DIY Nutrients formulations, recipes, chemistry etc.

[Carboy]

I use Hydrobuddy too, it has some flaws but it's still better than doing the calculations manually.

The guy has done a hell of alot of work and looks like is going to do much more.
He's got a PayPal link to donate. Spurr has already mentioned how much the commercial software cost. If anyone a few extra bucks, flip him a few of them. CB

 

[spurr]

A couple things, the owner of Supergrow has moved to Asia and has no plans to reopen the business.

AFAIK he's only on vacation in Asia, on his website he says he will be re-opining "soon".

FWIW, I stopped using RootTonic with my aerated-aerocloner because it's not needed; I get roots in 3-4 days wihtout using a rooting hormones.

Would you expand on that?
Thanks ----------- CB

Expand on what?

 

[Carboy]

AFAIK he's only on vacation in Asia, on his website he says he will be re-opining "soon".



Expand on what?

This is what Michel sent me around the first of the year:

good to hear from you! I am still in the Philippines, and no plan to leave the country for now. I have even less plans to start Super-Grow back up since it is being killed by people selling low-grade products on eBay ... there is just no money in it!

I would like to hear you explain in more detail your setup for cuttings.
thanks ---- CB

 

[ganjasuiteseat]

hey yall are the only people i can ask.where can i get humic acids,fulvic acids,silicon,.and what yall think about superthrive?can i make a knock off easy(for my self)thanks peace

 

[spurr]

This is what Michel sent me around the first of the year:

good to hear from you! I am still in the Philippines, and no plan to leave the country for now. I have even less plans to start Super-Grow back up since it is being killed by people selling low-grade products on eBay ... there is just no money in it!

Damn, that's sad news.

I would like to hear you explain in more detail your setup for cuttings.
thanks ---- CB

Ok, will do. Gimme a few minutes.

 

[spurr]

hey yall are the only people i can ask.where can i get humic acids,fulvic acids,silicon,.and what yall think about superthrive?can i make a knock off easy(for my self)thanks peace

Funny you should ask, I just wrote an answer (in depth) to your question about HA and FA, below:

1. info about humic substances, must reads IMO:
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showpost.php?p=4198599&postcount=117


2. Sources for the best HA and FA (from fossilized fresh water peat):
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showpost.php?p=4199679&postcount=126


3. Source for unrefined humic substances (oxidized lignite) from New Mexico:
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showpost.php?p=4199708&postcount=127


For Si I use ProTekt, it's the best deal. Use less than 60 ppm, I use ~30 ppm and wouldn't grow without it. IMO Si is a must have, it offers many benefits to the plants, too many to list in this short post. See the link in my sig for the General Hydroponics formulas for how I use ProTeKt (my formula vs Lucas's formula vs Gr3Head's formula).

IIRC superthrive has NAA and B1 (someone please correct me if I'm wrong); you can use NAA and B1 instead of superthrive. But honestly, supertrhive is so inexpensive, why not use it if you like it?

 

[Carboy]

For Si I use ProTekt, it's the best deal. Use less than 60 ppm, I use ~30 ppm and wouldn't grow without it. IMO Si is a must have, it offers many benefits to the plants, too many to list in this short post. See the link in my sig for the General Hydroponics formulas for how I use ProTeKt (my formula vs Lucas's formula vs Gr3Head's formula).

I prefer AgSil 16H for potassium silicate.
ProTekt uses some NaSi too. I believe to add a CONTROLLED amount of Na (w/ the silica benefit too), use 'water glass' in addition to agsil. I have no idea what Dyna-Gro's ratio is. It could be ideal. Everyone should also account for the K in their overall formula. Rule of thumb is 50% of Si ppm = K ppm. I also believe Si is important to use too.

Custom Hydro Nutrients http://customhydronutrients.com/zencart/
will have AgSil 16H soon. Has the account setup bullshit that corporations love. Hoop jumping stuff. PQ is huge. If you've bought a product that has either potassium or sodium silicate, you can pretty much bet your ass that it originated from them. Here's a link to there AgSil brochure http://www.pqcorp.com/literature/report_24.pdf

I'm sure going to miss Super-Grow myself. Could get fulvic acid, kelp, IBA IAA & NAA to make custom rooting compounds --- all sorts of fun stuff. $100 would get you a boatload. Shipping from (and importing into) Canada was causing him grief too. Think he really just got fed up w/ all of it.

