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Ionic grow and bloom in flood n drain

Greenthumber

Active member
Wasn't sure where to put this post as I'm looking for anyone's experience with ionic grow and bloom but specifically in a hydro set up (If needed please move this to the nutes and fertilizer section)

From what I've read and understand ionic is a pretty stable ph nute for hydroponics just looking for anyone's input on their use of the product in flood and drain? Would this formula still need calcium and magnesium additives using straight tap water? I originally was going to go with house and garden lineup but for the price and simplicity of the ionic being a 1 part base for veg and grow and ph stability I'm going back and forth, what's your thoughts? Thanks in advance
 

Speed of green

Active member
I knew a grow that used this years ago, it comes in a black bottle I'm pretty sure. He did supplement cal/mag to 150-200 ppm before adding the ionic. This was in r/o water though.

If you want to use your tap water I would get an analysis done and see what elements your water contains, this may help your decision in adding cal/mag.

I think it could work fine, although there using a huge following of ionic on this forum that is using their nutrients, so if you run into issues you may not find a whole lot of information/help in troubleshooting and future issues that may arise.

My personal opinion is that bottled nutrients are basically overpriced convenience. You are paying for a gallon of water with some powdered nutrients mixed into it, these powdered nutrients are incredibly inexpensive.

for growers that are unaware of what the plant requires, these pre-mixed solutions are a great way to get started growing with limited knowledge and skill; although at a greatly inflated cost.

If you want to save some serious coin powdered nutrients are the ticket . I would look into jacks hydroponic and calcium nitrate, it's a two part nutrient that is incredibly simple and grows a great product. Extremely ph stable and there is a large following of people on here, myself included that currently use this and there is plenty of information and feedback for anyone having troubles.
 

eric2028

Well-known member
Veteran
I knew a grow that used this years ago, it comes in a black bottle I'm pretty sure. He did supplement cal/mag to 150-200 ppm before adding the ionic. This was in r/o water though.

If you want to use your tap water I would get an analysis done and see what elements your water contains, this may help your decision in adding cal/mag.

I think it could work fine, although there using a huge following of ionic on this forum that is using their nutrients, so if you run into issues you may not find a whole lot of information/help in troubleshooting and future issues that may arise.

My personal opinion is that bottled nutrients are basically overpriced convenience. You are paying for a gallon of water with some powdered nutrients mixed into it, these powdered nutrients are incredibly inexpensive.

for growers that are unaware of what the plant requires, these pre-mixed solutions are a great way to get started growing with limited knowledge and skill; although at a greatly inflated cost.

If you want to save some serious coin powdered nutrients are the ticket . I would look into jacks hydroponic and calcium nitrate, it's a two part nutrient that is incredibly simple and grows a great product. Extremely ph stable and there is a large following of people on here, myself included that currently use this and there is plenty of information and feedback for anyone having troubles.

I'm also running jacks. What your recipe if you don't mind sharing?
 

bigbadbillybob

Active member
ive used Ionic for years in hydro.
depending on your base ec they do a hard and a soft water versions (in the UK anyway),
I used to add cal mag during veg - they need it., and in flower if they showed any deficiencies, I would also add it.
its a very good nutrient imo, and hugely under rated, but go easy on their PK boost, its potent stuff.
 

Greenthumber

Active member
ive used Ionic for years in hydro.
depending on your base ec they do a hard and a soft water versions (in the UK anyway),
I used to add cal mag during veg - they need it., and in flower if they showed any deficiencies, I would also add it.
its a very good nutrient imo, and hugely under rated, but go easy on their PK boost, its potent stuff.

I'm not sure exactly what my ec is as of yet I know there is math to find it from Ppm but my Ppm out of tap is 80 which is way Lower than I originally thought it would be but I'm pretty sure I'm going to give the ionic go a shot I've heard nothing but good things, thanks for the input it's highly appreciated, what type of medium are you using? Flood and drain as well?
 

Greenthumber

Active member
I knew a grow that used this years ago, it comes in a black bottle I'm pretty sure. He did supplement cal/mag to 150-200 ppm before adding the ionic. This was in r/o water though.

If you want to use your tap water I would get an analysis done and see what elements your water contains, this may help your decision in adding cal/mag.

