Live Res PH Control - How do you manage it?
We used to joke about adding the fungi to the brew and said well we couldn't do that becasue that would be everything in one bottle.
But I do like to keep them pseudo separate in application.
I still maintain that fungi should be added at the end right out of the bottle as recommended at the same time as the tea, not brewed into the tea. I make my own from powder which I reactivate and will feed but I don't see the point in adding it to the tea.
Plus you don't need a lot of fungi all the time. You DO need a bunch of bacteria.
But I do like to keep them pseudo separate in application.
I still maintain that fungi should be added at the end right out of the bottle as recommended at the same time as the tea, not brewed into the tea. I make my own from powder which I reactivate and will feed but I don't see the point in adding it to the tea.
Plus you don't need a lot of fungi all the time. You DO need a bunch of bacteria.
OK, so next time I around I can leave the fungi sports out. The only reason I added them, was because in the all the the heisenberg tea recipes they added fungi spores such as great white or zho, I just used a generic brand. I will continue to add hydroguard since that is mainly bacteria.
I get it, It has been rather difficult to find information on what exactly each ingredients does. I really had to dig deep into the pages of Google today. You have really helped my grow alot, I greatly appreciate your knowledge.
How low can my ph go b4 I have to start to worry? I fungi are having a party in my res and they keep dropping the ph. Was able to get my ph up to 5.5 but it is dropping rather quickly. Down to around 5.3
So in reality getting the bacteria in there cleaning up is the real driver and what is desired. If it is tanking and wont stay alive you probably ought to dump the res and do a new one. This time make sure to follow a few steps to get the best microbial activity going and then it will be fine.
The plant itself is fine under pH swings that are very large. Not preferred, but wont inherently kill or even in the short turn damage the roots. The solution may, under certain circumstances, go bad and need to be dumped. Many programs just recommend dumping weekly. But a healthy res can go a good long time. Just keep topping off with a solution of where you think you should be and the res will land somewhere in between not shocking the plant. You can top off with tea every 2 weeks and adjust a few pieces for the stage of growth.
The tea when done right is 7.0 pH and 800 PPM which is high. Only use 2-4 cups per plant and up to 8 for bad infections. Pour it through the medium not directly into the tank.
Every 2 weeks, and you could do this OFF the tea weeks, you can add some Fungi. Do the same through the basket to get it into the roots and the some spores will make it down into the res just fine. The fungi main role, when done correctly, is they will absorb unneeded nutes for release later when they are scarce. The Fungi help self regulate the application of some nutes making for easier transitions in solution. The plant needs vary. Uptake requirements change with the life cycle and as the res is changing constantly. Those fungi help the plant with a buffer for transportation of some nutes.
The only issue is you have to have a good size res so the plant is cycling this stuff. You want it to be able to take on a gallon or more per plant without it skipping a beat ....and want to be able to be a bit late on refilling that too. That will allow for good exchange and solution dosing. Mixing up 4 or 5 gallons is a lot easier and is a good res. adjustment. It is all relative to size. 5 gallons is meaningless in 100 plant system. If mixing up and pouring 5 gallons seems too much,... figure out what works for you, and think about how big you want to make your res. Each plant can take up to a 1+ gallon per day. Since I dechlorinate my water by letting it stand I had a handful of 5 gallon buckets on standby for a full flush and usually 3 other buckets rotating through dechlorinating and being mixed up for top off.
And if I ever see things just tank I get out and flush and start over. The plant will be fine you just want the right stuff around the roots.
You definitely can shock the plant and don't want to make big changes but if a tank is running away on you best to move on.
I have a second tank where i mix the solution up first and when it is ready I siphon it over and the roots go from air to 5.8 and are happy again.
The plant itself is fine under pH swings that are very large. Not preferred, but wont inherently kill or even in the short turn damage the roots. The solution may, under certain circumstances, go bad and need to be dumped. Many programs just recommend dumping weekly. But a healthy res can go a good long time. Just keep topping off with a solution of where you think you should be and the res will land somewhere in between not shocking the plant. You can top off with tea every 2 weeks and adjust a few pieces for the stage of growth.