Look forward to hearing how you do cuts too Spur.

Take care ---------- CB

 

[tester]

According to the MSDS, Dynagro's Pro-Tekt is a 24.9% Potassium silicate solution.
It will be probably cheaper anywhere else.

It might look appealing because of a mistake on the label : "Silicon (SiO2) = 7.8%"
The real Silicon (Si) content is 3.6% if the SiO2 (= Silicon dioxide is indeed 7.8%) but this is still too much for a 25% potassium silicate solution, they might have no idea what's in it anyway.

 

[Carboy]

MG vs MB

MG vs MB

Hey Tester,
Like those comparison charts you do. The visual gets it across quickly.
Would you put one up comparing MaxiBloom to MaxiGrow? Or if there is one already w/ those on it -- point me toward it?
Thanks ------- CB

 

[tester]

Hey Carboy,
I also need the dilution rate, but :
at 7 grams / gal using the numbers found here (labels):
http://www.genhydro.com/genhydro_US/product_labels/maxibloom_1.5lb.pdf
http://www.genhydro.com/genhydro_US/product_labels/maxigro_1.5lb.pdf

 

[ganjasuiteseat]

Funny you should ask, I just wrote an answer (in depth) to your question about HA and FA, below:

1. info about humic substances, must reads IMO:
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showpost.php?p=4198599&postcount=117


2. Sources for the best HA and FA (from fossilized fresh water peat):
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showpost.php?p=4199679&postcount=126


3. Source for unrefined humic substances (oxidized lignite) from New Mexico:
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showpost.php?p=4199708&postcount=127


For Si I use ProTekt, it's the best deal. Use less than 60 ppm, I use ~30 ppm and wouldn't grow without it. IMO Si is a must have, it offers many benefits to the plants, too many to list in this short post. See the link in my sig for the General Hydroponics formulas for how I use ProTeKt (my formula vs Lucas's formula vs Gr3Head's formula).

IIRC superthrive has NAA and B1 (someone please correct me if I'm wrong); you can use NAA and B1 instead of superthrive. But honestly, supertrhive is so inexpensive, why not use it if you like it?

ok first ur a beast.second all of you on the ic is beast(yall know who u are)third would i like to know which is cheapa maxibloom at 10.5cent/gal???SHIPEDi look at that bioag.omg broke that right down for meive been working on making humate clayof various colors i might add.funny though its a purly a bioorganic process.(of all biological levels)(think elephant 2 microbsthanks again really hooked my up

 

[Carboy]

Hey Carboy,
I also need the dilution rate, but :
at 7 grams / gal using the numbers found here (labels):
http://www.genhydro.com/genhydro_US/product_labels/maxibloom_1.5lb.pdf
http://www.genhydro.com/genhydro_US/product_labels/maxigro_1.5lb.pdf

Thanks, Tester!
The visual ratio was what i wanted to see.
No intention of starting a pissing match, but if I was on that K.I.S.S. boat, I'd switch sides and add a little epsom.
Appreciate it ---- CB

EDIT: Your charts would make a cool addition to Hydrobuddy.

 

[spurr]

I would like to hear you explain in more detail your setup for cuttings.
thanks ---- CB

Hey,

Below are pics of my aerated-aerocloner. I wrote a big post about my custom cloner and process a while ago, but I can't find it now.

I made a Dycans style aerocloner with 1/4" PVC for holding cuttings (not using nets or foam), as well as using the red sprayers he uses. From there I made an air diffuser with 1/16" drill bit for air holes out of 1/4" PVC. I made the air diffuser so it would sit on the bottom of the cloner and infuse very high volume of air into the water, thus increasing the dissolved oxygen content of the water greatly; much higher than only using a standard aerocloner setup (i.e., only using sprayers and no air injection into water). Some people have used those little air-stones you can get from pet stores for fish tanks to infuse oxygen into water, but they work very poorly and infuse very little additional oxygen.

My cloner has 39 clone sites that I often double up for 78 clones. I use 15 gallons of water for my cloner, in a 27 gallon "Best Plastics" container (the black bottom with yellow-orange lid).

