New to the site, opinions needed

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Jsvoboda

Jsvoboda

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My name is Jason Svoboda. We just started a new company ( Banger Labs) to produce hydroponic nutrients. We were already in a similar business so it not a huge transition. Our first products will be pH up and pH down solutions. We do have a pretty extensive lab and can perform some pretty detailed analysis. I would love to hear any opinions on current products especially pH up and down solutions and if there is any need of analysis of nutrient baths to see if everything is "in range" as this is something that we may offer. Anyway, its great to be here and I am looking forward to learning the community.
 
JSH1973

JSH1973

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Welcome to the forum Jason 🙂
I'm only new to growing and have been using white wine vinegar as PH Down since I started as the up/down I bought had no instructions with it and the company never replied to my email, so a product with detailed instructions and ease of use would be my advice, maybe include a 1 litre mixing bottle with measurements on it :-)
 
Jsvoboda

Jsvoboda

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Hello JSH,
Thanks! The normal dosage is about 1 milliliter per gallon but this can vary based on your water quality and other factors. We are thinking of including a small 3 milliliter pipette to help with accurate measurements.
 
Aqua Man

Aqua Man

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Welcome to the farm... absolutely agree the alkalinity of the source water will dictate how much of what type of acid is required to reach your desired ph. Personally I feel vinegar is not a good option nor citric acid i hydroponics. Soils match more so but still I feel these are not needed in a properly buffered soil

ph up and down are pretty simple. The sources of alkalinity and acids are the important thing when choosing either for your needs.

So can you share the sources used in your ph up/down and thier ratios?
 
Chad.Westport

Chad.Westport

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if there is any need of analysis of nutrient baths to see if everything is "in range" as this is something that we may offer. Anyway, its great to be here and I am looking forward to learning the community.
Welcome and best of luck in your business endeavor.

Are you talking about testing the run-off when you say "nutrient bath to see if everything is in range"? How would that product work?
 
Jsvoboda

Jsvoboda

31
8
Welcome to the farm... absolutely agree the alkalinity of the source water will dictate how much of what type of acid is required to reach your desired ph. Personally I feel vinegar is not a good option nor citric acid i hydroponics. Soils match more so but still I feel these are not needed in a properly buffered soil

ph up and down are pretty simple. The sources of alkalinity and acids are the important thing when choosing either for your needs.

So can you share the sources used in your ph up/down and thier ratios?
Hello Aqua man,

pH down is food grade phosphoric acid, food grade citric acid and water. The ratios are proprietary. Can I ask why you feel citric acid is bad? The pH up is is food grade potassium carbonate and water although we are working on a new formula now that has some bicarbonate in it as well. I'll test it next week.
 
Jsvoboda

Jsvoboda

31
8
Welcome and best of luck in your business endeavor.

Are you talking about testing the run-off when you say "nutrient bath to see if everything is in range"? How would that product work?
We can test the nutrient solution for all of the macro and micro nutrients to see what the actual levels are in the nutrient bath. If after a certain period of time you noticed that phosphorous had dropped more than the other nutrients you adjust your solution to contain more phosphorous. For large growers, we can blend custom nutrients to match their exact needs. I hope this makes sense.
 
Aqua Man

Aqua Man

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Hello Aqua man,

pH down is food grade phosphoric acid, food grade citric acid and water. The ratios are proprietary. Can I ask why you feel citric acid is bad? The pH up is is food grade potassium carbonate and water although we are working on a new formula now that has some bicarbonate in it as well. I'll test it next week.
Because citric acid and bicarbonate don't play well together and afaik all municipal water supply uses bicarbonate. imo its used to lower the cost of a product and the more citric in it the less quality product I feelbit becomes. Sulfuric and phosphoric acid i feel are the quality acids you look for in pH down.

Easy example is use baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) and citric acid and see how well the ph holds stable over 24hrs. It won't.
 
Jsvoboda

Jsvoboda

31
8
Because citric acid and bicarbonate don't play well together and afaik all municipal water supply uses bicarbonate. imo its used to lower the cost of a product and the more citric in it the less quality product I feelbit becomes. Sulfuric and phosphoric acid i feel are the quality acids you look for in pH down.

Easy example is use baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) and citric acid and see how well the ph holds stable over 24hrs. It won't.
Hello Aquaman,

The main ingredient in down is Phosphoric acid, the citric is there mainly to buffer the solution. The same would be for the bicarbonate in the up. It's not really about the cost but the buffering. This can help the solution to resist a change in pH when both are combined together verses just citric or just phosphoric. I'm not sure about the bicarbonate in the up but that's why we are testing it.
 
Chad.Westport

Chad.Westport

553
93
We can test the nutrient solution for all of the macro and micro nutrients to see what the actual levels are in the nutrient bath. If after a certain period of time you noticed that phosphorous had dropped more than the other nutrients you adjust your solution to contain more phosphorous. For large growers, we can blend custom nutrients to match their exact needs. I hope this makes sense.
Are you a lab people send water samples too?
 
Jsvoboda

Jsvoboda

31
8
Are you a lab people send water samples too?
Yes were are. We analyze water samples from local industries to look for contaminates that could cause violations with local regulations. We don't offer any public services yet but soon will have procedures in place to analyze hydroponic solutions for all macro nutrients and most micro nutrients. We have an Perkin Elmer Optima 8000 Optical Emissions Spectrometer in the lab so we are well equipped for this kind of testing. Just for clarity- the Optima 8000 will not measure nitrogen, that is done by another analysis method.
 
Jsvoboda

Jsvoboda

31
8
Hello Everyone,its been a while since my last post. We ran into some problems with our pH down solution on Amazon as it is hazardous and needs more approvals. Our pH up solution is now Live on Amazon. If anyone lives in the Dallas area and would like a free sample of our up or down please let me know and I'll find a way to get you some. I would love to hear any and all feedback. We are working on a Calcium Magnesium supplement now so if you have any comments on that, I would love to hear about them.
 
Aqua Man

Aqua Man

26,480
638
Hello Everyone,its been a while since my last post. We ran into some problems with our pH down solution on Amazon as it is hazardous and needs more approvals. Our pH up solution is now Live on Amazon. If anyone lives in the Dallas area and would like a free sample of our up or down please let me know and I'll find a way to get you some. I would love to hear any and all feedback. We are working on a Calcium Magnesium supplement now so if you have any comments on that, I would love to hear about them.
Potassium silicate?
 
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