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

[Mañ'O'Green]

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.

Bio-films/sludge is a different problem or not. Lots of fermentation are good for organic fertilizers. What we are talking about here is the binding of ions in salts that changes the chemical formula to something the plant can no longer uptake. Water that is high in carbonates is most likely to have problems especially when the PPM exceeds 200 PPM of carbonates but mixing in the wrong order can cause it as well and yes you must mix according to the manufacturer. Old nutrients can cause precipitation because they have dropped out of solution right in the bottle. When you shake it, it sounds like rocks in the bottom. Don't use that. This is why I always preach to choose a single vendor and use their entire line only. Vendors pay scientists lots of money to ensure their products work together. Mix-N-Match is just asking for trouble.

It is a very complex set of interactions that happens between the ions plants need to grow. This is a graph of those interactions.

Where the arrowheads meet is the balance point for ion concentration, the direction of the arrows that don't meet show whether it is antagonistic or complimentary.

This is a simpler chart.

It is complex, thank goodness the vendors hire smart people to make our fertilizers.

 

[BII]

Bio-films/sludge is a different problem or not. Lots of fermentation are good for organic fertilizers. What we are talking about here is the binding of ions in salts that changes the chemical formula to something the plant can no longer uptake. Water that is high in carbonates is most likely to have problems especially when the PPM exceeds 200 PPM of carbonates but mixing in the wrong order can cause it as well and yes you must mix according to the manufacturer. Old nutrients can cause precipitation because they have dropped out of solution right in the bottle. When you shake it, it sounds like rocks in the bottom. Don't use that. This is why I always preach to choose a single vendor and use their entire line only. Vendors pay scientists lots of money to ensure their products work together. Mix-N-Match is just asking for trouble.

It is a very complex set of interactions that happens between the ions plants need to grow. This is a graph of those interactions.


Where the arrowheads meet is the balance point for ion concentration, the direction of the arrows that don't meet show whether it is antagonistic or complimentary.

This is a simpler chart.


It is complex, thank goodness the vendors hire smart people to make our fertilizers.

So if seeing crystalline precipitate formation (that does not dissolve over a reasonable time, say ≤1 hour?) upon mixing, and having done mixing correctly, the nutes are bad, will likely only get worse and should be trashed?

Is crystalline precipitate formation equally bad if this happens after mixing, such as days later in a reservoir? If there is precipitate days later, is it best to then dump and refill the reservoir with freshly mixed nutes? Or over time with mixed nutes storage is some precipitate just normal (with some or all products)?

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

So if seeing crystalline precipitate formation (that does not dissolve over a reasonable time, say ≤1 hour?) upon mixing, and having done mixing correctly, the nutes are bad, will likely only get worse and should be trashed?

Is crystalline precipitate formation equally bad if this happens after mixing, such as days later in a reservoir? If there is precipitate days later, is it best to then dump and refill the reservoir with freshly mixed nutes? Or over time with mixed nutes storage is some precipitate just normal (with some or all products)?

If you see crystals at all something is wrong. I have never seen crystals form in a reservoir after mixing has been completed. This is an over-exaggeration of the crystallization I am talking about.

Perhaps you will better understand reading some one else's perspective.

Mixing Plant Nutrients - How Order Affects Absorption

There are a lot of growers who are unaware how mixing plant nutrients affects uptake and absorption rates. You may not have realized it, but if you don’t mix plant nutrients in the right order, you can cause some to turn to precipitate, and thus they won’t be taken up by your plants. In this...

hydrobuilder.com

 

[BII]

If you see crystals at all something is wrong. I have never seen crystals form in a reservoir after mixing has been completed. This is an over-exaggeration of the crystallization I am talking about.

View attachment 1567099

Perhaps you will better understand reading some one else's perspective.

Mixing Plant Nutrients - How Order Affects Absorption

There are a lot of growers who are unaware how mixing plant nutrients affects uptake and absorption rates. You may not have realized it, but if you don’t mix plant nutrients in the right order, you can cause some to turn to precipitate, and thus they won’t be taken up by your plants. In this...

hydrobuilder.com

I have simply avoided using centralized reservoirs (including manually filling AutoPot reservoirs when I tried these once), but it seems these growers are often complaining about reservoir clouding, clogged lines and filters, precipitates, etc. Is this generally from the organics in the mix?

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

I have simply avoided using centralized reservoirs (including manually filling AutoPot reservoirs when I tried these once), but it seems these growers are often complaining about reservoir clouding, clogged lines and filters, precipitates, etc. Is this generally from the organics in the mix?

Organics is not precipitates. Organics is living microbes and plants (algae etc) don't use organics in pumped hydro.

 

[Cringer]

I have a Ad half the dosage and the Reservoir is Clean so and my Test Strips will arrived soon

 

[DoobieGrows]

@bill

I have simply avoided using centralized reservoirs (including manually filling AutoPot reservoirs when I tried these once), but it seems these growers are often complaining about reservoir clouding, clogged lines and filters, precipitates, etc. Is this generally from the organics in the mix?

@BII This happens when you mix nutrients in the wrong order or use really old nutrients. You don't have to worry about this type of stuff if your running organics.

 

[MrAutoGrower]

Sounds like your water source is bad, or the nutrients are. They crystallise at the bottom of the nutrient bottles usually when they are off. I have used nutrients with a minor form of crystallisation and it got me through but it will cause imbalances and probably a dirty root zone. I like to use sensizym for preventing these sort of build ups and keeping my water/feed clean. I believe there is another enzyme product called hygrozyme. I hear it does better than sensizym but I’ve never used it yet. Sensizym works very well for your case. But check the ppms of your tap water/water source. Or better yet, download a copy of your water report. They usually have water source reports for everyone’s area. If your water is good, just swap nutrients. With advanced nutrients big bud it can cause cloudy water and not mix too great. I assume the same thing is happening with your nutrients. I solve the mixing issue with luke warm water to help them dissolve better. Around 20c.

 

[DoobieGrows]

I just got some hydroguard. I think it is the same type of thing as hygrozyme or sensizyme. I haven't used it yet because I am unsure of how it will tweak my nutrient mix that I just figured out. I put a mil of pH up mix in a gallon of ro water. Add Cal Mag mix add grow/Bloom then 1 gram of Epsom salts.

 

[BII]

I just got some hydroguard. I think it is the same type of thing as hygrozyme or sensizyme. I haven't used it yet because I am unsure of how it will tweak my nutrient mix that I just figured out. I put a mil of pH up mix in a gallon of ro water. Add Cal Mag mix add grow/Bloom then 1 gram of Epsom salts.

Regarding Hydroguard, Hygrozyme and Sensiyme being "the same type of thing,": No, not really! Hydroguard contains a single live (enzyme secreting) bacterium species (Bacillus amyloliquefaciens). Hygrozyme and Sensiyme both contain multiple isolated enzymes, no living microbes. They all do much the same in media/soil, primarily breaking down/digesting plant debris, such as from dead plant cells, roots and other organics in soil, including making these more available as nutrients and preventing root rotting.

But for some reason(?), from what I've seen, Hydroguard and not the others is apparently rather commonly used (apparently works?) more for treating feed reservoir water vs. the medium/soil and plant roots, is associated with keeping reservoirs "fresh," the feeds lasting longer, etc.