I think it could work fine, although there using a huge following of ionic on this forum that is using their nutrients, so if you run into issues you may not find a whole lot of information/help in troubleshooting and future issues that may arise.

My personal opinion is that bottled nutrients are basically overpriced convenience. You are paying for a gallon of water with some powdered nutrients mixed into it, these powdered nutrients are incredibly inexpensive.

for growers that are unaware of what the plant requires, these pre-mixed solutions are a great way to get started growing with limited knowledge and skill; although at a greatly inflated cost.

If you want to save some serious coin powdered nutrients are the ticket . I would look into jacks hydroponic and calcium nitrate, it's a two part nutrient that is incredibly simple and grows a great product. Extremely ph stable and there is a large following of people on here, myself included that currently use this and there is plenty of information and feedback for anyone having troubles.

I agree with you on that bottled nutrients are a big price commitment and are used up so quick it's rediculous I was originally looking at house and garden because one of my friends uses it a swears by it and has excellent results on a consistent basis but damnnnn a few of those additives are seriously costly!! That's why I'm considering ionic because it's fairy cheap and doesn't have a 10 part lineup of shit to break the bank, I'm not at all familiar with the use of the powdered nutes I've seen a lot of talk about jacks and other powdered nutes though. How much do you dilute these down? Esp with an npk of 5 12 26 isn't that a bit high? I would love to learn some more about it if you have any tips
 

hazyfontazy

Active member
Veteran
ive used Ionic for years in hydro.
depending on your base ec they do a hard and a soft water versions (in the UK anyway),
I used to add cal mag during veg - they need it., and in flower if they showed any deficiencies, I would also add it.
its a very good nutrient imo, and hugely under rated, but go easy on their PK boost, its potent stuff.

in the early 90's growth technology was massively popular ,one of the first nutrients you could get wholesale ,we stocked it in our shop ,,but when the dutch formulas and american nutes hit the shelves people wanted to try them cause they were supposedly better and different ..gt and ionic took a back seat

a rock solid nutrient company long established and everything they do works ,formulex ,clonex,nitrozyme ,ionic ,europonic all great and easy to use ..

worth every penny ,,get a bluelab truncheon to go with em and your laughing :tiphat:
 

Greenthumber

Active member
in the early 90's growth technology was massively popular ,one of the first nutrients you could get wholesale ,we stocked it in our shop ,,but when the dutch formulas and american nutes hit the shelves people wanted to try them cause they were supposedly better and different ..gt and ionic took a back seat

a rock solid nutrient company long established and everything they do works ,formulex ,clonex,nitrozyme ,ionic ,europonic all great and easy to use ..

worth every penny ,,get a bluelab truncheon to go with em and your laughing :tiphat:

I knew they had been around for quite some time as years ago when I was just getting into trying a plant or two grows an old buddy of mine used it and swore by it I'm pretty sure that's the route I'm going to go for now from what I hear it's pretty dependable simple and especially cost effective compared to the big name give me all your money brands, don't have a truncheon pen but I did just get my bluelab growers toolbox in the mail and got it all calibrated my Ppm out of tap is 80ppm so that clears up the question of the ionic regular or hard water pondering in my head lol thanks man
 

bigbadbillybob

Active member
I'm not sure exactly what my ec is as of yet I know there is math to find it from Ppm but my Ppm out of tap is 80 which is way Lower than I originally thought it would be but I'm pretty sure I'm going to give the ionic go a shot I've heard nothing but good things, thanks for the input it's highly appreciated, what type of medium are you using? Flood and drain as well?

no, I use a diy rdwc system.
Ive used ionic for years and its good stuff, also cheaper than canna, which is just an added bonus. I have tried most of them, but IOnic is simple to use and fairly inexpensive.
You are just under 0.2 EC which is soft water.
 

bigbadbillybob

Active member
a mate of mine uses it in flood and drain tho and allways gets good results.
The pigs took my 3 week old bluelab ec meter, guardian and ph meter.
I decided to treat myself after years of using the cheap Chinese ones.
The bastards
 

Greenthumber

Active member
no, I use a diy rdwc system.
Ive used ionic for years and its good stuff, also cheaper than canna, which is just an added bonus. I have tried most of them, but IOnic is simple to use and fairly inexpensive.
You are just under 0.2 EC which is soft water.

