sulfur or calcium precipitation?

I've been seeing precipitation when i mix my nutes... you would think, OK figure it out... but sometimes it happened when i add sicilic acid, sometimes when i add pk booster... sometimes when i add A or B...

im not totally sure its sulfur but the rooms smell like egg farts so I'm assuming so.

the whole process started for the first time when i used H2o2 to clean the res's then start clean.


im gonna try mixing next time much slower and dilute before i add to the res, hopefully that will help but does anyone have any experience with this?

Softened Well water Turned into RO. older membrane and filters so i get 4ppm water rofl...
rez temp is 65 in the big one with the rez chiller and 69 in the 3 smaller res's without chillers.

nute list is
GH Cocotek A and B
GH Liquid koolbloom
Great white
buddhas tree sicilic acid
terminator
and liquid W8 to feed the Great white (had some brown shit i had to fight off a couple weeks ago hence the cleaning and I'm now running the great white IN REZ)

anything look like it should be reacting? base was at 600ppm when i added the koolbloom this time and POOF smokey rez... other times it happens when i add the sicilic acid last.

from when I'm reading it should redissolve and it will be ok but should i add a little cal mag in the meantime?

is it sulfur or calcium or both somehow?

HGK420 said:

other times it happens when i add the sicilic acid last.

Click to expand...

i think Si should always be added first.

HGK420 said:

I've been seeing precipitation when i mix my nutes... you would think, OK figure it out... but sometimes it ?

Click to expand...

my nerdy ass is picturing Venus and it's gnarly rainfall of pure sulfuric acid
that's the reason why venus is the brightest "star" at night..
um..
anyways...

rkymtnman said:

i think Si should always be added first.

Click to expand...

see I've heard both ways. i use the sicilic acid so idk if it will still act the same as normal SI. also I've gotten precipitation from the PK booster BEFORE i add the Sicilic acid. before this any precipitation issues I've had were all SI and CaMg related and i assumed this one was too but i just don't know now. the sulfur smell, which smells like sulfur when the softener is out of salt, so could it be something thats in me well water that is getting through now that my membrane and filters are old?

greasemonkeymann said:

my nerdy ass is picturing Venus and it's gnarly rainfall of pure sulfuric acid
that's the reason why venus is the brightest "star" at night..
um..
anyways...

Click to expand...

All that nice reflective gas to brighten it up!

HGK420 said:

see I've heard both ways. i use the sicilic acid so idk if it will still act the same as normal SI. also I've gotten precipitation from the PK booster BEFORE i add the Sicilic acid. before this any precipitation issues I've had were all SI and CaMg related and i assumed this one was too but i just don't know now. the sulfur smell, which smells like sulfur when the softener is out of salt, so could it be something thats in me well water that is getting through now that my membrane and filters are old?

Click to expand...

Hi, is the salicylic acid supplied for agricultural use? or did you get it from the pharmacy and add it to your recipe just for the sake of adding silicon somehow? I ask because I never witnessed salicylic acid being used as a source of Si, potassium silicate is in GH ferts, but if salicylic acid can be used safely, I have easier hold of it, as i can simply buy it from the pharmacy, thanks

zem said:

Hi, is the salicylic acid supplied for agricultural use? or did you get it from the pharmacy and add it to your recipe just for the sake of adding silicon somehow? I ask because I never witnessed salicylic acid being used as a source of Si, potassium silicate is in GH ferts, but if salicylic acid can be used safely, I have easier hold of it, as i can simply buy it from the pharmacy, thanks

Click to expand...

I've been using Budhas tree Silicon. its supposed to be like mills, all nano like. the science is supposed to be that the nano particles are easier absorbed as silica particles can get pretty big.

i wouldn't spend the money on Mills silica just to say "I'm using nano" but Budhas tree is substantially cheaper then Mills so i figured it was worth it. my gardens doing better then ever, mind you this isnt the only change this go round but its one of the main changes I've made, all these changes together have improved the garden

I've also just learned that my Flower burst PK booster by buddhas tree has 5% sulfur in it. thats quite a bit. my base has 2%.

any ideas as to why its precipitating?

If you can....try passing the non softened well water through r.o. filter. Add about 0.2 or 0.3 EC of Calimagic. Wait a few hours. Next Add about 1.5 ml. Per gallon of your silica (you can dilute this in a pitcher of same water or big jar - try and use warm water). Stir really well. Wait again - 24 hours would be nice. Mix base nutrient to target EC. Stir well. Wait. Add pH down or up (prolly down because the alkaline silica and r.o. water with added cal carbonate.). Wait. Check with a freshly calibrated and clean meter. Adjust to taste. Feed plants. I know it sounds like alot of stirring and waiting. But it should work with zero precipitate. Or just nix the silica all together. Its not essential. Growers been growing great dope without it for decades. Good luck.

I'll assume that your pH isn't screwed up. So first, remember that solubility in water is a function of temperature. At 65F, you can hold about 1/3 of the salts that water near boiling can hold. With that in mind there are always two possibilities when you see precipitation. Either something isn't soluble at that temperature or something is reacting to form a compound that is way too big to ever stay in solution.

That is strict chemistry... The reality is that you may well have components that are just crap and there are insoluble constituents.

I'd suggest that you put each of your major components into a hot stock solution on their own and then let them cool off. If any part never goes into solution then you have your answer. Given the solubilities at equilibrium and which components are usually low quality, your likely culprits are either the calcium or the silicon.

Last thing I'd point out is that the pH adjustment chemicals are much more reactive then anything else you are likely to be using. It should be added very very slowly and in as dilute of a solution as is possible.

-Eskander

Eskander said:

Last thing I'd point out is that the pH adjustment chemicals are much more reactive then anything else you are likely to be using. It should be added very very slowly and in as dilute of a solution as is possible.

Click to expand...

This. Can't say if it is the root of your problems, but I know it is something that I often contend with when changing my water. Add a drop of ph-up, get a whole mess of crystals crashing out of the solution. It's maddening, really.

Doesn't hurt anything to do a 1/10 or 1/100 dilution of the pH up and down in RO water. It is going to be easier to measure consistently dilute anyway.

-Esander