Slush in reservoir?

[Rodrigo]

Hi, guys.

I've been trying to figure this out for some time.
Intro.
I use Iguana Juice from AN for my hydroponic system and never had a problem. Before I changed my setup, I had a 10lt res for my veg side and a 20lt for my flower side. I had a small aquarium pump getting air in there through a round air stone. (I have a big 40l/m dedicated pump now with multiple outlets.)
Since they were small containers I only used 30 and 60 ml of nutes respectively for each side. Now I changed the res of the flowering side for a much bigger one, holding 60lt of water and approximately 180ml of nutes, temps and humidity levels are almost the same as before the change.
The only thing that changed is that along with making the change to the setup I just so happened to run out of nutes, which I bought locally, since my grow shop was out of it (and they are the only one that carry it) I had to purchase it on eBay and had it shipped here.
Even though it should have been the same, I noticed (I might be very well mistaken) that the smell was different, meaning that it wasn't so strong or lingering as before, the solution itself seemed a little more watery but again it might just be me, I never had the old nutes and new nutes at the same time.

The problem.
Ever since I made the change to the new setup, After a day in the res, the nutes kind of turn into a slush or mucus like thing that sinks and sticks to the sides. it's not biological, it just like if the nutes separate from the water and sticks to itself to become this mucus like substance.
You can see this in the video below.

[video=youtube;3f8XnYsEdck]

[/video]

This other video I took right now, the previous was taken one or two days ago. It shows what happens when the water has been undisturbed for a day or two so everything sinks, and what happens once agitated

[video=youtube;MHUmgK3VGoY]

[/video]

So I have three theories on the matter. 1. because I use a larger container, the water doesn't move and circulate as much as before. The airstone creates an updraft that keeps the water moving, but on a larger tank this effect is diminished greatly. Because of this the nutes have the time and space to separate from the water, causing the slush. and 2. even though I'm using the same nute/water ratio as before, the fact that there is actually more nutrient solution is causing this to happen. 3. The bottle of nutrient that I got was either a fake or a bad batch or expired, or old, etc. I don't know.

I lean toward either 1 or 3.

Anyway, the guy at my grow shop (to whom I mentioned the matter) said that he didn't like using organic nutes for hydro system because it does in fact creates this mucus. What annoys me is that I don't seem to able to find information regarding this anywhere. If it does happen to be a very rare occurrence then I may have gotten a bad bottle.
I'm considering changing to a synthetic nutrient, I already did on my veg station because the shop was out of it (Iguana Juice Grow) and so was I and there was no time to order a bottle online. So I switched to AN Sensi Grow 2-Part, I'm thinking about getting Sensi Bloom for my flower side and call it a night with the organics, if the slush is going to be a permanent thing is going to be too annoying and I'd prefer to switch to synthetic (or mineral, not sure what's the most apt name). Perhaps I will even get better results, not that they've been bad so far, but there's a lot of room for improvement.

So, opinions? experiences? basically I want to know if the slush is a common enough occurrence.

Thank you!

 

[Rodrigo]

come on guys, someone must have gone through something like this? I'm starting to lean towards a bad bottle of product.
Plants are growing great nonetheless.

 

[danklover79]

I never used that nute before, but is it organic, or chemical? I tried to use organic nutes in my dwc, and they separated the same way, building up on the side of the res.

 

[Rodrigo]

Yeah it's organic. The thing is it didn't happen before when I was using a res 1/3 the size of this one.

 

[danklover79]

That's interesting, I think it was the guano that stuck to the res in my case, after which I just stuck to FF tiger bloom. My plant did well with the slush also, just bothered me that it was there, lol.

 

[Cultivator]

highly likely its the iguana juice being organic! switch to canna aqua flores/vega or AN ph perfect 3 part for hydro mate.

 

[Rodrigo]

highly likely its the iguana juice being organic! switch to canna aqua flores/vega or AN ph perfect 3 part for hydro mate.

That's what I was thinking about doing. I already changed to AN Sensi Grow for Veg and since I already have the Iguana for the flower res I was gonna finish this cycle with it and start afresh with the next flower cycle with AN Sensi Bloom. Also considering, since I'm already getting off the organic wagon, to start using an enhancer like AN Big Bud.

 

[Cultivator]

if u want to use a boost in flower go with dutch pro explode, trust me on this. ive used so many diff nutes over the years, this boost isnt hard on plants, gives amazing resin production and boosts yield. its pricey but worth it. u can use cheap base nutes but always use quality boosts. big bud would still need to be swapped for overdrive or another final boost product like shooting powder. If U go with Canna aqua line for base nutes it super stable in hydro and its cheap. I would choose AN after that if u cant get it.

 

[Rodrigo]

Selection is very limited where I'm from and I can't import everything. Advanced Nutrients is available here so I think I should go with the Sensi line, as for the enhancers, product availability is even more limited. But Big Bud and Overdrive are both available here, the down side is that both are around $60 each for a 500ml bottle. The upside of this is that they should last me for months because I don't run a big operation and use very little resources.
Thanks for everything.