The air pump is use is a Hailea 9370 (35 watt, about 2 CFM of air), the DO in my water is well above 6, the minimum for highly oxygenated water.

I use a recycling timer set for 1 minute on time and 5 minute off time. The water temp stays between 78-80'F and I keep a two-lamp fluorescent running 18/6 or 20/4. The pH is kept at 5.4-5.8. I use 0.5 to 1 ml/gal General Hydroponics grow, micro and bloom with FloraShield at 1:300 (FS:water); but I do not always use FloraShield. I also use a non-ionic surfactant.

For the water pump I use a 1650 GPH model sitting in the rez, keeps temps in the ideal range. The sprayers I use are DripWorks "MSRD300", the red model, here.

I wrote about how I use RootTonic, i.e,. 60 second basal dip above. But recently I have not been using RootTonic as it's not needed.

I keep the water level about 3-4" below the spray bar and I keep the sprayers about 1" below, or even with, and even above, the basal end of cuttings.

I do not cut leaves, it's not needed to reduce E (rate of transpiration) because the process of taking cuttings reduces E sufficiently. I find by not cutting leaves in half I get healthier clones and can flower that much faster...


Here are the directions to make a Dycans' style aerocloner:

AEROMOFO

Aerocloner
Instructions

First of all I'd like to thank you for your purchase of the aerocloner. These cloners will increase your odds of success if you follow the directions, I have spent the last years perfecting and making sure these will perform as promised. These units should provide years of use with proper cleaning and use. Enjoy and remember any help promoting this product will be greatly appreciated and I believe once you have used these cloners they will sell themselves. GL

Use
Number one reason people have poor success ratios at cloning are too low a res temperature. Your key to success is to keep your reservoir (root zone) temperatures at 78-82F Placement of the unit will sometimes require no additional heating source (above the flowering/veg chamber) and a cheap 30on/30 off timer 24/7 is essential in plants putting out roots faster as well as an air stone for added DO (dissolved oxygen). When running it for the first time we recommend running bleach (1/4 cup) with a weak antibacterial soap and water mixture to clean out any residual contaminants and bacteria, rinse well! You can use plain tap water to clone with great results, I recommend running tepid (hot and cold) water right from the start filling the reservoir to 1 inch below the spraybar and running it overnight before placing clones into it. I like to add a weak nute solution (GH) .5-.5-.5 ml. Per gallon and adjust pH to 5.2-5.5 this low pH causes callousing quicker which is the first step in root development. I use tap water and adjust pH with a phosphorus based adjuster because phosphorus is beneficial to root development.

For those not yet familiar with the benefits of using a light nutrient solution I will clue you in. This will be reiterated again in my up and coming aerocloning thread, the use of mild nutes results in a substantial increase in growth early on. We need to understand that when a cutting is taken in order for it to live there needs to be a "water connection" this is what keeps cuttings from wilting comprende? Now as soon as this connection is made there is a very limited but not insignificant amount of nutrient uptake, now this is really irrelevant at this point BUT as soon as root bumps form cuttings begin to assimilate nutrients in direct relation to rootmass. Understand this initial uptake not only helps prevent the dreaded lag period when cuttings are transplanted to a new medium but more importantly IT HELPS KEEP THE PLANT FROM SELF CANNIBALIZATION! This is what you see when cuttings are rooting and they develop yellowing leaves (very common). Now this has significant effects on how healthy a plant becomes you see plants use there leaves for photosynthesis to convert energy so the healthier the leaves the better off the plant. Bottom line you want mild nutes when rooting cuttings (FACT!) I will explain in depth further what dialing in an aerocloning actually involves as well as a few tips on getting roots faster through scarification as well as the importance of low pH in the formation of callouses which BTW is the first noticeable step in root development. I also suggest using FloraShield to keep pathogens at bay especially at these higher temps. Now make sure none of the sprayers haven't become plugged as sometimes plastic remnants that have been left behind loosen and can clog sprayers, to clean a sprayer just unscrew it and carefully push the particle all the way through if it can't be extracted then replace sprayer making sure it's alignment is orientated correctly (you will see the line on top of the sprayers cap, this needs to be parallel with the plumbing. There may be some dripping that comes from the lid this is something that can occur from misalignment of the spraybar after cleaning and reassembly so double check alignment and orientation. Don't forget to check plumbing to make sure it's tight!
Selecting clones

When selecting clones you will need to cut just above an internode that is one to two internodes below the terminal (main) bud (growing tip) these will make the best clones as compared to lateral grow sites. These lateral sites will become terminal growing tips soon enough. The mothers traits (disease resistance, vigor, potency, taste, etc; ) will be carried on to her clones as long as you only select the cream of the crop to flower, now lets get busy cloning!!!

