How to feed in hydro

So I was talking with the guys at my local hydro store and they were saying something that blew my mind.

So I've always mixed my base nutrients first and then everything else afterwards. Like they say on many sites, always mix micro first, then everything else. We'll the guys at the hydro store said I should be mixing all additives first, then the base nutrients... On top of that I have always been ph-ing my water first, then adding micro / grow / bloom, then additives... however they were saying you need to mix the ph in at the very end(which now makes sense)

Is this the actual way of doing it?

On top of that I started using "Zero Water" filters to get my ppm down(which always seems to get high). So it gets down to 0ppm, then I ph the water, then base nutrients with micro first, then additives...

So the guys at the hydro store said basically do everything I've been doing in reverse... additives first, then base nutrients, then ph..???? They basically said if your water is 0 ppm there is nothing to ph so you add the ph in the very end...They were saying I also need to suppliment with calmag since im getting my ppm to 0(I thought you only needed calmag when using RO but I guess it makes sense to use if there is no micro nutrients in the water since its getting to 0 ppm).

First and foremost: "Do Not Listen To Hydro Store Employees'. They are there because they cannot grow.

Second: 'Do Not Take Advice From This Site" They are hear to tell you how badass they are as they help you fuck up your grow.

Third: I can't remember the third one and that was the important one. Oh well

Micro/macro, I add them all to plain water one at a time but in no particular order. Then I test pH and tds. Then I add cal mag to adjust tds, test pH again and adjust pH as needed. Variations in pps seem to swing less than pH, hence why I adjust pH last.

CC Dobbs said:

First and foremost: "Do Not Listen To Hydro Store Employees'. They are there because they cannot grow.

Second: 'Do Not Take Advice From This Site" They are hear to tell you how badass they are as they help you fuck up your grow.

Third: I can't remember the third one and that was the important one. Oh well

Click to expand...

Good advice ^^ I try to share what I do instead of telling someone what to do.

CC Dobbs said:

First and foremost: "Do Not Listen To Hydro Store Employees'. They are there because they cannot grow.

Second: 'Do Not Take Advice From This Site" They are hear to tell you how badass they are as they help you fuck up your grow.

Third: I can't remember the third one and that was the important one. Oh well

Click to expand...

So in other words all information in your thread will be BS hence making it worthless ?

I always add supplements first then my base to bring my PPMs up to my target level then adjust the pH.

Im just curious because I've never heard it the way he told me. I've always herd ALWAYS mix micro first, but maybe thats just when adding Micro / Grow / Bloom in sequence of those three. So maybe its ok to add the three M / G / B last but as long as the G and B are always after the M(M = Micro / G = Grow / B = Bloom). Although this still doesnt make sense to me because I believe there are some bloom nutrients in the additives / suppliments I add so that would technically be some bloom coming before the Micro. To me it seems it can only be that Micro has to come first... Although part of my confusion is not knowing how the suppliments work opposed to the M / G / B(I know the M / G / B is base but I dont exactly know what that means as far as the chemistry is considered... these are macro elements, so they are bigger?)...

mike45214 thats exactly what he said and why he brought up doing it that way, because Im having ppm issues too , its way too high for a sensor that goes up to 1900... Im still not sure why you cannot do it the other way with the base first (and it seems like micro needs to be first?) to control ppm... which is exactly the issue, how to control that

tyepoe said:

Im just curious because I've never heard it the way he told me. I've always herd ALWAYS mix micro first, but maybe thats just when adding Micro / Grow / Bloom in sequence of those three. So maybe its ok to add the three M / G / B last but as long as the G and B are always after the M(M = Micro / G = Grow / B = Bloom). Although this still doesnt make sense to me because I believe there are some bloom nutrients in the additives / suppliments I add so that would technically be some bloom coming before the Micro. To me it seems it can only be that Micro has to come first... Although part of my confusion is not knowing how the suppliments work opposed to the M / G / B(I know the M / G / B is base but I dont exactly know what that means as far as the chemistry is considered... these are macro elements, so they are bigger?)...

Click to expand...