 

[Cultivator]

no probs mate., just remember, never skimp on boosts. they are usually more expensive because of the quality of phosphorus used. big bud and overdrive is ok, u'll get half decent results with that mate. good luck.

 

[Rodrigo]

half decent results doesn't sound very encouraging hehe.

 

[Cultivator]

haha half decent means good where i come from mate. lol. u'll do fine with it im sure.

 

[Rodrigo]

Great!
Thanks so much.

 

[Perfect Sun LED]

Cultivator knows his hydro.

I always kept it simple with good results, but I recently got fed up with hydro. Too much work. Coco+perlite and organic pellets. Loving the lazy results. No more res changes, yay.

 

[Rodrigo]

Haha yeah it's a bit of a pain having to worry about res changes and water temps and whatnot, but in the end it's worth the effort and it's also part of the fun. Anyway the res changes happen every couple of weeks and in the meantime the timers and pumps take care of the feeding so it isn't that much work.
I still monitor the situation everyday just in case, plus I love to watch them grow and develop.

Anyway, I've decided to switch to Sensi Bloom (weeks 1-7) + Big Bud (weeks 2-4) + Overdrive (weeks 5-7) and two weeks flush for the flowering cycle. Growing organic was..... I don't even know the word, I don't give a shit if it's organic or not hahahaha.
Given that I have a 60lt res, I was thinking I could change it every 3 weeks? I'd still need to refill it (with plain water) once or twice during the 3 weeks period.

So any recommendations for this product?
Am I ok with the 3 weeks water change cycle?
Is this correct? Sensi Bloom (weeks 1-7) + Big Bud (weeks 2-4) + Overdrive (weeks 5-7)

Thanks!

 

[Cultivator]

no u need to change weekly, especially in flower. the plant has high needs and u need to make sure everything it needs is there. 3 weeks is far far too long between changes. weekly at least in flower.

 

[Rodrigo]

I hear you, it's just that if change the res weekly (in veg I do, because I have a very small res, only about 12lt) I'd end up using way too much nutes; 60lt res @ 3ml/l = 180ml weekly (180ml Part A and another 180ml Part B) and the bottles are only 1Lt so I'd need almost two bottles for a single cycle, that's a little out of budget.

The flower room used to have a 20lt res and that was enough for the system to work correctly (E&F) and I changed it weekly. I decided to triple the res size in hopes of being able to triple the period between changes.
I posted about this before committing to a new rest and the consensus was that I was OK changing water every 2-3 weeks with a larger res. I've haven't had any nute/water/root related problem so I thought I was ok. But am aware of the fact that there's much room for improvement.

The system itself doesn't need that much water in order to work (fill the pots and drain back to the res without exposing the pump) So if you are adamant that 2 weeks is too much I'd have to consider getting a smaller res (probably around 30lt) in there so I could change the water every week and not spending that much money on nutrients.
Also I only need to feed 4 plants as that's how many I grow per cycle

What you think.

 

[Cultivator]

yes but u arent factoring that the nutes spoil. 2 weeks is pushing it, but 3 weeks is too much. im not sure who said its ok but trust me i have alot of experience. If its out of budget use diff nutes or use less and change more often mate, trust me on this. U wont see a single bad, plant in my 1000 or so pics ive uploaded here. Whenever anyone gives u advice, check what they are growing first as lots of people talk a good one but they cant back it up.

Could u get away with it? maybe. but i wouldnt do it mate. go back to using a smaller res. 60litre res is about right for a week on 4 large plants, i run 12litres per plant min in flower and change weekly.

 

[Rodrigo]

Got it, and I trust your experience so I'm taking your advice. I'll switch back to a smaller res once I find one that suits my needs and change the water weekly.

My plants are not that big, so far they've been grown to about 65cm tall, the ones I have right now are a little taller but I only have two.
I don't run a big operation as I only grow for myself, normally I get about 50-70g per plant but I'm hoping to do much better, I'm experimenting with LST and so far the technique has proven its effectiveness.
4 plants it's the most I'm planning on flowering at any one time and like I said they're not that big. I'll take some pics tonight when the lights come on and post those so you can see. They are in flower since the 22nd
30 lt res @ 3ml/lt using a 1 lt bottle means that I'd get about 11 weeks worth of product, I can live with those numbers. Do you think that'd be ok?
Also, just to be sure, each bottle of Sensi (A and B) recommends using 4ml/lt. Is it correct to assume that it means 4ml/lt of each part and not a combined 4ml?

Thanks for all your help, reps to you.

 

[Cultivator]

yes 4 ml each but u prob wont need to go that high. i would switch ur nutes up completely. dutch pro explode is by far the best boost ive used, but its pricey. however its simple to use and it goes a long way and it will pay for itself in 1 grow easy. i'd change ur base to canna aqua vega/flores, its cheap and super effective.

start a journal it will help u alot.