[Dropped Cat]

Subbed.

[Miraculous Meds]

@the cook,

So, do u not put much stock in the slurry test? I have tested run off ec forever. Some people here told me that it wasn't as good as a slurry test, but imo, I get enough information to know if im getting a buildup of nutes, or if I can feed a little more often. Its always worked well for me.

That post u did was a lot of info to say that coir likes to draw in ca and mg while releasing K. But I think the key point u nailed down was that once the cec is satisfied it performs as normal. No need for extra ca/mg products. In fact I know plenty of people that just use regular hydro formula nutes in coir and do just fine. Its all about getting the cec set, and coir will be ur best friend.

Whats ur take on ph management in recirculating coir? It seems to rise pretty consistently. I used to ph down it regularly, but now I have a system of the veg runs dtw, and the ph gets a chance to buffer pretty well during this stage. In flower if the ph gets above 6.4 I will do a res change instead of adding ph down.

Good stuff and well done, thanks for the contribution.

[SteelCityGreen]

Should definitely be a sticky.

Thanks for taking the time to share The.cook

I'd 'rate/like' the post but I don't think I have the option as a newb.

[The.Cook]

Originally Posted by Miraculous Meds

@the cook,

So, do u not put much stock in the slurry test? I have tested run off ec forever. Some people here told me that it wasn't as good as a slurry test, but imo, I get enough information to know if im getting a buildup of nutes, or if I can feed a little more often. Its always worked well for me.

That post u did was a lot of info to say that coir likes to draw in ca and mg while releasing K. But I think the key point u nailed down was that once the cec is satisfied it performs as normal. No need for extra ca/mg products. In fact I know plenty of people that just use regular hydro formula nutes in coir and do just fine. Its all about getting the cec set, and coir will be ur best friend.

Whats ur take on ph management in recirculating coir? It seems to rise pretty consistently. I used to ph down it regularly, but now I have a system of the veg runs dtw, and the ph gets a chance to buffer pretty well during this stage. In flower if the ph gets above 6.4 I will do a res change instead of adding ph down.

Good stuff and well done, thanks for the contribution.

Hi man!

well, for what it concerns EC, imo testing run off or slurry is not the same thing.

I regulary check run off ec as it gives me the amount of nutes directly avaiable to roots (nutrient solution is in equilibrium with roots as seen above) as well as other uswfull information like the ones you mentioned if i put it side by side with inlet ec.

At the same time, the nutrient solution is in equilibrium with the colloids that under a certain point of view act as a "bank"

You can have an indication of the amount of nutes avaiable in the "bank" by putting a weighted amount of sub in a certain amount of ro water and reading the resulting ec as well as washing a certain amount of sub with ro water till it stop releasing ions.
I said indication as the test protocol has a very high influence on the final value, wich in result can only be usefull as trend and not as a value by itself (unlike run off ec) of course you'll need to keep the protocol as stable as possible from a test to another.

In my opinion it's clear wich one is more usefull.

The opposite is for pH: if you put a sample of soil in ro water you will have a very accurate measurament of sub's pH as ro water has a very low inertia to pH changes. this can give u a valuable information about the health of your sub.

Regarding recirculating system in coco its kinda difficult situation cause coco as a great influence on both pH and ions so it can be very tricky to keep the res at the right value.

[al70]

Very interesting read, thanks for that, goodluck

[Lesterburnum]

Bam.
Love the handle bro.
Spot on.

[noyd666]

yes good one cookie.

[The.Cook]

Thanks guys! I'm glad you found it usefull!

[blueberrydrumz]

Originally Posted by The.Cook

Thanks guys! I'm glad you found it usefull!

many thx for a good post...
ive been running coco for some yrs now and use my own fert formulas mixed from yara salts with mostly excellent results..
im now trying to mix my formulas to achieve the best Ionic Balance but have some comprehension issues haha

i have noticed running 0.5 EC water like you also mentioned you will always have to fight against the buffer / alkalinity nothing new
i know this will sound strange but here is how i go about it:
I ph the tap water to 4.5 to break the buffer and alkalinity.
Does this make the Calcium/Mag unsoluble, would they precipitate?
but when i bring it back to 5.4-5.5 with adding a touch of K2SiO3 and some more tap .. will they be in ionic form again??
i then add my nutes and have a stable rez

i know the the easiest would be to get RO water but thats not a option right now...
so anyway my rez stays stable so thats ok

so my question would be is my water completely out of balance?
the big amount of added OH- by the P2O5 will be balanced out with the nutrients no?
i guess the only way to find out would be to calculate it to be sure

[BroughtSuperior]

great info, thanks for sharing!!