Mixing Nutrients and Additives for Target PPM

[Mike Hawk]

I have somewhat of a newb question and hopefully I can clear up my confusion with this matter. I have always mixed suggested amounts of nutrients from the bottle/feed charts as a starting point while hand watering before and did pretty good that way, adjusting as necessary.

I have changed my style and am now doing several automated drain to waste feedings per day and want to focus on a less concentrated solution with that.

So, say I want to be at 650 ppm in my current growth stage. Once I added the minimum suggested amounts of my additives, I am at 400 ppm. This only allows me to use 1-2ml/gallon of base nutes to reach 650 ppm as opposed to the 8-15ml/gallon as suggested.

So I'm not sure where to go from here. Should I cut back on my additives even though I'm already using then on a light feeding scale and use more base? I use Heavy 16 btw and they say not to go over 33% additives but clearly most of my solution is additives.

I'm starting week 2 of bloom and am using cal mag, pro tekt silica, rapid start, big bud, drip clean, fire and prime in addition to H16 a and b.

 

[FlyinJStable]

I always wandered weather you could decrees or increase the water amounts only that way the ratios don't get fubar
so if lets say 10ml/gal of a is 500ppm
then 10ml/in 1/2 gal is 1000ppm
do you have a meter
sounds possible with a bit of math but your PPM meter is a must for dialing in what you want
Fly J
Peace

 

[deacon1503]

Basically yes make the difference up with base. 650 just seems so low to me considering all your additives even with Heavy base. If U feel u can't increase the EC (at week 2 I'm at 2.2+ but grow trees w/ verts) then cut back on the adds. Heavy has plenty of calcium for example.

 

[Mike Hawk]

Basically yes make the difference up with base. 650 just seems so low to me considering all your additives even with Heavy base. If U feel u can't increase the EC (at week 2 I'm at 2.2+ but grow trees w/ verts) then cut back on the adds. Heavy has plenty of calcium for example.

So you think I'd be ok without the calmag? I've always heard you need to supplement with calmag with heavy 16 base. About the EC, I ran into some problems when I was running 2 EC so I wanted to try a less potent solution and go up if I need to. Most of my plants are low feeding strains so I've read.

 

[toquer]

So you think I'd be ok without the calmag? I've always heard you need to supplement with calmag with heavy 16 base.
View attachment 421657

Really? Where did you hear that? You should talk to Bryce at heavy16. The guys there know their stuff. And they are super helpful. About the cal/mag.
Heavy is formulated with 6 types of calcium and 4 types of magnesium. Should be mixed with RO too. Really shouldn't need call/mag with their stuff. I had to cut the massboost on the aptus line when I started using heavy base. Mass boost is aptus' cal/mag.
600 is low for 2nd week as well. You on a 500 or 700 scale?
But I understand wanting to finish bottles and not seeing stuff sit around.

 

[toquer]

Ohhh and on my multiple feed girls. I split 2 full feedings a week into 6 multiples. So let's say they were gonna get 60ml the entire week. I give them 10ml each feed. Mainly on the additives though. Don't like being out of ratio as well.

 

[Mike Hawk]

Really? Where did you hear that? You should talk to Bryce at heavy16. The guys there know their stuff. And they are super helpful. About the cal/mag.
Heavy is formulated with 6 types of calcium and 4 types of magnesium. Should be mixed with RO too. Really shouldn't need call/mag with their stuff. I had to cut the massboost on the aptus line when I started using heavy base. Mass boost is aptus' cal/mag.
600 is low for 2nd week as well. You on a 500 or 700 scale?
But I understand wanting to finish bottles and not seeing stuff sit around.

I'm on a 500 scale. I'm actually closer to 800 ppm right now which is just a few ppm short of their suggested feed per their calculator. But again half of that is additives and only 2ml/gallon of their base.

When I first started using their line I was growing og's and wasn't using calmag. I saw a mag deficiency on my plants that was cured with the addition of calmag. I've also read several H16 threads on various forums addressing their base lacking calmag.

 

[toquer]

Hmmm, perhaps use some additives in the first feed and the remaining ones with the second feed. Then you can increase the bar slightly on both?

 

[Mike Hawk]

Everything gets mixed and fed from the same reservoir, automated feedings twice daily from that res which I refill once a week. I'll try cutting out the calmag so I can up the base nutes a bit.

 

[Protaide]

If it were me / what I do, is to use one of the nute calculators for your mix. You can input each additive and nutrient into the calc and adjust each item that way. If you have target ppm's that you want to hit; it does not matter what component(s) are used to get there (excluding additives with hormones or pgr). If you were to compare the base nutes vs your nutes w/ additives; it may be that you find you'll adjust certain things and thus determine how much of each additive. Since most of those additives are contributing more K than other elements; it may be that some other elements are currently low in proportion (e.g. some of your current ppm may not be needed).

 

[shoestring]

Lay off all additives period. Until you get this one done and maybe a few more. If your starting tap water is less than 250 ppm on the 500 conv scale your good to go with no need for cal mag. Add base nutrient to about about 700ppm( this is added to your to your tap so actual number will be higher. Eg... Say tap is 200ppm your total will be 900 ppm). Feed/water with lots.of runoff. I mean lots of runoff ( especially at first. Your trying to rebalance your medium). Trust me.on this. Report back with your results!!!! Resist the urge to never go over 750 to 850 ppm of total dissolved solids of BASE NUTRIENTS ONLY. At least for a couple runs. Tell us what u think a little later.