Grow Mediums Heater for reservoir during winter

[McDee]

I think a air stone will do the same thing I ran one in my rez before and didn't see much difference both are doing very similar things.. Breaking surface tension which puts oxygen in the water too..

Bacteria building up is going to happen on anything in a rez ie: heaster, pump, air stone which is why IMO it is a good idea to clean your rez weekly if not bi weekly at most

The air stone would raise pH, at least it does when I bubble it. Whether it's R/O or tap water after bubbling pH goes way up. I try to keep the res low so water is new most of the time. All I do check pH of res if it's higher plain R/O, if it's low I'll add either 1/8 tsp of silica or a drop of pH up. So I can add a gallon every day, or other day. It literally takes a few minutes to add a gallon. The water that's there today won't be tomorrow. So I hope that helps keep growth down.

 

[McDee]

Power cord is 5-6ft and cord from controller to heater is 3-4ft. The heating element is a little bigger then a 5gal bucket, which is kinda a pain since I use buckets as my rez for a couple weeks. But works well in my regular tub
View attachment 1623155

Awesome thanks bud!

 

[Lil Dab]

My concern is with R/O just sitting with no movement. With no chlorine I worry about stagnant water growing unwanted bacteria. I figured moving water is better, plus the silica sitting at the bottom won't get into the plants sitting there.

That's fine just don't run it all the time so it doesn't heat the rez.. I stopped using RO only first I went to using a small amount of calmag to buffer the RO 50ppm then I switched to 50 ppm water soluble gypsum and Epsom salt and now i use Tap/RO blend 75-100ppm and it's the best I've found both ways using calmag and gypsum Epsom worked better then plain RO way less Ph swings..

With that said i would add the calmag to buffer the water then let that mix for 30-60min then add my silica letting that mix at least 1hr over night if possible then the rest of my nutrients..

I am trying to explain a lot and am super stoned bare in mind all of what i have learned about my starting water source has come from @Mañ'O'Green this sums up most of it I believe and I wholeheartedly trust him plus the proof is in the pudding maybe since I tagged him he'll chime in


The history of why I invented stabilizing RO. When I first started using RO It did all manor of weird PH shit to my reservoir when I added it to bring the PPM down in a nutrient mix to the range I wanted. I used RO because it added only water to the mix. But it took copious amounts of up or down to keep PH in range. You know that PH+ Nitric Acid adds nitrogen, PH+ Phosphoric Acid adds Phosphorus to your nutrient mix. When you use large amounts it will change your nutrient balance. Keep in mind I am in hydro and my PPMs would change by as much as 75PPM. This was not desirable. Then I learned that RO water is hungry and will pull Co² out of the air and drop the PH to 5.5 or lower. I read somewhere that adding some base ions would mitigate this action. It can be any metal ion. I started adding a little cal-mag to the RO and Bota Boom Bota Bang it stop hijacking my reservoir PH. Then I discovered that everything mixed better without any precipitation I could see if I used this "buffered" RO. The reason I used 50 PPM of Cal_mag was because that was the lowest number my EC pen could read. Not all Cal_mags are made the same but most are calcium nitrate and Mg nitrate and maybe some iron once again a source of Nitrogen I don't want. Hence my choice of Soluble Gypsum which is Ca and Sulfur, Epsom Salt is Mg and Sulfur. Cannabis can tolerate a lot of Sulfur way more than you are likely to get in any nutrient line. I settled on .3g Soluble Gypsum and .3g Ag Epsom Salt per gallon of RO that gets me close to that 50PPM mark that most meters can read. It works well for me so I teach it.

 

[Lil Dab]

The air stone would raise pH, at least it does when I bubble it. Whether it's R/O or tap water after bubbling pH goes way up. I try to keep the res low so water is new most of the time. All I do check pH of res if it's higher plain R/O, if it's low I'll add either 1/8 tsp of silica or a drop of pH up. So I can add a gallon every day, or other day. It literally takes a few minutes to add a gallon. The water that's there today won't be tomorrow. So I hope that helps keep growth down.

Mine does the same with a pump twice a day I check ph and add some ph up twice a day by the end of the week it's pretty stable and doesn't need much adjusting but then i clean and start over

 

[NORB YIPPLS]

The stir pimp, is that to keep nutrients mixed? That's another thing I wondered about. I know I seen people say not to use a air stones on the res. I seen people say they did anyway and they wished they didn't. So what is the difference between an air stone & a stir pump? I put some silica in my water to help keep pH stable and it settles on the bottom. I want something to keep the water moving is that what the stir pump does?

https://www.autoflower.org/threads/marshydro-tsw2000-grow-with-sawneys-beans.89243/post-2689286

here's the 30 L one I made

 

[McDee]

That's fine just don't run it all the time so it doesn't heat the rez.. I stopped using RO only first I went to using a small amount of calmag to buffer the RO 50ppm then I switched to 50 ppm water soluble gypsum and Epsom salt and now i use Tap/RO blend 75-100ppm and it's the best I've found both ways using calmag and gypsum Epsom worked better then plain RO way less Ph swings..