Yeah I really have tried to find one person that has anything negative to say about it and just cannot find a negative input, i ended up purchasing the soft water ionic yesterday also some bioag ful-power fulvix acid which helps with he intake of nutrients I've heard amazing things about it so I'm going to give that a shot as well and I'll be picking up some calmag to have on the bench for when needed as well
 

Ibechillin

Masochist Educator
I found this reading through Heath Robinson's vertical threads, he has been a great resource.

"I usually use Canna, Ionic or Vitalink, there shouldn't be any real need for boosters or flower enhancers they are only any use if your grow is deficient in nutrients for some reason. If you want to use a booster use something like PK 13/14 as its very cheap and could be used as a belt and braces approach if you feel that your grow might be lacking something. Otherwise the standard nutrients should be more than good enough."


Heath

Here is a link to the discussion, lots of good information from Heath on his grow style.

http://www.rollitup.org/t/critical-mass-tree-grow-x-2.101347/
 

Greenthumber

Active member
I found this reading through Heath Robinson's vertical threads, he has been a great resource.

"I usually use Canna, Ionic or Vitalink, there shouldn't be any real need for boosters or flower enhancers they are only any use if your grow is deficient in nutrients for some reason. If you want to use a booster use something like PK 13/14 as its very cheap and could be used as a belt and braces approach if you feel that your grow might be lacking something. Otherwise the standard nutrients should be more than good enough."


Heath

Here is a link to the discussion, lots of good information from Heath on his grow style.

https://www.rollitup.org/t/critical-mass-tree-grow-x-2.101347/

Hey thanks man! A lot to weed through and dude looks like he has some great grows I appreciate that
 

Speed of green

Active member
I agree with you on that bottled nutrients are a big price commitment and are used up so quick it's rediculous I was originally looking at house and garden because one of my friends uses it a swears by it and has excellent results on a consistent basis but damnnnn a few of those additives are seriously costly!! That's why I'm considering ionic because it's fairy cheap and doesn't have a 10 part lineup of shit to break the bank, I'm not at all familiar with the use of the powdered nutes I've seen a lot of talk about jacks and other powdered nutes though. How much do you dilute these down? Esp with an npk of 5 12 26 isn't that a bit high? I would love to learn some more about it if you have any tips

the jacks is 5-12-26 & the calcium nitrate is 15-0-0 they are both very concentrated and you use about 1/2tsp of each per gallon.

I'm also running jacks. What your recipe if you don't mind sharing?

i mix by volume into 275 gallon reservoirs, but you can achieve the same ratio with the method that i use.

for starters i only top off my reservoirs, i rarely drain and refill completely, the PPK system that i have rarely requires a full change out.

that being said i mix into unknown volumes of water every time, depending on how empty the 275 is.

i start with a 5 gallon bucket filled about 5 inches from the top and add 1cup of jacks, then i add 1/4 cup of epsom, i mix this vigorusly for a couple minutes and then add 1 cup of calcium nitrate.

at this point i have a very concentrated 5 gallons of solution

i take this solution to my 275 res and pour in slowly stopping to stir the 275 and check the e.c. once i hit my target e.c i give it a few good stirs and make sure the e.c doesnt fluctuate.

i normally shoot for 1.2-1.4ec with r/o water, currently i am outdoors and using well water so i shoot for 1.6-1.8ec

next i ph the solution somewhere near 5.8 and leave it alone until the next week when i top off res's again. also i add about a 2/3 cup of bleach to each 275 every week to keep the reservoirs clean and algae free.

The reservoirs are very stable week after week with minimal ph fluctuation. maybe a point or two from where i originally ph'd it.


sorry to OP for clogging up your thread with off topic shiz

Good luck
 

bigbadbillybob

Active member
Yeah I really have tried to find one person that has anything negative to say about it and just cannot find a negative input, i ended up purchasing the soft water ionic yesterday also some bioag ful-power fulvix acid which helps with he intake of nutrients I've heard amazing things about it so I'm going to give that a shot as well and I'll be picking up some calmag to have on the bench for when needed as well


Fulvic is organic-which in my experience is not good for hydro
always ends up giving issues.
 

bigbadbillybob

Active member
oh, and you will need the cal mag from about 3 weeks.
I would also recommend using silicone as opposed to fulvic, it has a similar effect, in that it helps open the feeding superhighways, as well as strengthen cell walls
 

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