Wise and knowledgeable expert advise for DWC at altitude.

[Aqua Man]

What you want to do is watch me very closely.

Then do the opposite

Far from brother.

Hydro is easy. Lol

When you understand it I couldn’t agree more.

coco and hydro are my to favourite… each can be set and forget almost

 

[IamN2pot]

Happy days are here again!!! The past 4 days have been a great learning experiance. Thanks again to ALL who have contributed to my learning curve!
After giving my trainer an epsom foliar feed and changing out the water to Jack's 321 on Friday, by Sat evening I could see improvement. 3 days later and she's growing like crazy. I'm amazed at how quickly and how much the damaged lower leaves have come back. SWEET!!!

After cleaning and refilling, I moved the 2 airstones in the plant bucket from standing vertically to lying down. Within 48 hours I noticed the res water level lowering and the plant bucket level rising. I was trapping air in the return line at it's apex from bubbles pulled into the return line. Moved and put the stones back to vertical in the corners oppisite the return line, burped the return line and all is good!!!

Sunday the Bluelab Combo Meter kit showed up. Cleaned my Bluelab pH pen and EC/TDS pen and got everything ready to re-calibrate. I now have meters that read extreemly close to each other. This is good!!! and is going so well, I thought I'd take out a super cheapo pH pen that came with that generic TDS pen I have, and try to calibrate it, and while I'm at it I'll try calibrating the white faced china meter again. They both call for 6.86 calibtation, so since the chepo pen came with a packet of the powder, I'd do both.
I've had my suspicions about those "add to 250ml distilled water" calibration powders, so after weighing out 250gr of water in a plastic cup I added the 6.86 and did another one for the 9.18 solution.
Turns out the 6.86 solution was 7.2 and the 9.18, it was 9.4 on the Bluelab. Junk solutions! nuff said!!!!
After carefully adjusting the calibration solutions, with my Bluelab, to as close to 6.86 and 9.18 as I could, along with my Bluelab 4.0 solution, I was able to dial in the white faced probe to match my Bluelab real close. Watch the video of them side by side and the Bluelab bouncing from 5.7 to 5.8 while the white face holds the 5.78 it's held for 2 days along side the Bluelab. The white faced never drifted, like the green faced did. It was just always off by .3-.4. Well duh, that's seems to be exactly where it was calibrated to.
That made me wonder, how many people will buy one of these, calibrate it according to directions and kill half their whatever, fish, shrimp, coral, plants, whatever.... because of the calibration powder?

Elementry school is over, and the trainer, as you can see from it picture, has recovered and is serving it's purpose. It's been the 'canary in the coal mine' for me to learn from. Now for the real deal!!!! The chiller came in for the 4x grow and is all hooked up and running. I 'think' the nursery is ready for babies? Temps are set (and monitored) for the chiller to turn off at 70* and is holding a steady 70.1* on the monitor while the lights are on. Lights out, the aquarium heater is set to kick on 67* (it's off 1*) and keeps the monitored temp at 68.1*. The 2* in-between is the off zone when neither is running. Pictures coming soon.
The pH has been holding at 5.8 for 2 days, so it's ready for nutes, Jack's Clone, and I'm ready to get some seeds wet tonight.
Before and after, Friday and today. What a differance!!

...and the pH meter comparison video. (FYI, white faced Temp and TDS probes are laying on the ground.)

 

[SweetLeafGrow]

Bro, you are setting your self up for great success! Bravo!

 

[IamN2pot]

Bro, you are setting your self up for great success! Bravo!

Coming from someone who's just been there, done that, it's a real complement. THANKS for all your help and advice!!!

 

[steamroller]

Glad things got better.
Great group of people here helping!

 

[IamN2pot]

Another noob question(s) for the experianced ones. With the Jack's, and others I think, you have to mix the nutes in a specific order. With the Jacks 321, it's mix the A until disolved, add the epsom and stir until disolved and then the B and stir. That will prevent things precipitating, right?