The tea when done right is 7.0 pH and 800 PPM which is high. Only use 2-4 cups per plant and up to 8 for bad infections. Pour it through the medium not directly into the tank.
Every 2 weeks, and you could do this OFF the tea weeks, you can add some Fungi. Do the same through the basket to get it into the roots and the some spores will make it down into the res just fine. The fungi main role, when done correctly, is they will absorb unneeded nutes for release later when they are scarce. The Fungi help self regulate the application of some nutes making for easier transitions in solution. The plant needs vary. Uptake requirements change with the life cycle and as the res is changing constantly. Those fungi help the plant with a buffer for transportation of some nutes.
The only issue is you have to have a good size res so the plant is cycling this stuff. You want it to be able to take on a gallon or more per plant without it skipping a beat ....and want to be able to be a bit late on refilling that too. That will allow for good exchange and solution dosing. Mixing up 4 or 5 gallons is a lot easier and is a good res. adjustment. It is all relative to size. 5 gallons is meaningless in 100 plant system. If mixing up and pouring 5 gallons seems too much,... figure out what works for you, and think about how big you want to make your res. Each plant can take up to a 1+ gallon per day. Since I dechlorinate my water by letting it stand I had a handful of 5 gallon buckets on standby for a full flush and usually 3 other buckets rotating through dechlorinating and being mixed up for top off.
And if I ever see things just tank I get out and flush and start over. The plant will be fine you just want the right stuff around the roots.
You definitely can shock the plant and don't want to make big changes but if a tank is running away on you best to move on.
I have a second tank where i mix the solution up first and when it is ready I siphon it over and the roots go from air to 5.8 and are happy again.
ph went up on its own, i checked it shortly before the lights went out and my ph was at (5.8). looks like things just worked out on there own. hopefully things are still good when the lights come back on. next time put a little less fulvic acid and see if i have better luck.
Lol, ph was on the high side today(8.2). Looks like bacteria is starting to take over. I gonna dump this brew and try it again. After doing some research I found a guy who claims he originally delevoped the heisenberg tea and claims that a user took his heisenberg took his recepie and claimed it as his own. Whatever anyways, this is his original recipe
RichyRich Hydro Tea Recipe and Instructions:
1. Add 4 gal of RO or bottled water in a 5 gal bucket.
2. Add 2-3 cups of EWC's and/or Ancient Forest.
3. Add 1/2-1 scoop of Great White.
4. Add 1/2-1 scoop of ZHO.
5. Add 30-50mL of Aquashield/Hydroguard.
6. Add 5mL of Root Excelurator.
7. Add 25mL of liquid Carbo Load or 25mL of molasses or 1tsp of brown sugar per 24 hours of brew time.
8. Bubble the brew for 24-48 hours.
9. Fridge your tea max 7-10 days.
10. New rez add 1-3 cups per 10 gal.
11. Add 1 cup of tea per 10 gal every 3rd day.
12. Watch and enjoy your amazing roots and yield.
This is just a beneficial bacteria/fungi tea. He claims that he observed the bacteria under a microscope and that's how he was able to determine how often you should reapply and how long you can store it. I am not taking credit for any of this information or saying it is true. I am just posting this information for myself and for any one that might find it useful.
RichyRich Hydro Tea Recipe and Instructions:
1. Add 4 gal of RO or bottled water in a 5 gal bucket.
2. Add 2-3 cups of EWC's and/or Ancient Forest.
3. Add 1/2-1 scoop of Great White.
4. Add 1/2-1 scoop of ZHO.
5. Add 30-50mL of Aquashield/Hydroguard.
6. Add 5mL of Root Excelurator.
7. Add 25mL of liquid Carbo Load or 25mL of molasses or 1tsp of brown sugar per 24 hours of brew time.
8. Bubble the brew for 24-48 hours.
9. Fridge your tea max 7-10 days.
10. New rez add 1-3 cups per 10 gal.
11. Add 1 cup of tea per 10 gal every 3rd day.
12. Watch and enjoy your amazing roots and yield.
This is just a beneficial bacteria/fungi tea. He claims that he observed the bacteria under a microscope and that's how he was able to determine how often you should reapply and how long you can store it. I am not taking credit for any of this information or saying it is true. I am just posting this information for myself and for any one that might find it useful.