I think your confusing yourself sticking to "what some guy told you."

Macronutrients are nutrients the plant needs a relatively large amount of, Micronutrients are needed by the plant at very small or trace levels.

The reason a lot of liquid nutrients are mixed in different parts such as A and B are because at high concentrations, when combined together, certain elements will fall out of solution. That's why you never mix them directly together. (There are ways around this used in 1 part liquid solutions using chelators...but don't worry about that for now)

Diluting them with water to a solution the plant needs, you can mix them all together, it doesn't matter what one goes first or last.

The reason for 2 3 or 6 part nutrients. Well as stated above the reason for 2 is usually because nutrients will fall out of solution. The reason for 3 or more is so you can cater your nutrient needs (NPK) to what you want. M/G/B for instance, Basically is - Micro 5-0-1 NPK (plus has micro nutrients,) Grow 2-1-6 NPK, Bloom 0-5-4 NPK. If you used equal parts of each you can add up NPK to find your total ratio. Lucas formula just uses Micro and Bloom. As you can see it will be a different ratio of NPK but the Micro also has all the micro nutrients in it, so you will be fine.

I suppose you could say supplements fall into two categories. Ones with elemental nutrient value such as P-K booster, Such as 0-4-10 NPK or 0-5-6 NPK probably using the same fertilizer used in your bloom nutrient, or Ones that don't use elemental nutrients such as humic or fulvic acids or bacteria or enzymes or proclaimed magic lol.

Calcium and Magnesium are usually considered minor Macronutrients. Some plants need a lot, and it is naturally in Tapwater. If your using water that is near 0ppm or basically devoid of them, and your nutrients don't provide enough (which they usually don't) you will need to supplement with calcium and magnesium. Reverse Osmosis is just a process of filtering water to get a low ppm.

0 ppm water has almost no ph buffering capability. Add everything to your res then ph the solution. It makes no sense to ph before or in the middle, as it will change.

To sum it up, GENERALLY you can add anything you want to reservoir you want to a normally dilute ratio in any order.

And I think supplements are 90 percent BS and unnecessary. Hydro store nutrients are overpriced.

If you want a balanced nutrient ratio with correct NPK calcium magnesium ratio for your needs such as RO water, you can mix your own fertilizer very cheaply and skip all the supplements.

- Jiji

Hey Thanks jijiandfarmgang for breaking it down! That makes sense that it doesn't matter which nutrients goes first or last, and sorry if i'm making you repeat yourself at all, but why do all the instructions say mix micro before grow and bloom?

I really don't know. You should email them and ask them why they specifically request that.

- Jiji

the only thing i disagree in hydro is mix your silica first with your water not ran threw your chiller first sometimes that shit balls up as soon as it comes in contact with other nutirents thats the only thing i sugest putting first then run throught your water chiller i have had it just turn to like oil specks in my res and not dilute.. good luck by the way i am bad ass..

thump easy said:

the only thing i disagree in hydro is mix your silica first with your water not ran threw your chiller first sometimes that shit balls up as soon as it comes in contact with other nutirents thats the only thing i sugest putting first then run throught your water chiller i have had it just turn to like oil specks in my res and not dilute.. good luck by the way i am bad ass..

Click to expand...

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Listen to Thump!

I agree with Thump. also what ur dro guy says is actually what's up.
1. Silica first! (to prevent the balling up and this makes it so that other nutrients will be LOCKED OUT because it bonded with the silica first DYNAGRO SAYS TO PUT IN SILICA FIRST ALWAYS)
2. Additives, ONE AT A TIME never mix two and then throw into the res, YOU DONT WANT YOUR NUTES BONDING AND LEAD TO LOCKOUT
3. Bases to hit your target PPM
4. PH
5. NOW YOU CAN MIX IN YOUR MYCO OR BACTERIA OR TEA OR SEAGREEN OR WHATEVER YOU WANT (LAST BECAUSE THE ACIDS FROM PH DOWN OR PH UP WILL KILL ALL THE BACTERIA THAT WAS IN YOUR ORGANIC MIX)

And yes, Cal/Mag needed when using R/O water. Your filter filtered it all out.

