Technical Issue My Reservoir Tank gets cloudy all the time (Hydroponics)

[Mañ'O'Green]

Well those are two different chemicals.


The key difference between sodium hypochlorite and hypochlorous acid is that sodium hypochlorite contains a sodium cation and hypochlorite anion, whereas hypochlorous acid contains a proton and hypochlorite anion.

Both sodium hypochlorite and hypochlorous acid contain anions made of oxides of chlorine. Both are inorganic ionic compounds. In these two compounds, anions are similar, but cations are different, which makes them have different chemical and physical properties.

In any case they will both kill all living microbes in a reservoir. This is the line of sterile nutrients I was talking about earlier.

Cultured Solutions Liquid Fertilizers - Current Culture H2O

Current Culture Hydroponic Nutrients formulated from mineral salts, a balanced, high-soluble nutrient solution. Including Veg, Bloom, Bud Booster, COCO Cal

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I have seen commercial grows that use this successfully I just could not make it work in my system at the time. I know a lot more now and maybe could grow that way?

 

[BII]

What is the reason to be concerned about cloudy feed water (if you are mixing and doing things right)?

Plant grow in soil, in dirty water -- don't need clear or 'clean' water. After adding complex mixture base nutes (2 part MC) and maybe some supplements, I'd have absolutely no expectation that the water will remain clear.

Otehrwise, even if some microbes are growing in reservoir water, so what -- this is nothing compared to the microbes natural in soil;. And if anything, as in soil, the microbes are likely to pre-digest, make more available, some fertilizer nutrients.

 

[Cringer]

I mix my solution a lot different with this time ppm the right Way maximum 2-3ppm I bought ppm Tester strips for chlorine.

 

[DoobieGrows]

What is the reason to be concerned about cloudy feed water (if you are mixing and doing things right)?

Plant grow in soil, in dirty water -- don't need clear or 'clean' water. After adding complex mixture base nutes (2 part MC) and maybe some supplements, I'd have absolutely no expectation that the water will remain clear.

Otehrwise, even if some microbes are growing in reservoir water, so what -- this is nothing compared to the microbes natural in soil;. And if anything, as in soil, the microbes are likely to pre-digest, make more available, some fertilizer nutrients.

I know when I see cloudy feed I immediately think precipitate and that the nutrients will not be available to the plant as when precipitate happens it changes the molecular structure of the mix making nutrients into different forms. Atleast that's the way it was teached to me.

 

[BII]

If cloudiness occurs after following instructions for mixing, why consider it a problem? If precipitates were a significant problem, wouldn't everybody know this and we'd be actively filtering them out of our mixed nutes before feeding? I don't know of any popular base nutes that recommend filtering out precipitates after mixing.

I presume some cross-reactions and even some precipitation of salts is normal with complex multi-part base nutes, although often not plainly visible, and is allowed for by the manufacturer. I presume any newly formed cross-reactants and precipitates are likely dissolved or become soluble over time in the medium/soil (with each salt having its own water solubility equilibrium/profile). And with 'soluble" powders like MegaCrop, not absolutely every particle will fully dissolve when mixing. Am I wrong?

Whenever I have precipitates, such as I always had with 2-part MegaCrop, I simply make sure to mix well (resuspend the particles) to feed these at comparable concentration to all the plants. Ignoring all my theoretical commentary/B.S. above, is this practice right or wrong?

 

[DoobieGrows]

If cloudiness occurs after following instructions for mixing, why consider it a problem? If precipitates were a significant problem, wouldn't everybody know this and we'd be actively filtering them out of our mixed nutes before feeding? I don't know of any popular base nutes that recommend filtering out precipitates after mixing.

I presume some cross-reactions and even some precipitation of salts is normal with complex multi-part base nutes, although often not plainly visible, and is allowed for by the manufacturer. I presume any newly formed cross-reactants and precipitates are likely dissolved or become soluble over time in the medium/soil (with each salt having its own water solubility equilibrium/profile). And with 'soluble" powders like MegaCrop, not absolutely every particle will fully dissolve when mixing. Am I wrong?

