Na, which is fine and probably beneficial)
Si: i use 46
Cl: I use 0
then on the right where it says volume, i use 1 Liter stocks for my concentrate.. you can use 1 gallon if you want or whatever.. this is going to calculate how much salts you add to what size stock container you specify (like i said i use 1l)
select ppm concentration
select grams
below that select concentrated A + B
for concentration factor this is where you calculate what your application to your res is going to be.. I'll attempt to explain this to make sense. I make this number apply to gallons.. this will be the same no matter what you set on the part earlier (i use 1 liter stock, if you use 1 gallon stock or something else this part is still the same).. so 1 ounce is 30ml... and there's 128 ounces in a gallon. so by setting your concentration factor to 128 (number of ounces in a gallon), your application rate is 30ml per gallon. if you were to set your concentration factor to 256 you'd apply 15ml per gallon.. i use 128 cause it allows a larger margin for error while measuring your dose.. being 2ml off on 30ml is not as big of a deal as being 2ml off on an application rate of 5ml per gallon.. for example.
input desired concentration should already be selected below.
so you click carry out calculation.
it should say carried out successfully.. if it says something (one of your ingredients) is not used.. go back and remove it from the list on the right inside the substance selection (pushing delete just moves it back to the left list, it doesn't delete it forever, it just means you arent using it in your current mix calculations)... if you don't remove ingredients not being used it makes calculations not as accurate for some reason.
Next to your target PPM's you entered, it'll tell you what it was able to get it to based on your ingredients, it gets it as close as possible. the program uses sulfur as the most variable because typically sulfur isn't as problematic as other ingredients. (why i decided to go with sulfuric acid as my ph down as was recommended to me)
Click on the results tab on top, and it will show you (starting with the letter of the stock bottle it belongs in. if ingredients are incompatible in the same bottle it will tell you when you click calculate) how many grams to add to whatever amount of stock you specified.. once again i use 1 liter stocks. so in my case I fill half of the 1 liter bottle with RO/distilled water.. add the ingredients for that particular part, then fill the rest of the way with water until its at the appropriate level (1 liter). shake well, let it sit for 5 mins then shake again.
It'll tell you your EC below (mine comes out to 1.4 ec which is 700ppm on the 0.5 conversion rate)..
To the left of the EC value is the list of the results ppm again, and the gross error, meaning how far off your target levels it is. obviously negative percentage means its lower than your target, positive means it's over.
that's pretty much it, i put the ingredient name and gram values into notepad and print it.. I'm sure there's so much more this program can do, but this is how i use it to formulate my formulas, and when i use it i find it to be exactly accurate on the EC.
If anyone else uses this program and wants to chime in please do, this thread is intended to be an open discussion that we can all learn and grow from.
I believe this is the official download link, if i'm wrong please post the correct link.
http://scienceinhydroponics.com/
Cheers.
Don't know if this is the right place for this, but I thought a thread on how to use hydrobuddy where anyone can input their knowledge would be helpful for those who are having problems with it. I know I was at first, and I'm sure I still don't understand it fully. But I know enough to formulate and that's what I'm gonna attempt to share.
so the program opens and looks very overwhelming if it's your first time, simply click on the main page tab.
You click the substance selection.
Here is where you're gonna add your salts that you have in your possession. (Don't use the presets, it's best to enter the exact percentages of the salts you have to ensure accuracy)
Click + Add Custom
Type A name, you can put the chemical formula if you have it, if not just delete that portion. On concentration type, if you're doing multiple stocks (such as A, B, C, D) enter the letter here. typically you'd want to add silica (agsil) first, so that'd be a part A. part B would be calcium nitrate, which you'd want separate from the rest. C would be everything else (typically) minus your micro nutrients.. D would be micro's. at least this is the way i do it. if you aren't mixing multiple bottles of separated stock then just delete this part and make sure you leave it blank when you add your ingredient.
so look at the label of your salt and enter the percentage it says into the appropriate field. purity and cost 100.
I usually put two dashes (--) in front of my salts, so they show up at the top of the list.
have only the salts you made on the right side of the list (this is what ingredients its using to formulate your target goals).. close this small popup to go back to the main page tab.
Now you want to enter your PPM target goals on the list. I use individual chelated micro nutrients instead of STEM (prepackaged micro nutrient mix) because it's better for hydro, and also so I can target an exact nutrient profile instead of being stuck to STEM's ppm levels of micro nutrients.
N (NO3-): enter your nitrogen PPM goal (i use 100-150 depending on light intensity, t5's do fine with 100, under a 1k i'd go up to 150)
P: i use 50
K: i use 200
Mg: i use 50
Ca: i use 100
S: I use 75
Fe: i use 3
Zn: i use 0.4
B: I use 0.3
Mn: I use 1
Cu: i use 0.2
Mo: I use 0.1
Na: I set to 0 (but one of the micro's has a little Na, which is fine and probably beneficial)
Si: i use 46
Cl: I use 0
then on the right where it says volume, i use 1 Liter stocks for my concentrate.. you can use 1 gallon if you want or whatever.. this is going to calculate how much salts you add to what size stock container you specify (like i said i use 1l)
select ppm concentration
select grams
below that select concentrated A + B
for concentration factor this is where you calculate what your application to your res is going to be.. I'll attempt to explain this to make sense. I make this number apply to gallons.. this will be the same no matter what you set on the part earlier (i use 1 liter stock, if you use 1 gallon stock or something else this part is still the same).. so 1 ounce is 30ml... and there's 128 ounces in a gallon. so by setting your concentration factor to 128 (number of ounces in a gallon), your application rate is 30ml per gallon. if you were to set your concentration factor to 256 you'd apply 15ml per gallon.. i use 128 cause it allows a larger margin for error while measuring your dose.. being 2ml off on 30ml is not as big of a deal as being 2ml off on an application rate of 5ml per gallon.. for example.
input desired concentration should already be selected below.
so you click carry out calculation.
it should say carried out successfully.. if it says something (one of your ingredients) is not used.. go back and remove it from the list on the right inside the substance selection (pushing delete just moves it back to the left list, it doesn't delete it forever, it just means you arent using it in your current mix calculations)... if you don't remove ingredients not being used it makes calculations not as accurate for some reason.
Next to your target PPM's you entered, it'll tell you what it was able to get it to based on your ingredients, it gets it as close as possible. the program uses sulfur as the most variable because typically sulfur isn't as problematic as other ingredients. (why i decided to go with sulfuric acid as my ph down as was recommended to me)
Click on the results tab on top, and it will show you (starting with the letter of the stock bottle it belongs in. if ingredients are incompatible in the same bottle it will tell you when you click calculate) how many grams to add to whatever amount of stock you specified.. once again i use 1 liter stocks. so in my case I fill half of the 1 liter bottle with RO/distilled water.. add the ingredients for that particular part, then fill the rest of the way with water until its at the appropriate level (1 liter). shake well, let it sit for 5 mins then shake again.
It'll tell you your EC below (mine comes out to 1.4 ec which is 700ppm on the 0.5 conversion rate)..
To the left of the EC value is the list of the results ppm again, and the gross error, meaning how far off your target levels it is. obviously negative percentage means its lower than your target, positive means it's over.
that's pretty much it, i put the ingredient name and gram values into notepad and print it.. I'm sure there's so much more this program can do, but this is how i use it to formulate my formulas, and when i use it i find it to be exactly accurate on the EC.
If anyone else uses this program and wants to chime in please do, this thread is intended to be an open discussion that we can all learn and grow from.
I believe this is the official download link, if i'm wrong please post the correct link.
http://scienceinhydroponics.com/
Cheers.
