Ecompost
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yeah airlift is a better option :-) think water fall :-)Stopped using air stones in my Rez a while back when've realized they were making the fulvic acid fall out of solution. Stopped using a circulating pump for the same reason. Any additional DO comes from a 1/4 hose directed back into the Rez from the main drip line. Whenever there's an irrigation cycle some water gets shot back into the Rez from this. Got the idea from @Smokey503ski
undoubtedly there is a flux in electrical charge as we add, we adjust, I think it better to let the inital inoculation find a spot, where the populations become comfortable and so there is less overall static :) Scope the life, add whats missing :-)Like in my tea Brewer. Thanks, @Ecompost . I'm thinking the issue here is continually fertigating with microbes. Methinks I should switch to applying them like tea: once a week and diluted 1:10.
Having them constantly applied to the medium in a very high concentration seems like I'm overpopulating, especially since the pots I'm experimenting with are so small and completely filled with roots. Nothing else makes sense regarding a ph drop in the substrate when the resevoir is holding steady.
microbes bind metals, many metals have a low pH, these may be leaching away and causing your result? have you a soil pH probe? Rather than run off which i find can be misleading. EG I had a run off of 4.8, stuck my probe in a few spots, average pH 6.3 go figureAnd I'll add, after checking the final runoff from last night, I think I may be correct.
After nixing the b. Amylo my runoff ph has risen in 3/4 of the test plants.
I'm hesitant to say that the microbes were the sole cause of the ph drop as it appears (at least according to the runoff ec) that I have been under-feeding a bit. Some purple in the stems backs this up.
I think what I'll do in the future is figure out how to drop my irrigation pump into my airlift Brewer, add the microbes I want to apply, and use the Brewer as the resevoir for what I'll call "microbe day".
undoubtedly there is a flux in electrical charge as we add, we adjust, I think it better to let the inital inoculation find a spot, where the populations become comfortable and so there is less overall static :) Scope the life, add whats missing :)
have you a soil pH probe? Rather than run off which i find can be misleading. EG I had a run off of 4.8, stuck my probe in a few spots, average pH 6.3 go figure
You can use the biotic ligand model to study aquatic toxicity I think buddy, perhaps someone like @Seamaiden can provide some assistance or have some input. Being a fishkeeper, she may well be versed in the practice. I know we test free metal ion concentrations in the nutrient solutions using the Donnan membrane technique and labile metal concentrations by diffusive gradients in thin-films.This is why I need to get some lysimeters and a quality scope. :)
What brand probe do you use? I've considered it, the bluelab one looks promising as ph and ec pens I have from them work quite well. You're absolutely right about the runoff ph being unreliable but I feel if it is inconsistent with what I'm used to it can be a flag to run some further tests. I've done slurrys in the past but I'm experimenting with coco, running it like rockwool in small amounts, so any digging I do will result in disturbing the root mass more than I am comfortable with.
So, my medium ph appears to be back on track, under feeding was definitely a contributing factor. Though my Rez clouded up on me again after a couple days, I'm thinking it's the fulvic acid falling out, as it's the only organic part of my fertigation regiment.
A different resevoir for a different room has had the b. Amylo added for a month straight now and the ph in there is just fine, so maybe I jumped the gun, but there's too many mitigating factors to say for sure.
we do have bluelab pens mate for spot testing, but we have fixed probes from extech I think the company is called. The probes say Oyster on them, this I know :-) The guys have a hand held data logger right now, but we are working on a fixed system so we can ping it for the data.This is why I need to get some lysimeters and a quality scope. :)
What brand probe do you use? I've considered it, the bluelab one looks promising as ph and ec pens I have from them work quite well. You're absolutely right about the runoff ph being unreliable but I feel if it is inconsistent with what I'm used to it can be a flag to run some further tests. I've done slurrys in the past but I'm experimenting with coco, running it like rockwool in small amounts, so any digging I do will result in disturbing the root mass more than I am comfortable with.
So, my medium ph appears to be back on track, under feeding was definitely a contributing factor. Though my Rez clouded up on me again after a couple days, I'm thinking it's the fulvic acid falling out, as it's the only organic part of my fertigation regiment.
A different resevoir for a different room has had the b. Amylo added for a month straight now and the ph in there is just fine, so maybe I jumped the gun, but there's too many mitigating factors to say for sure.
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