Is calimagic even necessary at all with RO water?

Looking at the maxi bloom label the label it's easy to see it contains 5% calcium and 3.5% magnesium. With such high levels of these 2 elements I had to ask myself, is calimagic even necessary if I simply increase the PPM's of maxi in my reservoir solution? I'm going to experiment. The addition of calimagic adds nearly 200PPM to the reservoir and causes the solution to become unstable forming precipitate within 48 hours that worsens by the day completely trashing the reservoir within 72 hours. Why not just increase the maxi avoiding the calimagic issues altogether while saving money on another bottle? I'll give it a shot. I never have any deficiencies with maxi. If a deficiency presents itself then it's a no go. I'll report back my results along with the exact ratio of maxi per gallon of RO water I'm using.

Some strains require more than others.

Imo only use it when needed. Stick with just the maxi till the plant tells you otherwise.

When you start to see signs at the bottom of the plant that look like cal mag issues then you can add it or foliar feed is the fastest way to correct.

i've been wanting to try this but i use well and only need Mg, not Ca.

cutting edge solutions makes a Ca only additive. then Epsom salts. fix a Ca issue with 1, a Mg issue with 2.

Good luck, results will be interesting,
had a similar issue recently that resulted in fox tailing which was annoying.
I was thinking of doing something similar to overcome the overload issue of N when using both products,
Keep us posted

rkymtnman said:

i've been wanting to try this but i use well and only need Mg, not Ca.

cutting edge solutions makes a Ca only additive. then Epsom salts. fix a Ca issue with 1, a Mg issue with 2.

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Right after I posted this I started wondering, what if the magnesium levels are a bit too low? Jack's 5-12-26 has nearly double the magnesium at 6.3% and no additional mag sulfate is needed which is why most jack's users omit the epsom salt entirely.



I might modify my experiment here. First I'll increase the level of maxi. Nothing more. If no deficiencies form all is right with the world and the experiment is over. If I see a magnesium deficiency move on to experiment #2. Increase the level of maxi to increase the calcium content while adding my usual 1.1g/gallon of epsom salt to increase the magnesium content. I will only perform this test if I observe a magnesium deficiency. I'll report back my results in 48 hours. Mixing the test reservoir tonight. Of course I will not be testing this on my flower room. Vegging ladies

What I'm looking for in the next 48 hours is fallout. If no precipitate forms then I have confirmed calimagic is the source of the fallout. It will take 4-5 days from today to determine if the changes I've made to my fertilizer recipe are successful. We're gonna sort this shit out once and for all

Never utilized cal-mag in soil, and I didn't need ot for hydro running dynatron. I have skilled a container once, it sat in my wardrobe until I parted with it with all my different jugs. Formally bottle-free.

jonnynobody said:

Right after I posted this I started wondering, what if the magnesium levels are a bit too low? Jack's 5-12-26 has nearly double the magnesium at 6.3% and no additional mag sulfate is needed which is why most jack's users omit the epsom salt entirely.

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I might modify my experiment here. First I'll increase the level of maxi. Nothing more. If no deficiencies form all is right with the world and the experiment is over. If I see a magnesium deficiency move on to experiment #2. Increase the level of maxi to increase the calcium content while adding my usual 1.1g/gallon of epsom salt to increase the magnesium content. I will only perform this test if I observe a magnesium deficiency. I'll report back my results in 48 hours. Mixing the test reservoir tonight. Of course I will not be testing this on my flower room. Vegging ladies

What I'm looking for in the next 48 hours is fallout. If no precipitate forms then I have confirmed calimagic is the source of the fallout. It will take 4-5 days from today to determine if the changes I've made to my fertilizer recipe are successful. We're gonna sort this shit out once and for all

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It's not so much that the magnesium is low or high in the 5-12-26 that you add Epsom salt. It's for dialing in optimal calcium:magnesium ratio of 2:1. Cheers!

Wastei said:

It's not so much that the magnesium is low or high in the 5-12-26 that you add Epsom salt. It's for dialing in optimal calcium:magnesium ratio of 2:1. Cheers!

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Too much magnesium sulfate is too much plain and simple. The plants negatively responded due to the magnesium toxicity. This is why many 5-12-26 users omit the additional magnesium sulfate.

Actually, if you read through the 300+ page Maxibloom KISS thread, a lot of guys only use that with RO and don't add calmag. With my water, I need to add a little mag to keep things in balance.

Rurumo said:

Actually, if you read through the 300+ page Maxibloom KISS thread, a lot of guys only use that with RO and don't add calmag. With my water, I need to add a little mag to keep things in balance.

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Yeah, I agree It really depends on your starting water

Rurumo said:

Actually, if you read through the 300+ page Maxibloom KISS thread, a lot of guys only use that with RO and don't add calmag. With my water, I need to add a little mag to keep things in balance.