Cloning
To clone simple use a new razor blade and make a 45 degree cut above an internode leaving enough room so that the clone will be at least 4 inches long after lower side leaves/buds have been trimmed away. Now here is a big tip; with the clones stem lying on your finger scrape the outer most surface of the last 1/2"-3/4" of the stem all the way around you will get a feeling for how deep to scratch (not very) this is called scarification and helps the plant root faster with root development, clean off any strings that remain at the end of the stem. Now just drop this into a cloner site, (no need to use rooting hormones) if your climate is very dry you may need to mist once or twice but no more but usually it is not necessary, also you do not want to cover this with any type of dome, this will only cause the clones stem to become mushy. A fluorescent light works best for cloning or indirect sunlight as a light source we don't want these cuts doing anymore photosynthesizing than absolutely necessary as the main function here is not vegetative growth but hormonal root growth. In 5-7 days lift the lid and you will see beautiful roots developing take care not to let them get too long as they will intertwine and will be harder to get out of the cloner. You will want your roots to be at least 3"-4" long and touching the water if possible this only means that they're long enough. Some clones roots may have to be gently squeezed together when pulled through the collars and should pull out just fine. Be gentle when transplanting these aero roots as they are as delicate as a seedlings roots.

Cleaning
After cloning you will need to clean the unit and disassembled plumbing with a mild antibacterial soap/bleach solution then reassemble and let it run for at least 30min. Then rinse with clean water and again run the unit for 30min. With the clean water, I would suggest disassembling the plumbing completely, pump covers as well as the impeller itself (it's a magnetic drive so just pull out the shaft) for cleaning everytime and that is that, ready for another cloning session!!! Cloning has never been easier!!! Good Luck and happy cloning!

Here are Dycans' cloning tips, fwiw:

Ok thats it for now your imagination is the only limit! Don't forget to check out Basic things to consider it will make life a whole lot easier! Any questions just ask in this thread.
Key points:

1. Don't under size your pump! 6-8 sprayers need a 526gph 10-16 a 1050gph will handle the job nicely anything over that ViaAqua makes a kickass 2200gph pump for under $70!

2. Sprayer orientation and spraybar height s critical at insuring proper coverage and minimal leakage. The Sterilites are quite fussy and tend to leak slightly . It is not an easy task to get these sprayers "straight up" if one is off slightly one way and another is off slightly the other way you can have problems I recommend doing the best you can then fire that baby up in the shower and very carefully adjust (twist) the spraybar so the spray hits equally on each side of the tub. The "Tuff Box" are sealed very nicely and don't have a problem, Rubbermaids also work very well and in hindsight I would not have opted for the Sterilites.

3. Aerocloners do not need domes!

4. You do not need rooting hormones they are already present in the plant tissue!

5. Go light on the nutes but do use them as explained in the instructions posted in this thread.

6. Use a timer 30on/30off or 15on/30off very important for rapid root development because the plant has to out of survival instinct.

7. Temperature (78-82F) is crucial for fast rooting but at this temp pathogens can proliferate so use either Florashield or Hygrozyme or Hydroguard just don't combine disinfectants with beneficial bacteria!

8. I also run air stones in all aeroponic units it really does help saturate the solution with even more dissolved oxygen (DO).

9. Remember do a good job at cleaning and disinfecting the cloner between sessions will provide continued success this means pulling the pump apart impeller and both end covers also pulling all the plumbing apart and using a test tube brush really work swift.

10. These smaller units with the 525gph pump plumbs right up with the 1/2" CPVC but not 1/2" PVC

GL.