Other than the micro possibly bonding with other nutrients because they are so concentrated which others have stated, I have read this as well but have no idea the science behind or even recall if the source was legit. I like to mix my base nutes after supplements because I use them to reach my target PPM, so supplements, then add M-G-B to my desired PPM, then PH adjust if needed(haven't needed to with full strength feeds).

Also part of the reason to PH last is that many base nutrients balance themselves at or near 6.0

CC Dobbs said:

First and foremost: "Do Not Listen To Hydro Store Employees'. They are there because they cannot grow.

Second: 'Do Not Take Advice From This Site" They are hear to tell you how badass they are as they help you fuck up your grow.

Third: I can't remember the third one and that was the important one. Oh well

Click to expand...

So funny yet so true! I feel like the perpetual kook myself.

I think I know the third bro...
Switch to organic based nutes like Botanicare. End product tastes unreal!
550ml Botanicare Pro, Bloom for flower, Grow for veg
250ml Botanicare Cal/Mag
180ml Botanicare Liquid Karma

MIx a double batch in a clean milk jug. Add water to top it off. Shake well. Now add the nutes to your res till you get the desired PPM. Remember, it's easy to add nutes but hard to take them out! You can keep the leftover nutes in your fridge. Label the jug "Iced Tea", then when your buddies come over ask them if they're thirsty. Don't forget to video it.

Ph - Always take your PH reading last. Adding nutes effects the PH. If you use the above recipet you PH will come out at 5.8 and stay there if everything is going well. Change the res every 2-3 weeks. 2 is better, 3 is max.

Wait, you're not supposed to take advice from this site...never mind.

tyepoe said:

Hey Thanks jijiandfarmgang for breaking it down! That makes sense that it doesn't matter which nutrients goes first or last, and sorry if i'm making you repeat yourself at all, but why do all the instructions say mix micro before grow and bloom?

Click to expand...

Micro goes 1st because sometimes adding micro last can cause the nutes to turn into gel like clumps , it happens most times on small mixtures of nutes like a half a gallon , ive had it happen to me when mixing up nutes in small amounts before & added micro last .

tyepoe said:

So I was talking with the guys at my local hydro store and they were saying something that blew my mind.

So I've always mixed my base nutrients first and then everything else afterwards. Like they say on many sites, always mix micro first, then everything else. We'll the guys at the hydro store said I should be mixing all additives first, then the base nutrients... On top of that I have always been ph-ing my water first, then adding micro / grow / bloom, then additives... however they were saying you need to mix the ph in at the very end(which now makes sense)

Is this the actual way of doing it?

On top of that I started using "Zero Water" filters to get my ppm down(which always seems to get high). So it gets down to 0ppm, then I ph the water, then base nutrients with micro first, then additives...

So the guys at the hydro store said basically do everything I've been doing in reverse... additives first, then base nutrients, then ph..???? They basically said if your water is 0 ppm there is nothing to ph so you add the ph in the very end...They were saying I also need to suppliment with calmag since im getting my ppm to 0(I thought you only needed calmag when using RO but I guess it makes sense to use if there is no micro nutrients in the water since its getting to 0 ppm).

Click to expand...

Just fuqing throw it all together and then dump it in ur rez.. how fuqing hard is it to do hydro!

thanks stinkbud I will try botanicare next then! Do "organic" nutes produce just as much as other? Anyway it seems I will need to expirement a bit with it to see if I can control my ppm better by adding base nutrients last and if I start getting weird results or too much nute clumping than normal I'll start adding micro 1st and go from there. I appreciate all the feedback!

thump easy said:

the only thing i disagree in hydro is mix your silica first with your water not ran threw your chiller first sometimes that shit balls up as soon as it comes in contact with other nutirents thats the only thing i sugest putting first then run throught your water chiller i have had it just turn to like oil specks in my res and not dilute.. good luck by the way i am bad ass..

Click to expand...

what kind of silica u use? I find rhino skin is real thick n syrupy compared to protekt....