Growing in coco coir, question about water and calmag

[SeriouslyrUde]

Hi, I have a question I am going to start my first grow in coco using the canna coco line. And the canna coco medium My water is hard will I need to add calmag?
I have my local report and a depth report. If anyone could help me out I’d appreciate that. I am still currently waiting for my EC and ph pens to arrive.

 

[dankstranger]

Dude, don't add cal-mag with that tap water. Your report shows you got like 97mg/L calcium already but only 8mg/L magnesium. Adding cal-mag is just gonna give you way too much calcium.

Your water's already at 0.54 EC so you got plenty of minerals. The problem is the ratio is all screwed up.

Just run your CANNA coco A/B like normal but throw in some epsom salt for the magnesium. Maybe 0.5-1g per gallon should do it. That'll get your ca:mg ratio back where it should be without overdoing the calcium.

Your alkalinity is pretty high at 200ppm though, that's gonna push your pH up in coco. Either cut it 50/50 with RO water or just use more pH down to keep it at 5.8-6.0.

Make sure you pre-charge the coco before planting and feed daily with runoff. Never give plain water in coco.

If you start seeing yellow between the leaf veins on older leaves that's mag deficiency, just bump up the epsom salt a bit. If pH starts drifting above 6.3 in your runoff you need to deal with that alkalinity.

When you get your meters just post your numbers and we can dial it in better. But for now just do canna A/B + epsom salt, skip the cal-mag.

 

[SeriouslyrUde]

Dude, don't add cal-mag with that tap water. Your report shows you got like 97mg/L calcium already but only 8mg/L magnesium. Adding cal-mag is just gonna give you way too much calcium.

Your water's already at 0.54 EC so you got plenty of minerals. The problem is the ratio is all screwed up.

Just run your CANNA coco A/B like normal but throw in some epsom salt for the magnesium. Maybe 0.5-1g per gallon should do it. That'll get your ca:mg ratio back where it should be without overdoing the calcium.

Your alkalinity is pretty high at 200ppm though, that's gonna push your pH up in coco. Either cut it 50/50 with RO water or just use more pH down to keep it at 5.8-6.0.

Make sure you pre-charge the coco before planting and feed daily with runoff. Never give plain water in coco.

If you start seeing yellow between the leaf veins on older leaves that's mag deficiency, just bump up the epsom salt a bit. If pH starts drifting above 6.3 in your runoff you need to deal with that alkalinity.

When you get your meters just post your numbers and we can dial it in better. But for now just do canna A/B + epsom salt, skip the cal-mag.

Thanks for the quick reply , Yh the magnesium sucks. I am in the UK RO water is a lil tough to come buy and expensive unless I install a RO into my kitchen. I would love to but money is tight. So I’ll take up with what you said after I’ll buy some Ph down. Quick question on the recharge what amount should I give ? 1/4 of the recommendation ? And make my way up. Thank you

 

[dankstranger]

Thanks for the quick reply , Yh the magnesium sucks. I am in the UK RO water is a lil tough to come buy and expensive unless I install a RO into my kitchen. I would love to but money is tight. So I’ll take up with what you said after I’ll buy some Ph down. Quick question on the recharge what amount should I give ? 1/4 of the recommendation ? And make my way up. Thank you

Half teaspoon per gallon once a week, or about 1/8 teaspoon per liter. You can start with quarter teaspoon per gallon the first time if you want to ease into it then go to the normal rate.

Stop using it about 2 weeks before harvest.

Mix your CANNA A/B first, get your EC where you want it, then pH to 5.8-6.0, then add the Recharge last. Use it right away, don't let it sit around in a reservoir after you add the microbes.

Don't use peroxide the same day you use Recharge or you'll kill all the bugs you just paid for.

With your hard water if they're using chloramine just letting it sit won't get rid of it. You need a carbon filter or throw in a tiny bit of Campden tablet to neutralize it. Pretty cheap and easy to find in the UK.

Your plan with the Epsom salt is smart given your calcium and magnesium numbers. Stick with that and keep an eye on your runoff pH and EC.

When you get those meters post your input and runoff numbers and we can dial it in better for your tap water.

 

[SeriouslyrUde]

Half teaspoon per gallon once a week, or about 1/8 teaspoon per liter. You can start with quarter teaspoon per gallon the first time if you want to ease into it then go to the normal rate.

Stop using it about 2 weeks before harvest.

Mix your CANNA A/B first, get your EC where you want it, then pH to 5.8-6.0, then add the Recharge last. Use it right away, don't let it sit around in a reservoir after you add the microbes.

Don't use peroxide the same day you use Recharge or you'll kill all the bugs you just paid for.

With your hard water if they're using chloramine just letting it sit won't get rid of it. You need a carbon filter or throw in a tiny bit of Campden tablet to neutralize it. Pretty cheap and easy to find in the UK.

Your plan with the Epsom salt is smart given your calcium and magnesium numbers. Stick with that and keep an eye on your runoff pH and EC.

When you get those meters post your input and runoff numbers and we can dial it in better for your tap water.

Brilliant advice, I appreciate it, glad you mentioned the peroxide I totally forgot about that. I think I’ll have to go the pre buffed route as sometimes peroxide doesn’t agree with my same.

I’ve got some ecothrive somewhere but once that’s done I’ll buy the tablets as they are much cheaper.

I’ll have those meters by Saturday, I’ll chime back in then. Glad I found this website. Thank you.

 

[ArtfulCodger]

With your water at 544 µS/cm, there isn't much room for anything else. I'd look for a small RO system. I don't know if it's available where you are, but I got a little aquarium system for about $50 USD.

 

[JIMKSI64]

Def would suggest an RO system. 3 stage RO for fish tanks drop ppm from 425 to 4. The expensive ones are for drinking

Another issue with hard water is clogging drip system components, if equipt.
I got 85 bucks into a 32 gallon garbage can and a fitting from the hardware store with a ro filter from Amazon.

 

[SeriouslyrUde]

Half teaspoon per gallon once a week, or about 1/8 teaspoon per liter. You can start with quarter teaspoon per gallon the first time if you want to ease into it then go to the normal rate.

Stop using it about 2 weeks before harvest.

Mix your CANNA A/B first, get your EC where you want it, then pH to 5.8-6.0, then add the Recharge last. Use it right away, don't let it sit around in a reservoir after you add the microbes.

Don't use peroxide the same day you use Recharge or you'll kill all the bugs you just paid for.

With your hard water if they're using chloramine just letting it sit won't get rid of it. You need a carbon filter or throw in a tiny bit of Campden tablet to neutralize it. Pretty cheap and easy to find in the UK.

Your plan with the Epsom salt is smart given your calcium and magnesium numbers. Stick with that and keep an eye on your runoff pH and EC.

When you get those meters post your input and runoff numbers and we can dial it in better for your tap water.

Just an update, my PH And EC pen arrived. I did look into RO systems for my home but the majority needed some sort of fitting and I can’t as I rent. So I actually found a company that sells RO water available 24/7 and about 5 min drive away. 5p per litre so I think I’ll just start with that and then add calmag.