Man i understand very well why it shifts the EC its a mono protic strong acid. HNO3 will do the exact same it also is a mono protic strong acid.
but i mean whats the point to adjust the EC if the buffer is gonna move it ?? do you get me ? its a meaningless task if you set the EC1.2 then adjust PH because its just gonna move as soon as the acid dissociates in the solution. this will happed with EVERY acid as thats what acids do in solution. youve the formation of the H+ ion and the counter - anion which itself is a massive conductor of electrons. It seems to me that people do this routine and then never go back and check the EC ? you cannot have an ec of x value and a ph of y value. the x has a corresponding y value by default you move one they other moves. H3PO4 might be working as its tri - protic due to the fact that it almost never ever gives up the last proton but again the EC will certainly move as the po4 ion is going into solution.
I read this several times and cannot understand the need for the complexity. Is the objective to harvest a ton of bud or to play around in the garden? Seriously. Be honest with yourself. If you just want to have some fun with a few pot plants, fine. Do whatever you like. Nothing wrong with that. OTOH, if you want to harvest a bunch of bud, these are better and far more simple ways to go about it. You just need to decide as to the objective.
I'm posting the plant as an example of what can be had from 1 square foot of space. I run a plant per square foot, 5-7 stems. I use a pH balanced commercial fertilizer and a pH balanced medium. Have never measured the pH in the 17 years I've been doing this. I can count the plants that got sick or showed any anomalies on one hand. My point is that growing canna can be very simple. Of course it can also be more complicated and that's where your chosen objective comes in. Good luck.
Simon