Yes Heisenberg is a standard that is commonly recommended. I had read up on Heisenberg and i am sure the guy who helped me figure out my recipe had Heisenberg down pat. But he liked to run what he needed. I was after a specific purpose. We developed a basic recipe for a certain purpose.... that also has great microbial side affects when applied correctly. But we achieved the same rudimentary results as the recipe above with less ingredients a more natural way. This result the natural way results in a brew that also is high in nutrient value at 800PPM and is strong enough to burn plants.
Heisenberg is a bit over bloated but definitely the gold standard.
I try to keep things simple. Mine is easier and cheaper and used less often and allows for some refinement in unrelated things. The listed final ingredients are the same but I am using, less chems and more combo things like the worm castings to hit multiple ingredients there. In the end all of those ingredients are in the tea I am making but that is only a part of it done with more parts then needed. I am using the microbial tea to break down other things and the result gets thrown on the plants. Fertilizers plus Boosters plus Microbes.
And like I said I prefer to dose fungi desperately. The type of fungi we care about should be introduced to the roots not to decaying mater.
The only real difference there is adding the Roots Excelurator.
But it is missing a handful of ingredients I added specifically to aid in many things this recipe is lacking. The recipe I posted has all the macro and micro nutes plus bloom boosters. The recipe you posted is strictly microbes. My recipe is everything a plant needs. You can just back it with pH'd water if you over did it.
Heisenberg is a bit over bloated but definitely the gold standard.
I try to keep things simple. Mine is easier and cheaper and used less often and allows for some refinement in unrelated things. The listed final ingredients are the same but I am using, less chems and more combo things like the worm castings to hit multiple ingredients there. In the end all of those ingredients are in the tea I am making but that is only a part of it done with more parts then needed. I am using the microbial tea to break down other things and the result gets thrown on the plants. Fertilizers plus Boosters plus Microbes.
And like I said I prefer to dose fungi desperately. The type of fungi we care about should be introduced to the roots not to decaying mater.
The only real difference there is adding the Roots Excelurator.
But it is missing a handful of ingredients I added specifically to aid in many things this recipe is lacking. The recipe I posted has all the macro and micro nutes plus bloom boosters. The recipe you posted is strictly microbes. My recipe is everything a plant needs. You can just back it with pH'd water if you over did it.
I only posted it for informational purposes. Since your formula is similar, shelf life should be the same. I brew two gallons for 1 plant. So I always have a ton of leftover, but technically I should be able to put your tea in the fridge for 10 days and it still be good. He also recommends you add a small amount into your res every 3 days. For some one like me who has a ton of left over putting some tea away in the fridge and adding some to the res every few days shouldn't hurt me. It took alot of time digging to try and find some information. So I copy pasta to be able to find it easier later on should I need it. Your formula worked very well for me the first time I use it and I plan on continuing to use your formula.
I have never saved it. I have read many times that is will save in a fridge. This tea has more in it then just microbes. I would hate for it to go bad and cause problems. A few days should be fine. I make what I need but I did post the recipe at 2 gallons as that is about as small as I can go effectively. I would have to use a different method then a bucket and a stick.
Recently someone threw their excess on some clones and then a few weeks later realized all the really bush tall green ones had all the extra tea ones.
Growing one plant at a time is difficult.
You can cut everything in half but you need to keep the agitation going. There are a ton of DIY brewers on Youtube. I am too busy moving right now to get all fancy.
Recently someone threw their excess on some clones and then a few weeks later realized all the really bush tall green ones had all the extra tea ones.
Growing one plant at a time is difficult.