I want to do another water and formula change for my trainer. Jacks feed schedule for them suggest a blend of A(5-12-26), B(15-0-0), and Finish(7-15-30) and I would like to add some epsom to the mix. Would that be 1st add A, 2nd add epsom, 3rd add Finish and last add the B???
Help??? I don't want precipitating soup, LOL!!!

 

[Aqua Man]

Another noob question(s) for the experianced ones. With the Jack's, and others I think, you have to mix the nutes in a specific order. With the Jacks 321, it's mix the A until disolved, add the epsom and stir until disolved and then the B and stir. That will prevent things precipitating, right?

I want to do another water and formula change for my trainer. Jacks feed schedule for them suggest a blend of A(5-12-26), B(15-0-0), and Finish(7-15-30) and I would like to add some epsom to the mix. Would that be 1st add A, 2nd add epsom, 3rd add Finish and last add the B???
Help??? I don't want precipitating soup, LOL!!!

Micros first, then cal nit, then mag sulphate

 

[Anthem]

Another noob question(s) for the experianced ones. With the Jack's, and others I think, you have to mix the nutes in a specific order. With the Jacks 321, it's mix the A until disolved, add the epsom and stir until disolved and then the B and stir. That will prevent things precipitating, right?

I want to do another water and formula change for my trainer. Jacks feed schedule for them suggest a blend of A(5-12-26), B(15-0-0), and Finish(7-15-30) and I would like to add some epsom to the mix. Would that be 1st add A, 2nd add epsom, 3rd add Finish and last add the B???
Help??? I don't want precipitating soup, LOL!!!

Did you say finisher? I do not believe that is part of their base nutrient solution.

 

[SweetLeafGrow]

I can't really help here because I have never used Jacks but have heard great things about it. Hoping to learn here right along with you.

 

[Anthem]

Micros first, then cal nit, then mag sulphate

@Aquaman that might be the incorrect way of adding the dry salts.
The Micros are in the base nutrient of Jacks, which is the first dry salt to be added, than you have the mag sulphate than you add the calcium nitrate.

 

[Aqua Man]

@Aquaman that might be the incorrect way of adding the dry salts.
The Micros are in the base nutrient of Jacks, which is the first dry salt to be added, than you have the mag sulphate than you add the calcium nitrate.

Hmmm i always add the sulphate last. Isnt jacks cal nit, micros and mag sulphate?

 

[IamN2pot]

Did you say finisher? I do not believe that is part of their base nutrient solution.

LOL, sorry this has gotten confusing. I'm asking about how to mix a combo of Jacks, from differant feeding schedules. You are right about not seeing the parts A and B mixed with Finish anywhere on the 321 schedule. If you look at the Edible Crops - Fruiting Crops feed schedule you will find the parts A, B and Finish mixed together, but no epsom salts anywhere on that schedule. So how can I combine the two and add the Finish to the 321 schedule or Epsom to the A/B/Finish?, or perhaps the question should be "can I mix those 4? A, B, Finish and epsom?"

 

[IamN2pot]

Hmmm i always add the sulphate last. Isnt jacks cal nit, micros and mag sulphate?

Part B is Cal Nit on the bag and no micros listed

 

[Anthem]

That formula is 2.27 part a, 2.77 part b (calcium Nitrate) and 2.97 of the finisher.
Did you not download the recipe from the website?

 

[Anthem]

Hmmm i always add the sulphate last. Isnt jacks cal nit, micros and mag sulphate?

Jacks has many different lines. I am using the specific for Cannabis in hydroponics and RO water which is 5-12-26 This is their base or part 1 but called 3 in their documents, Part 2 is Calcium Nitrate but specifically added last, next is part 3 which is Epsom Salt and added second. Couple their confusion with a different recipe and it gets more confusing.

