What is dropping out of my solution?
- Thread starter TCH
- Start date
HydroKid239
Well-Known Member
Silica and calmag supposedly coagulate when mixed. The moderator on the ILGM forum said that he mixes his silica in one container, and the calmag + base nutes in another.. THEN mixes them together already diluted. Basically what you just explained. That seemed to work for them.
sandman83
Well-Known Member
yuppppp, I've accidentally used the same graduated cylinder without rinsing, it'll form this gel/goop. fyi for anyone else, florakleen at recommended doses was able to cleanup my tank/hoses/equipment from all the residue.
calvin.m16
Well-Known Member
Are you talking about the black shit? That isn't from any of the products you listed participating, I use GH Armor Si, pH UP, Maxi, CaliMagic and KoolBloom Dry and have never seen black or dark precipitates. That is something going on with your water, filter, or barrel. Does the barrel stink at all? I would definitely shock it with some bleach and drain/refill.
I want a better picture bad. Are you using a submersible pump or something? That doesn't look like anything those listed products would cause.
My vote is that is some form of black algae growing in the bottom of your holding tank due to warm/stagnant conditions.
I want a better picture bad. Are you using a submersible pump or something? That doesn't look like anything those listed products would cause.
My vote is that is some form of black algae growing in the bottom of your holding tank due to warm/stagnant conditions.
calvin.m16
Well-Known Member
I've combatted this by blending some filtered well water into the mixing reservoir. Helps add natural silicates, carbonates etc to stabilize pH. Works wonders. I just turn on the flush valve on my RO system and direct the hose into my tank using around 1 gallon of filtered (not RO) water to every 10 gallons of RO filtered water. This will make it so you go through a lot less Armor Si (Potassium Silicate) and pH UP (Potassium Hydroxide or Potassium Carbonate etc..)
p.s Make sure the flush valve is in the open flushing position when your getting water from there, otherwise it will have too much PPM from being waste from the RO filters.
TCH
Well-Known Member
I will see about getting a better picture this evening. I use the botanicare calmag if that makes a difference. It's got a slight brown tint to it. The temp in the bathroom that the res is in maintains at 70-72°F. Couple degrees warmer than I'd prefer, but I don't feel like it's too bad. As far as smell, sometimes it smells like what was in it before. It has been scrubbed with soap, vinegar, and baking soda. There is no staining or anything left in the barrel visually. When I clean it out this week, I will take and bleach it as well.
TCH
Well-Known Member
No pump. Temp was 71.2°F. Just checked the ppm. When I mixed it all up, it was 466 ppm. Today it is 486ppm. I finally found a use for the old cell phone laying around. Fired it up and used it for the light while I took a pic with my good phone.
secretmicrogrow420
Well-Known Member
hey tch along time ago my brother was using advanced nutrients and whenever he would mix bud candy and bud factor x the nutrient solution would produce black clumps of crap kinda like whats in the picture when we called advanced nutrients they told us it was the magnesium from bud factor x reacting too the carbs and or sugars in bud candy im not sure it was a long time ago i hope you get this issue resolved 
TCH
Well-Known Member
Mixed up the ArmorSi into a gallon or RO
Mixed up the CalMag into a gallon of RO
Mixed up the MaxiGrow into a gallon of RO
In order to recreate the same reservoir I mixed up the other day, I will add 2 gallons of RO water to the clean reservoir, then the ArmorSi gallon, stir it in, add the calmag gallon, stir it in, then the MaxiGrow gallon and stir it in.
I will then check the ppm/ec and get a reading from my pH pen that is on the fritz just for shits n grins. (New one will be here Wednesday)
This is the correct order to mix stuff in, correct?
Mixed up the CalMag into a gallon of RO
Mixed up the MaxiGrow into a gallon of RO
In order to recreate the same reservoir I mixed up the other day, I will add 2 gallons of RO water to the clean reservoir, then the ArmorSi gallon, stir it in, add the calmag gallon, stir it in, then the MaxiGrow gallon and stir it in.
I will then check the ppm/ec and get a reading from my pH pen that is on the fritz just for shits n grins. (New one will be here Wednesday)
This is the correct order to mix stuff in, correct?
Billy the Mountain
Well-Known Member
calvin.m16
Well-Known Member
Dude that dark shit is contagion of some sort. Scrape it out any way possible and bleach the fuck out of that tub then wash it until all you see is blue. Otherwise find another bin. Some of those algaes can eat your feed in your pots if you leave it untreated.
calvin.m16
Well-Known Member
That looks like someone poured coco into your reservoir.
Drop That Sound
Well-Known Member
Drop That Sound
Well-Known Member
Looks like iron, which is usually added to the cal mag supplements.
Drop That Sound
Well-Known Member
Iron (ii) Hydroxide Precipitate
Iron (II) hydroxide precipitate formed by adding sodium hydroxide (NaOH) to a solution containing iron (II) ions. Iron (II) hydroxide (Fe(OH)2) is precipitated out of solution as a dark green gelatinous solid. Addition of sodium hydroxide is used as a test for positive metal ions in solution.
calvin.m16
Well-Known Member
Iron is red/orange
on second thought
I would exclude the calmag maxi does well alone.
Drop That Sound
Well-Known Member
Ever sucked the iron to the bottom of a bag of cereal\water with a magnet? That's probably what your magdrive pump is doing to some extent.
TCH
Well-Known Member
This does look like it pretty much exactly. So, I think I will continue with my plans of bleaching the barrel tonight and adding fresh feed, minus the calmag, and see what she does.