You can cut everything in half but you need to keep the agitation going. There are a ton of DIY brewers on Youtube. I am too busy moving right now to get all fancy.
- Thread starter
- #53
Far East Buds
Well-Known Member
Just to add some of my findings.
Ok so my summary so far of running live. So I can stay on this thread... Cause this one has become pretty useful I believe. And VI correct me if anything doesn't make sense... hopefully this can help others...
So my take is that live as I am doing it is two separate things. Your live feedings and your water, nute treatments.
So I am running drain to waste. I add 5 gallons to my res as needed (3-4days). This contains my nutes,calmag, supps like sugaree etc. then after it has hd this for a day or two I add my GW,hygrozyme, and plant sucess.. This pops the PH up to 7.0 and to me answers exactly how the bad stuff is doing based on how long the PH wants to rise. I do ph it down every day right before feeding. The next day if the PH has risen again i repeat. If it has been one day obviously it hasnt had much baddies and it stabilizes fast. If the PH continues to rise over more days.. the baddies are strong and more bennies or ph and wait one more day... Then back to my top off with plant food...
Plant food and res/root control I am sorta running as two different things. So far this has been really successful and the plants show it.. So just a little bit on it. I will try to post some as it all falls into place...
FE
Ok so my summary so far of running live. So I can stay on this thread... Cause this one has become pretty useful I believe. And VI correct me if anything doesn't make sense... hopefully this can help others...
So my take is that live as I am doing it is two separate things. Your live feedings and your water, nute treatments.
So I am running drain to waste. I add 5 gallons to my res as needed (3-4days). This contains my nutes,calmag, supps like sugaree etc. then after it has hd this for a day or two I add my GW,hygrozyme, and plant sucess.. This pops the PH up to 7.0 and to me answers exactly how the bad stuff is doing based on how long the PH wants to rise. I do ph it down every day right before feeding. The next day if the PH has risen again i repeat. If it has been one day obviously it hasnt had much baddies and it stabilizes fast. If the PH continues to rise over more days.. the baddies are strong and more bennies or ph and wait one more day... Then back to my top off with plant food...
Plant food and res/root control I am sorta running as two different things. So far this has been really successful and the plants show it.. So just a little bit on it. I will try to post some as it all falls into place...
FE
Have you ever had the ph on on of your teas go over 7? This batch I am currently working on has a ph of 7.3 /7.4
A little up but not much higher than that. The good microbes like it close to , a little either way is fine. Keep stirring it.
In fact if you have let it go stagnant for a while you can bring it back to full vigorous foaming by pHing it up to 7 and stirring it. The key is not to stir up the bottom right away. First you pH it up and I recommend using your Silica product to do that. Stir it moderately and at the surface for good air exchange. Wait until it is foaming good again then stir up the bottom a little at a time. The anaerobic bacteria will come out each time and overpower the good bacteria but then you keep stirring and the good ones come back if it is close to neutral. Eventually you have it back to a roar again unless it needs some more sugar.
In general when using the bucket method you can raise the good bacteria count by string it up. It is good practice in general to follow those steps at the end right before filtering to raise the good count at the last minute. I even put the air stones into the filtered side and will see it continue on.
If your intent is to get as much live bacteria transferred into your grow then this helps.
In fact if you have let it go stagnant for a while you can bring it back to full vigorous foaming by pHing it up to 7 and stirring it. The key is not to stir up the bottom right away. First you pH it up and I recommend using your Silica product to do that. Stir it moderately and at the surface for good air exchange. Wait until it is foaming good again then stir up the bottom a little at a time. The anaerobic bacteria will come out each time and overpower the good bacteria but then you keep stirring and the good ones come back if it is close to neutral. Eventually you have it back to a roar again unless it needs some more sugar.
In general when using the bucket method you can raise the good bacteria count by string it up. It is good practice in general to follow those steps at the end right before filtering to raise the good count at the last minute. I even put the air stones into the filtered side and will see it continue on.
If your intent is to get as much live bacteria transferred into your grow then this helps.