 

[IamN2pot]

That formula is 2.27 part a, 2.77 part b (calcium Nitrate) and 2.97 of the finisher.
Did you not download the recipe from the website?

Yep, downloaded and printed so I could compare it with the 321. Since the tomatoes can use a little extra Mag Sulfate, they are in a straight 321 now @ a weak 1.2EC, I wanted to combine the 2 formulas by adding some Epsom to the mature stage of that fruit and veggie formula. I'll run the EC on up to the 2.0 range. Does that make sense and sound right, or did I absolutly forget to take my smart pill this morning?

 

[Moe.Red]

I'm sorry I have lost the plot here. When I get some time to myself, I'll go back and catch up. I don't want to chime in until I go back a few pages and read up.

 

[Moe.Red]

Yep, downloaded and printed so I could compare it with the 321. Since the tomatoes can use a little extra Mag Sulfate, they are in a straight 321 now @ a weak 1.2EC, I wanted to combine the 2 formulas by adding some Epsom to the mature stage of that fruit and veggie formula. I'll run the EC on up to the 2.0 range. Does that make sense and sound right, or did I absolutly forget to take my smart pill this morning?

Can you give a link of the recipe you are using? Or actually both of them that you are trying to combine? I’m still on clone myself.

 

[IamN2pot]

Can you give a link of the recipe you are using? Or actually both of them that you are trying to combine? I’m still on clone myself.

Sure Moe,

Jack's Nutrients for Fruiting Crops pdf - linked to from this page that says "This schedule is designed to guide controlled environment growers looking for top notch quality in tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, eggplants, and hops."

Jack's 321 Nutrition Schedule for Cannabis and Hemp pdf - linked to from this page.

It's all good now. When Aqua said to mix the micros together, I though that made good sense, so that's what I did. I stirred in the Finish first, added the A and mixed. Then mixed the Epsom in a seperate bucket and added to res. Last was the B, mixed in a bucket of pHed water and then added it to the reservoir. Everything mixed well and no cloudy water or precipitating solids. Thanks @Aqua Man !

The trainer was looking 'off' today. Leaves pointing less upwards and seems less green, pH went up from 5.8 to 6.0 in 24 hrs, so I decided it was big enough at this point to try the last, mature plant mixture from the Fruit menu. I wanted to add some Epsom since it reacted so well to the 321 mix I put it in last week.
I hope that clears things up. It sure looks like I had Anthem all confused. My bad!!!!!

 

[Anthem]

Sure Moe,

Jack's Nutrients for Fruiting Crops pdf - linked to from this page that says "This schedule is designed to guide controlled environment growers looking for top notch quality in tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, eggplants, and hops."

Jack's 321 Nutrition Schedule for Cannabis and Hemp pdf - linked to from this page.

It's all good now. When Aqua said to mix the micros together, I though that made good sense, so that's what I did. I stirred in the Finish first, added the A and mixed. Then mixed the Epsom in a seperate bucket and added to res. Last was the B, mixed in a bucket of pHed water and then added it to the reservoir. Everything mixed well and no cloudy water or precipitating solids. Thanks @Aqua Man !

The trainer was looking 'off' today. Leaves pointing less upwards and seems less green, pH went up from 5.8 to 6.0 in 24 hrs, so I decided it was big enough at this point to try the last, mature plant mixture from the Fruit menu. I wanted to add some Epsom since it reacted so well to the 321 mix I put it in last week.
I hope that clears things up. It sure looks like I had Anthem all confused. My bad!!!!!

I was under the impression that Micros where the Micro Nutrients required by plants for growth, these being Iron, Manganese, etc. These micros are in the Jacks Portion of the mix. J R Peters the mother company of Jacks actually sells a product called STEM this contains the micro nutrients required by the plant. I say the Jacks Portion because while they do sell calcium nitrate they opening state you are welcome to use just green house grade calcium nitrate.
So my basic question is what exactly is the micros you are referring to?