Whenever I have precipitates, such as I always had with 2-part MegaCrop, I simply make sure to mix well (resuspend the particles) to feed these at comparable concentration to all the plants. Ignoring all my theoretical commentary/B.S. above, is this practice right or wrong?

If your not seeing any negative effects on your ladies then I don't think you are doing anything wrong. It's like you said different nutrients react differently. I use a one part full liquid nutrients that have everything even micros except for silica. And if I get a cloudy mix it's a problem and I chuck it out. I tried to use it on my first grow and had a ton of issues. I was adding the nutrients then dumping in pure concentrated pH up without diluting it and it would instantly cause a cloudy mess.

 

[BII]

If your not seeing any negative effects on your ladies then I don't think you are doing anything wrong. It's like you said different nutrients react differently. I use a one part full liquid nutrients that have everything even micros except for silica. And if I get a cloudy mix it's a problem and I chuck it out. I tried to use it on my first grow and had a ton of issues. I was adding the nutrients then dumping in pure concentrated pH up without diluting it and it would instantly cause a cloudy mess.

OK, so you dump cloudy feed. But for what reason, what's wrong (if mixed properly, not including "dumping in pure concentrated pH up")? The contents, such as total N, P, K, etc. haven't changed even if there was some cross-reacting and precipitation (which surely happens in the medium/soil).

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

@BII Once a precipitate forms it is permanently locked it does not ever become available to the plant. There are some exceptions if the PH gets high or low enough but that is in ranges well out of the plants life zone.

Cloudy does not necessarily mean Locked. If you can see "crystals" falling out of suspension (precipitating) this is locked. Shine a light through the mixture if it looks like diamonds sparkling start over. It can cause a nutrient to become too far out of balance. If it just looks cloudy it is probably ok.

Yes it happens in soil all the time when it gets far enough out of balance and once it is locked up it never becomes available to the plant. the correction happens by adding new ions into the soil in a balanced fertigation.

 

[DoobieGrows]

@BII Once a precipitate forms it is permanently locked it does not ever become available to the plant. There are some exceptions if the PH gets high or low enough but that is in ranges well out of the plants life zone.

Cloudy does not necessarily mean Locked. If you can see "crystals" falling out of suspension (precipitating) this is locked. Shine a light through the mixture if it looks like diamonds sparkling start over. It can cause a nutrient to become too far out of balance. If it just looks cloudy it is probably ok.

Yes it happens in soil all the time when it gets far enough out of balance and once it is locked up it never becomes available to the plant. the correction happens by adding new ions into the soil in a balanced fertigation.

 

[BII]

@BII Once a precipitate forms it is permanently locked it does not ever become available to the plant. There are some exceptions if the PH gets high or low enough but that is in ranges well out of the plants life zone.

Cloudy does not necessarily mean Locked. If you can see "crystals" falling out of suspension (precipitating) this is locked. Shine a light through the mixture if it looks like diamonds sparkling start over. It can cause a nutrient to become too far out of balance. If it just looks cloudy it is probably ok.

Yes it happens in soil all the time when it gets far enough out of balance and once it is locked up it never becomes available to the plant. the correction happens by adding new ions into the soil in a balanced fertigation.

If proper mixing and conditions, such as room and water temp. and water pH, result in detectable crystal precipitation, is this from failure of the nutrients being used? Or is the the grower doing something wrong? How common or rare is outright bad crystal precipitate formation vs. other generally acceptable clouding?

Most precipitation I've seen is more sludge/organic vs. crystals. I associate the cloudiness I've seen with mixed base nutes with their organics content, which can include seaweed extracts, microbes, sugars/carbohydrates, with these less soluble vs. salts and naturally agglomerating together.