BioCanna vs. Canna Aqua: Definitive response from Canna

AgentX

Active Member
In trying to decide whether to use one or the other of these products, I asked Canna if they could explain the differences in terms of EC and the amounts necessary to achieve the same concentrations. If you aren't familiar, BioCanna is about twice as expensive as Aqua per liter and little information on BioCanna is available through their website.

X

So, here it is:

Hello,

Sorry can't be done. These are two different birds in two different systems. Aqua is intended for long term intervals being pumped through the root system and draining back to a tank to go again. BioCanna is intended for use ONLY on CEC mediums such as mineral soil and soiless peat based potting mediums. You will never get a decent reading from BIO as most of the nutrient value is locked up in an organic molecule that has to degrade before the appropriate ions are released. It is the ions that register on the EC meter. So it can not be compared side by side in a tank.

Bio is a single part, mixed into water and watered in once a day. Once it is in the medium and in the presence of O2 and pH variability, it completes its breakdown to become available at the root surface. Roughly 70% of the nutrient value of Aqua is available at all times to the plant with enough locked away temporarily to become available to the plant across 5 - 7 days. Bio is measured into solution by the measure like ml/gal or tsp/gal, Aqua is added this way and adjusted to an appropriate EC level. Aqua works best on inert mediums like clay or nothing where Bio has to have some other components supplied by the medium such as lime. It is pointless to measure or attempt to adjust BioCanna in the tank or medium, EC or pH. The equipment to do this correctly costs hundreds of thousands of Euros.

So, as you see, 2 different products. Bio does not work very well at all in inert recirculating setups. Aqua does not work well in soils and soiless mediums.

There is actually a great deal of information available on the website and must also be at the retail shop levels. I suggest you download the Aqua InfoPaper and the Bio Infopaper for a better, more in depth look.

Cheers
Ralph B.
 
Top