Here are some of my references re cloning using IBA and NAA, also about source vs sink tissue, etc:

• Cutting propagation of foliage crops using a foliar application of auxin
  E. K. Bly, J. L. Sibleya, J. M. Ruterb and K. M. Tilt
  Scientia Horticulturae, Volume 103, Issue 1, 31 December 2004, Pages 31-37

• Progress Report on Rooting
  R. L. Ticknor
  Oregon State University, North Willamette Experiment Station
  Journal American Rhododendron Society, Volume 21, Number 1, Jan. 1967

• Hawaiian Native Plant Propagation Database: Hibiscus arnottianus
  Dr. Gerald Carr
  College of Tropical Agricutlure and Human Resources, University of Hawaii at Manoa

• A review on the molecular mechanism of plants rooting modulated by auxin
  Hua Han, Shougong Zhang* and Xiaomei Sun
  African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 8 (3), pp. 348-353, 4 February, 2009

• Transport of the two natural auxins, indole-3-butyric acid and indole-3-acetic acid, in Arabidopsis.
  Rashotte AM, Poupart J, Waddell CS, Muday GK., Muday GK, Brown CS.
  Plant Physiol. 2003 Oct;133(2):761-72. Epub 2003 Oct 2.

• Inhibition of Auxin Movement from the Shoot into the Root Inhibits Lateral Root Development in Arabidopsis
  Plant Physiol. (1998) 118: 1369-1378
  Robyn C. Reed, Shari R. Brady, and Gloria K. Muday

• AUX1 Promotes Lateral Root Formation by Facilitating Indole-3-Acetic Acid Distribution between Sink and Source Tissues in the Arabidopsis Seedling
  Alan Marchant, Rishikesh Bhalerao, Ilda Casimiroc, Jan Eklöf, Pedro J. Caseroc, Malcolm Bennett and Goran Sandberg
  The Plant Cell, Vol. 14, 589-597, March 2002

• Genetic analyses of the roles of peroxisomes and the auxin indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) in Arabidopsis
  Bonnie Bartel, Professor
  Rice University, Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology

• Indole-3-butyric acid in plants: occurrence, synthesis, metabolism and transport
  Ephraim Epstein1, Jutta Ludwig-Müller
  Physiologia Plantarum, Volume 88, Issue 2, pages 382–389, June 1993

Here are some pics of my aerated-aerocloner (sorry for the poor quality camera pics; I need a new camera):

Day 5 (these clones were made using RootTonic; you can see roots and air bubbles from my air diffuser):

Day 8: (these clones were made using RootTonic)

 

[spurr]

I prefer AgSil 16H for potassium silicate.
ProTekt uses some NaSi too. I believe to add a CONTROLLED amount of Na (w/ the silica benefit too), use 'water glass' in addition to agsil. I have no idea what Dyna-Gro's ratio is. It could be ideal. Everyone should also account for the K in their overall formula. Rule of thumb is 50% of Si ppm = K ppm. I also believe Si is important to use too.

Great, thanks for that. Out of curiosity, where do you find "water glass"?

Custom Hydro Nutrients http://customhydronutrients.com/zencart/
will have AgSil 16H soon. Has the account setup bullshit that corporations love. Hoop jumping stuff. PQ is huge. If you've bought a product that has either potassium or sodium silicate, you can pretty much bet your ass that it originated from them. Here's a link to there AgSil brochure http://www.pqcorp.com/literature/report_24.pdf

Any idea when they will start carrying it? Do you know of other retail sources of that Si product?

 

[spurr]

According to the MSDS, Dynagro's Pro-Tekt is a 24.9% Potassium silicate solution. It will be probably cheaper anywhere else.

Good point

It might look appealing because of a mistake on the label : "Silicon (SiO2) = 7.8%"
The real Silicon (Si) content is 3.6% if the SiO2 (= Silicon dioxide is indeed 7.8%) but this is still too much for a 25% potassium silicate solution, they might have no idea what's in it anyway.

I am going to send in a sample to J.R. Peters to get it tested.

 

[Carboy]

Great, thanks for that. Out of curiosity, where do you find "water glass"?




Any idea when they will start carrying it? Do you know of other retail sources of that Si product?

Water glass is sold in auto parts stores. It is sodium silicate.

AgSil is a tough find. I'll check to see when Custom Hydro expects it. Probably, not long.

