Just a quick question about adding silicon

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I've recently took vitalink silicon out of the feed schedule because it was causing a huge cloud in the water which looks like a massive chemical reaction. Not sure if it meant to do that but what I would do is fill my 250litre res with water and add the silicon and give it a good mix in before adding my other nutes. Does this sound right? I'm curious because I've got 5litre of vitalink silicon sat there not being used and I feel like it's just a waste. Does silicon really add benefits to the plants? I would like to add it but it's not good when seeing the massive cloud it makes in the water. Thanks

 

[BurnzYzBudZz]

Yes it is beneficial. You will need to ALWAYS mix the vita link first, then mix and add your other nutrients after. Once you mix then you can adjust your pH. When are you adding the vita link?

 

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Yes it is beneficial. You will need to ALWAYS mix the vita link first, then mix and add your other nutrients after. Once you mix then you can adjust your pH. When are you adding the vita link?

So basically I'm about to do a res change now, im topping up with fresh water then I'll add my (vitalink silicon) first do I then adjust the ph down first before adding my base nutes and additives? Thanks

 

[GreenMtnGuru]

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Like Burnzy says, mix your Si into RO water first.

Add to res, then mix your additives to desired ppm.

Let sit for 15 min, then adjust PH.

 

[Deforced]

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Like Burnzy says, mix your Si into RO water first.

Add to res, then mix your additives to desired ppm.

Let sit for 15 min, then adjust PH.

Thanks pal

 

[tobh]

The only silica additive i didn't have clouding with was protekt (i've only used it and power si) and recently dropped the power si as it was gelling up in my inline filter and in my pumps. sure, there are benefits to silica, but personally i can't see any benefits coming from something that's clouding up in the res and gelling up filters and pumps. if it's a tangible, real gel, then the roots aren't gonna be able to do shit with that. even with proper mixing practices, silica is a tricky thing and i've been reading some conflicting information about its use in hydro lately that further motivated my choice to just drop it entirely for the remainder of this run. rather a bottle sit on a shelf than have to replace a couple $200 pumps.

 

[Deforced]

The only silica additive i didn't have clouding with was protekt (i've only used it and power si) and recently dropped the power si as it was gelling up in my inline filter and in my pumps. sure, there are benefits to silica, but personally i can't see any benefits coming from something that's clouding up in the res and gelling up filters and pumps. if it's a tangible, real gel, then the roots aren't gonna be able to do shit with that. even with proper mixing practices, silica is a tricky thing and i've been reading some conflicting information about its use in hydro lately that further motivated my choice to just drop it entirely for the remainder of this run. rather a bottle sit on a shelf than have to replace a couple $200 pumps.

I'm 100% agree with you there mate, I dropped it out of my feeding regime a couple grows now but I've just introduced it back. Right I've figured out how to add it, basically fill your res up with tap water (that's what I use anyway) then make sure its ph is at 7.0, then add the silicon and then ph back down to 7.0 before adding any other nutes, then just drop your normal additives in and then your base nutes until reaching your desired EC. That's how I've done it tonight and it's all worked well, no clouding in the res no nothing. Just thought I'd add this for everyone to see. Cheers

 

[tobh]

I'm 100% agree with you there mate, I dropped it out of my feeding regime a couple grows now but I've just introduced it back. Right I've figured out how to add it, basically fill your res up with tap water (that's what I use anyway) then make sure its ph is at 7.0, then add the silicon and then ph back down to 7.0 before adding any other nutes, then just drop your normal additives in and then your base nutes until reaching your desired EC. That's how I've done it tonight and it's all worked well, no clouding in the res no nothing. Just thought I'd add this for everyone to see. Cheers

out of curiosity do you know what temp your fresh filled res sits at? i think part of my issue is temperature related. the clouding i couldn't care less about. it's the gelling that has me deciding to drop the silica. i think part of the problem is my tap is coming out at ~57F now and the silica just doesn't like it. however, to confirm that might be the problem, i mixed up the res dose in hot water before adding to the res and it still clouded then gelled. dunno. too much a pain in the ass for me at this point. protekt was good but dragging the pH back down before other additives is too much a pain in the ass. MSA seems like a great alternative without the alkalinity but again, if it just turns to gel, it's fuckin useless.

 

[Deforced]

out of curiosity do you know what temp your fresh filled res sits at? i think part of my issue is temperature related. the clouding i couldn't care less about. it's the gelling that has me deciding to drop the silica. i think part of the problem is my tap is coming out at ~57F now and the silica just doesn't like it. however, to confirm that might be the problem, i mixed up the res dose in hot water before adding to the res and it still clouded then gelled. dunno. too much a pain in the ass for me at this point. protekt was good but dragging the pH back down before other additives is too much a pain in the ass. MSA seems like a great alternative without the alkalinity but again, if it just turns to gel, it's fuckin useless.

If I'm going be honest with you, I don't think it's the res temps that are effecting it, basically when the clouding happens in the res that's what actually causes the gel. The only way I've gone around this is literally making sure my tap water is at ph 7.0 then adding the silica then ph back down to 7.0 then adding my other nutes. I know it seems a bit of a pain messing around with ph all the time but this is the way I've found works. It's 100% the clouding that is making the gel dude.

 

[Deforced]

If I'm going be honest with you, I don't think it's the res temps that are effecting it, basically when the clouding happens in the res that's what actually causes the gel. The only way I've gone around this is literally making sure my tap water is at ph 7.0 then adding the silica then ph back down to 7.0 then adding my other nutes. I know it seems a bit of a pain messing around with ph all the time but this is the way I've found works. It's 100% the clouding that is making the gel dude.

Just to add, I don't need to ph the first time as my tap water is already ph7.0 so I just chuck my silica in the res then ph down to 7.0 then add all nutes and ph back down to 5.8-6.2, im running coco btw

 

[tobh]

i'll follow suit and see what happens. iirc my tap is like 7.4 or something, and i too run on tap because fuck hauling in RO or setting up a system big enough to justify its existence. i'm in rockwool dtw, so we're in comparable systems. if this works for you, i'll also give it a shot. hate to let an $80 bottle go to waste if it's as simple as making sure the starting water is absolutely neutral at 7.

 

[Deforced]

i'll follow suit and see what happens. iirc my tap is like 7.4 or something, and i too run on tap because fuck hauling in RO or setting up a system big enough to justify its existence. i'm in rockwool dtw, so we're in comparable systems. if this works for you, i'll also give it a shot. hate to let an $80 bottle go to waste if it's as simple as making sure the starting water is absolutely neutral at 7.

100% mate, let me know how you get on dude