nutrients

[strictly home-grown]

I feed a three part solution to my e/f system, but the problem is when i go to change the water in my reservoir and change out the nutrients, the new ones i put in never fully dissolve (even after vigourisly mixing for 5 min!). So what I did was dissolve the nutrients in VERY HOT WATER, and then mixed it into the reservoir. Does the slightly lower than boiling water alter the chemical balance in the solution???

 

FEEDBACK APPRECIATED

[Luke Skywalker]

It could, heating the solution to that temp could certainly make for problems with solubility and chemistry.

 

Is it a powder nutrient then? I would suggest you change to a liquid if you can, but if you're really determined to use it, then I'd say just add half the amount to be mixed into the water, dissolve, and then after an hour add the other half.

 

That, and ph adjust the water before you add nutes, and afterwards adjust pH again to correct for the nutes. This could help a bit.

 

Running the nutrient pump, without any polypipe on it so it just circulates the nutrients in the tank, can be a good idea. This will ensure that it's well mixed in the tank as you add it.

 

Hope that helps.

[strictly home-grown]

the first element is a brownish-crystally element which dissolves fine, the second element (problem) are tiny pink pellets about half size of a bb round, and the third a liquid form. the second element just seems like it doesnt disslove in room temp water (75) every time i check the reservoir a day later after the nutrient change. thanks for advice, i got an extra pump to circulate the nutrients better, and ill try to dissolve the solution one half at a time........happy smoking

[Tom]

Get an old kitchen wiz or similar and use that to blend the dry nutrients with some water before adding them to the reservoir, I would add them separately so as to avoid any possible chemical reactions too.

 

[Pickle]

Maybe it's some sort of slow release pill... thing.

[Luke Skywalker]

I'd say forget about those nutes, and buy something else.

 

Sounds like the calcium nitrate isn't dissolving, yeah, you could try making that part up into a smaller amount of water and adding that portion that way.

 

But in my honest and humble opinion, just forget about it, and get something else. Plenty of great 1 and 2 part, even three part if you're really that into it, nutrients out there. Too easy.

[strictly home-grown]

sounds about right luke ima just buy a two part solution instead, it just seems all-around easier, thankx for the help.............peace

[Luke Skywalker]

Always happy to do so.