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You lost me at 300 pages Thank you for providing me the shortcut to the info. I'm very excited about this because I like maxi as a fertilizer. The plants always look very happy and I haven't seen a deficiency in longer than I can remember. I think those KISS growers have the right idea. GH is just out for a money grab with their calimagic. It's unnecessary like most of their nutrient line snake oil add on's. Nothing in a bottle of calimagic is expensive. They pay more for the bottle and cap than what's inside the bottle. Their feed chart is crafted for maximum profitability. Not for maximim results. If every grower knew you didn't need anything but maxi GH would make a lot less profit because they wouldn't be able to sell everyone a $40 gallon of calimagic that cost them $2 to manufacture, most of which is packaging and shipping costs, which is completely unnecessary. Oh what a world we would live in if companies did business honestly? People would get fucked less but less profit would be made. That's the ugly side of capitalism. Fortunately for us there are great websites like RIU and great growers that contribute to it so growers like us can fight back with knowledge and empower ourselves to not only save money but to help other growers avoid walking down the same shitty path we did.

last night I mixed up my 32 gallon reservoir of RO with 224g maxi bloom which brought my PPM to 876. This morning I watered all the plants with it ph adjusted to 5.7. I'm waiting in nervous anticipation of a good result. I'll report back with pictures tomorrow. 5 of my largest plants are drinking every day now. My largest of those 5 is drinking twice per day now so I will know quickly if the maxi is fulfilling all of the gardens needs. I'll snap pics tomorrow and report back. I'm very pleased to report my maxi bloom did remain stable in
my 32 gallon reservoir for 4 days in the test I ran. No calimagic = no problems. I also have not been adding ph up to the 32 gallon res. I ph adjust only the amount I pull out for the days watering needs on the day I water. Nothing but maxi and RO in the primary holding res. Working great!

Dont most users also supply Calcium Nitrate with jacks 5 -12 - 26?? That will take care of any Calcium Deficiencies, and also supplies Nitrogen. 15.5-0-0.

We use Chem Gro 4-20-39 x Calcium Nitrate x Epsom Salts. It is only .35% Magnesium

We use at 20%-30% strength in Promix BX and feed with every watering.





4-20-39 Recipe – For a great baseline would be 2 grams per gallon of 4-20-39, 2 grams per gallon of CaNO3-15.5-0-0 and 2/3 that amount of MgSO4 (1 1/3 gram per gallon). We suggest you try to keep your pH right around 6.2 for the duration but some fluctuations are not uncommon. During middle weeks of flower, you can add 1/3 the amount of MKP for extra K (potassium)

jimihendrix1 said:

Dont most users also supply Calcium Nitrate with jacks 5 -12 - 26??

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Yes. Calcium nitrate is required with Jack's 5-12-26. The base fertilizer contains 0% calcium.

jimihendrix1 said:

We use at 20%-30% strength in Promix BX and feed with every watering.

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I ran sunshine #4 once. I can't recall exactly what the issues were, but I opted to seek an alternative after trying it out. I believe both promix and sunshine #4 are peat based mixes. High acidity is what I experienced if I remember correctly. Other growers suggested adding dolomite lime to the peat mix prior to planting the seedlings. It sounded like more work than I was willing to put in. These days I prefer #4 mother earth chunky perlite. It's fairly inexpensive and has never caused me a single issue in 3 years. I purchased a canna coco brick to try coco one more time on a seedling. I've also got a few soil plants going. Godfather OG is my first soil plant in over 10 years. Super stoked! Not sure what I'm planting in the coco yet. Fuck, I'm not even sure why I bought the coco. Experimenting is fun I guess

So far it has been about 48 hours since I first watered in maxi only @ 7g/gallon to all the hydro ladies. All seems right with the world. 872PPM on the nose. I was pretty nervous walking into my flower room this morning, but nothing was amiss. So far so good. I'll continue to report back every couple days. 5 of my girls in the flower room are drinking every day now. 1 of those 5 needs water in the am and pm. Towards the end of flower I might have to water 3x/day on my largest. Blue dream is a fantastic strain. Hopefully maxi @7g/gallon makes her sparkle

Promix BX buffers out to 6.1- 6.2 ph. I usually veg in 5g containers, and transplant into 20g, so in that way I dont run into PH problems.

I add both Calcitic Lime, and Dolomitic Lime to my mother plant containers at 3 month intervals. Promix BX uses a 2/3 Calcitic Lime x 1/3 Dolomitic Lime ratio. That way they get ample amounts of both Calcium, and Magnesium.

jimihendrix1 said:

Promix BX buffers out to 6.1- 6.2 ph. I usually veg in 5g containers, and transplant into 20g, so in that way I dont run into PH problems.

I add both Calcitic Lime, and Dolomitic Lime to my mother plant containers at 3 month intervals. Promix BX uses a 2/3 Calcitic Lime x 1/3 Dolomitic Lime ratio. That way they get ample amounts of both Calcium, and Magnesium.

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Stuff is cheap as all get out. Do you treat it as a hydroponic medium or do you treat it as a faux soil?

Hand Watered Hydro. Passive I guess one would call it.

jimihendrix1 said:

Hand Watered Hydro. Passive I guess one would call it.

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I like it! Simple and effective. I do a hand water setup myself. I'd never do those recirculating or DWC systems. Great when they work but ripe for catastrophic failure. Floods, power failures, clogged lines, etc...No thank you sir. I actually got a water wand and pump. Got real fancy, right? Fucking hate using it. I actually had 1 for the veg area and 1 for the flower room. I hate using both because they're not convenient. It takes the same amount of time and I gotta snake that stupid hose allover the place. It just started feeling like a ball and chain man. I removed both hoses, wands, and pumps from the stations they were installed. Fuck all that jazz Hand water till the day I die.