Thks for the cutting tutorial. CB

 

[Scrogerman]

Hey Spur,
Luv the Aero Cloner Rig dude. Looks the Biz!-Nice Build man, i wanna build one myself after seeing this!
Just a few questions. Why do you think your diffuser produces more D'O than the cheapo blue 12" airstones from the petshop using the same H'O Pump?(or do you mean just the tiny 2" ones only?)
1/16th holes in 1/4" pvc pipe. Its producing much largers bubbles than those cheapo airstones, & its at the surface & surface agitation of the water than infusses D'O i thought?(Right?)
I was running 6 of those 12" blue cheapo airstones with a Kam-Air 70 compressor pump in a 70l Res , It pumps 70lpm or 40lpm at 2 meters.(i couldnt afford the expensive diffusers).
Surely the smaller bubbles from the airstones are causing much more surface agitation & D'O than bubbles being pumped out of 1/16" hole sizes on your PVC diffuser. Im sure it works great but dont understand how this produces more D'O than the smaller bubble size from the cheaper 12" blue airstones & a H'O output compressor Pump, not to mention the added noise from the larger bubble size. I know you have the added benefit of the Aero Rig adding extra D'O as the spray drops back down to the Res causing even more surface agitation, but i dont get how your getting more D'O from the larger bubble size from the 1/16th" holes on your DIY diffuser.
I always wanted to splash out £35 each on the Large salt water Aquarium Diffusers that produce proper Micro Bubbles. Would i be wasting my time bro? Should i build a diffuser like yours im wondering?
Ive also been considering using 'Power-Heads' & doing away with air-infusion by way of pump alltogether. Is this a good idea? i remember someone back on OverGrow doing it, seemed to be succesfull.
Feedback appreciated bro!

(see post# 166)

btw, your clones look soo healthy & i notice you dont bother trimming leaves, looks spot on man.

 

[Scruffydss]

OK ... so I want to use Hydrobuddy to give me the correct grams/liter of concentrate for Dyna-gro grow, bloom and protekt

analysis percentages listed here ... http://www.dyna-gro.com/Website pdf Files/Dyna-Gro Brochure 2007.pdf

I have sucessfully inputted them into hydrobuddy but unsure if I have the settings correct ... this is what I did

- Main page
- copy commercial nutrient formulation
- goes to new screen
- enter values of percentages from brochure
- you have choice of addition as weight (g) or volume (g/ml) ... ( not sure which to choose )
- you have choice per liter or gallon
- then calculate formulation
- on main page it has a section for volume in cu meters, gallons or liters ... is this the volume of the res or the 1 liter concentrate I want to make?

Can someone tell me please what to input so that I can take those percentages and calculate the amount of grams needed of each to make one liter of concentrate

Thx

 

[spurr]

Hey Spur,
Luv the Aero Cloner Rig dude. Looks the Biz!-Nice Build man, i wanna build one myself after seeing this!
Just a few questions. Why do you think your diffuser produces more D'O than the cheapo blue 12" airstones from the petshop using the same H'O Pump?(or do you mean just the tiny 2" ones only?)

I was referring to the cheap little air pumps for fish tanks so many growers use. If using a sufficiently large air stone with the same pump I have, then DO would indeed be higher due to greater number and smaller sized bubbles. If using air stone, using a glass air stone is better than the blue rock type air stone from pet stores. The glass air stones are higher quality, do not break down like the blue ones and last much longer. Cleaning the glass style is much easier and won't break them up like can happen with the blue kind.

I have been meaning to find and buy sufficiently sized glass air stones for testing. I also plan on buying a 1/32" drill bit and making PVC air diffuser with smaller holes (vs what I currently use: 1/16").

...1/16th holes in 1/4" pvc pipe. Its producing much largers bubbles than those cheapo airstones, & its at the surface & surface agitation of the water than infusses D'O i thought?(Right?)

Re surface agitation: yes and no. Using a high quilty air pump with a good air diffuser does infuse lots of oxygen into water, and that increases DO. However, using surface agitation (like a pseudo-waterfall) also infuses DO, and can infuse greater DO. The surface agiation from water droplets falling from sprayers does not infuse sufficient DO into water verses using a good air pump and air diffuser. The best option would be to use a good air pump and air diffuser and pseudo-waterfall such as a water pump dropping water from a PVC pipe a few inches above the surface of the water...

I was running 6 of those 12" blue cheapo airstones with a Kam-Air 70 compressor pump in a 70l Res , It pumps 70lpm or 40lpm at 2 meters.(i couldnt afford the expensive diffusers).