With that said i would add the calmag to buffer the water then let that mix for 30-60min then add my silica letting that mix at least 1hr over night if possible then the rest of my nutrients..

I am trying to explain a lot and am super stoned bare in mind all of what i have learned about my starting water source has come from @Mañ'O'Green this sums up most of it I believe and I wholeheartedly trust him plus the proof is in the pudding maybe since I tagged him he'll chime in


The history of why I invented stabilizing RO. When I first started using RO It did all manor of weird PH shit to my reservoir when I added it to bring the PPM down in a nutrient mix to the range I wanted. I used RO because it added only water to the mix. But it took copious amounts of up or down to keep PH in range. You know that PH+ Nitric Acid adds nitrogen, PH+ Phosphoric Acid adds Phosphorus to your nutrient mix. When you use large amounts it will change your nutrient balance. Keep in mind I am in hydro and my PPMs would change by as much as 75PPM. This was not desirable. Then I learned that RO water is hungry and will pull Co² out of the air and drop the PH to 5.5 or lower. I read somewhere that adding some base ions would mitigate this action. It can be any metal ion. I started adding a little cal-mag to the RO and Bota Boom Bota Bang it stop hijacking my reservoir PH. Then I discovered that everything mixed better without any precipitation I could see if I used this "buffered" RO. The reason I used 50 PPM of Cal_mag was because that was the lowest number my EC pen could read. Not all Cal_mags are made the same but most are calcium nitrate and Mg nitrate and maybe some iron once again a source of Nitrogen I don't want. Hence my choice of Soluble Gypsum which is Ca and Sulfur, Epsom Salt is Mg and Sulfur. Cannabis can tolerate a lot of Sulfur way more than you are likely to get in any nutrient line. I settled on .3g Soluble Gypsum and .3g Ag Epsom Salt per gallon of RO that gets me close to that 50PPM mark that most meters can read. It works well for me so I teach it.

I'll be get lifted with you soon lol. I'm a little confused tho... do you buffer your water with calmag like Greenleaf calmag+, or are you saying you make your own calmag with .3g of gypsum & .3g epsom salts? To be honest with the NLS they range they say is 6.5-7, the review I saw said as low as 6.3 & no higher than 7.2. My R/O is 6.1-6.2'ish if I add 1/8 tsp of silica or a drop of my pH+ nectar for the gods it goes up to 6.7-6.8 and stays there. When res gets over 6.8 I will just add plain R/O which will lower slightly. I like this spot because it gives room for it to fluctuate without going ober ir under. It was only for a few weeks so I need more time to use to say this will continue to be the case. I could add a calmag since I'm using R/O, but don't have any organic calmag and trying to keep it all organic if I can.

 

[Lil Dab]

I'll be get lifted with you soon lol. I'm a little confused tho... do you buffer your water with calmag like Greenleaf calmag+, or are you saying you make your own calmag with .3g of gypsum & .3g epsom salts?

See told ya I was too stoned But yes to all except I have only used Gl calmag a little bit with MC 1 part... I was using npk RAW when I was buffering my RO water but then I found about about the gypsum and Epsom then switched to using that to eliminate some N.. Now I only use Tap/RO and gypsum for the nutrient mix..

I did the gypsum cal mag mix in soil and felt like it was still considered it organic the amounts are some were talking 50-75 ppm just enough that the RO doesn't go acidic.. @Fermented_Fruitz is the one that actually told me about using it with soil pretty sure he's mostly organic.. We both learned it from MOG though

 

[McDee]

See told ya I was too stoned But yes to all except I have only used Gl calmag a little bit with MC 1 part... I was using npk RAW when I was buffering my RO water but then I found about about the gypsum and Epsom then switched to using that to eliminate some N.. Now I only use Tap/RO and gypsum for the nutrient mix..

I did the gypsum cal mag mix in soil and felt like it was still considered it organic the amounts are some were talking 50-75 ppm just enough that the RO doesn't go acidic.. @Fermented_Fruitz is the one that actually told me about using it with soil pretty sure he's mostly organic.. We both learned it from MOG though

I actually have some organic gypsum and I have like 7-8lbs of epsom salts so I guess I could use that. I wouldn't put anything in, but R/O fluctuates so much.

 

[Lil Dab]

I actually have some organic gypsum and I have like 7-8lbs of epsom salts so I guess I could use that. I wouldn't put anything in, but R/O fluctuates so much.

What's wrong with using some tap water? I use a 3:1 ratio 3 parts RO to 1 part tap my tap is extremely high ppm, high ph, and high alkalinity 300-400ppm 8.4 ph

I don't know anything abut that organic gypsum

 

[McDee]

What's wrong with using some tap water? I use a 3:1 ratio 3 parts RO to 1 part tap my tap is extremely high ppm, high ph, and high alkalinity 300-400ppm 8.4 ph

I don't know anything abut that organic gypsum

I do that too lol. This is the gypsum i have.