Surely the smaller bubbles from the airstones are causing much more surface agitation & D'O than bubbles being pumped out of 1/16" hole sizes on your PVC diffuser.

Certainly, smaller holes are better if sufficient pressure is maintained to provide equal aeration over the whole cloner and not just high aeration in one area of the cloner. May I ask where are the "expensive diffusers" you wanted to buy?

Im sure it works great but dont understand how this produces more D'O than the smaller bubble size from the cheaper 12" blue airstones & a H'O output compressor Pump, not to mention the added noise from the larger bubble size. I know you have the added benefit of the Aero Rig adding extra D'O as the spray drops back down to the Res causing even more surface agitation, but i dont get how your getting more D'O from the larger bubble size from the 1/16th" holes on your DIY diffuser.

In a perfect world I would use very small holes for highest DO; but as shown in testing from MicrobeMan, 1/16" holes with a sufficiently sized air pump (for volume of water) will increase DO well above 6, even above 10. Granted, smaller holes are better, but 1/16" holes do work well. As I wrtoe above, I plan to order 1/32" drill bits and high quality glass air diffusers for testing, I am getting a nice DO2 meter for quantification of aeration from PVC air diffuser and glass air diffusers.

A main reason using PVC works well is you can custom shape the diffuser so the whole area (and volume) of the rez is equally aerated.

I always wanted to splash out £35 each on the Large salt water Aquarium Diffusers that produce proper Micro Bubbles. Would i be wasting my time bro? Should i build a diffuser like yours im wondering?

Nope, you would not be wasting your time, I plan to do the same. However, you will get sufficient aeration following what I did; IIRC i used 1.5" or 2" between holes to equalize air pressure over the whole diffuser (for homogeneous aeration over the whole cloner rez). I am also going to test using 1/8" PVC instead of 1/4" PVC.

Ive also been considering using 'Power-Heads' & doing away with air-infusion by way of pump alltogether. Is this a good idea? i remember someone back on OverGrow doing it, seemed to be succesfull.

What do you mean? By using only surface aeration from putting the water pump just below the surface of the water? If so, I would suggest against it, unless you can test the rez DO (from bottom, middle and top of water volume) to insure it's high enough (e.g., => 6).

For good and well tested info about air pump size to volume of water for DO, check out MicrobeMan's website for compost tea brewers: www.microbeorganics.com

btw, your clones look soo healthy & i notice you dont bother trimming leaves, looks spot on man.

Thanks. Cutting leaves is unneeded and will hinder growth rates of clones once they are rooted (ex., under an HID). Also, with an aerocloner you do not use a dome, and I do not spray the plants with water. My cuttings never get the typical few day 'droop' (clones losing turgor and bending over) often seen in clones using a humidity dome and media such as rockwool, etc.

 

[PointofNoReturn]

This Thread should be on the Front Page

Im currently looking into making my own Mineral Nutrients. But im still short on alot of Information.

Regarding Calcium Sources, the only horti grade Fertilizer with both Ca and Mag i could find is http://www.scottsprofessional.com/files/1qHq4gkfn.pdf

Why is CaO and MgO so unpopular with Fertilizer Companys?


I would like to have an N independent Ca Source. I want to increase Ca when increasing P/K so the Ratio of K:Ca stays the same, while at the same time lowering N so i dont have to flush as long to get them to yellow.

Thats something i cant do with any of the 2 Part Nutrients availible to me. Aside from Shipping i cant buy Maxibloom or similar Stuff in Europe, closest thing would be FloraNova Bloom. But its way to expensive compared to the B´cuzz A+B which i currently use. Which is the cheapest Fertilizer by Far, still 3 times as expensive as an horti fertilizer in a 25 kg Bag.

I could get Compo Expert Fertilizer 10 20 30 + 2 MgO + Calcium Nitrat or get 16 8 22 + 3 and add CaO to it. My Tap has only about 50 ppm Ca but like 160 ppm Sodium Chloride so im using a Mix of R/O and Tap(for some Chl)

Which would be better? The Calcium Nitrate Option seems less flexible in late Flowering.

Anyone had the same thoughts about Calcium Sources?

Someone please tell me about CaO and why its not used as much as Ca(NO3)2.