West Coast Chronicles

spyralout

spyralout

🌱🌿🌲🔥💨
Over the years that I've had confirmed hydro buds from random sources, I have mixed feelings. Some stuff that was unconfirmed I suspected to be hydro grown because of a "toilet tank water" smell and taste when smoked. Imagine if you lifted the lid of the toilet tank to jiggle the flap to fix it. There is a smell that is not bad, but distinctly toilet tank water. Compare that to some hydro stuff that has had super tasty and aromatic buds, even more so than some confirmed organic indoor and outdoor grows. In general, soil and coco buds have been better than hydro in that dept. With soil giving an earthy back end. The flavors seem to be a bit more complex. With hydro, if you were told an expected terp profile, then it would smoke and smell almost precisely to that profile if grown with a not-too-aggressive nute feeding. With soil there is an added (good) aspect to the flavor, and it seems to linger longer. I think a good portion of how something tastes is in how you flush. I'm finding that just plain RO water may not be the best. A little flushing agent such as GH Florakleen (mainly citric acid) has helped to remove residual nutes and provide a smoother smoke. My current rdwc harvest has been excellent in the flavor and smell dept. I also have a few soil and coco grown plants harvested that I've sampled that has backed up the earthy and complex statement. The buds were much smaller though.
 
Capt C

Capt C

Saltwater Cowboy
spyralout said:
Over the years that I've had confirmed hydro buds from random sources, I have mixed feelings. Some stuff that was unconfirmed I suspected to be hydro grown because of a "toilet tank water" smell and taste when smoked. Imagine if you lifted the lid of the toilet tank to jiggle the flap to fix it. There is a smell that is not bad, but distinctly toilet tank water. Compare that to some hydro stuff that has had super tasty and aromatic buds, even more so than some confirmed organic indoor and outdoor grows. In general, soil and coco buds have been better than hydro in that dept. With soil giving an earthy back end. The flavors seem to be a bit more complex. With hydro, if you were told an expected terp profile, then it would smoke and smell almost precisely to that profile if grown with a not-too-aggressive nute feeding. With soil there is an added (good) aspect to the flavor, and it seems to linger longer. I think a good portion of how something tastes is in how you flush. I'm finding that just plain RO water may not be the best. A little flushing agent such as GH Florakleen (mainly citric acid) has helped to remove residual nutes and provide a smoother smoke. My current rdwc harvest has been excellent in the flavor and smell dept. I also have a few soil and coco grown plants harvested that I've sampled that has backed up the earthy and complex statement. The buds were much smaller though.
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I was using the Florakleen for a while but i was not sure of it's effect. I could not find any info on the ingredients. I was looking at the safety data sheet and in the ingredients section they did not list anything. How or where did you find that it is mostly citric acid? Also have you noticed a difference after using the Florakleen vs RO water or low tap?
 
spyralout

spyralout

🌱🌿🌲🔥💨
Capt C said:
I was using the Florakleen for a while but i was not sure of it's effect. I could not find any info on the ingredients. I was looking at the safety data sheet and in the ingredients section they did not list anything. How or where did you find that it is mostly citric acid? Also have you noticed a difference after using the Florakleen vs RO water or low tap?
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Based on reports in other forums and that a similar product, botanicare clearex, lists citric acid as one of the ingredients. Also several hydro shop guys claiming they use lemons in water instead, or citric acid canning product. I was gonna use the canning product but my GF convinced me not to do it so florakleen it was lol. So perhaps florakleen may not be citric acid in and of itself, but it likely has similar chelates.

The main difference I've noticed was plain RO made the ph go absolutely nuts. The smoke seemed to be smoother as well. It seemed as though that I had less buildup in the buckets than if it were just plain RO.
 
Capt C

Capt C

Saltwater Cowboy
spyralout said:
Based on reports in other forums and that a similar product, botanicare clearex, lists citric acid as one of the ingredients. Also several hydro shop guys claiming they use lemons in water instead, or citric acid canning product. I was gonna use the canning product but my GF convinced me not to do it so florakleen it was lol. So perhaps florakleen may not be citric acid in and of itself, but it likely has similar chelates.

The main difference I've noticed was plain RO made the ph go absolutely nuts. The smoke seemed to be smoother as well. It seemed as though that I had less buildup in the buckets than if it were just plain RO.
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It's something simple in there or they would list it. Probably is citric acid. Or something else but surely a common product that they do not want you to know. I could not shake that snake oil feeling.lol
 
spyralout

spyralout

🌱🌿🌲🔥💨
Capt C said:
It's something simple in there or they would list it. Probably is citric acid. Or something else but surely a common product that they do not want you to know. I could not shake that snake oil feeling.lol
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All the bottled stuff is mostly water lol. There's a convenience factor involved as well. I could use plain citric acid and see how it goes but not with my main crop, maybe try it out on one F&D tote or a mini tote.
 
Capt C

Capt C

Saltwater Cowboy
spyralout said:
My plain RO in the bedroom is about 6.6 so yes it takes it down to about 6. Garage RO is above 7.0 and I have yet to try it in there. I really need another ph/ppm meter. Just borrowing it from the RDWC while it's down.
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I might be wrong but i thought that RO water was a bit unstable in the PH department. Meaning that you almost have to add something to it to get a stable PH reading. Maybe some others could chime in on this . Who would have thunk that h2o could be so complicated.
 
spyralout

spyralout

🌱🌿🌲🔥💨
Capt C said:
I might be wrong but i thought that RO water was a bit unstable in the PH department. Meaning that you almost have to add something to it to get a stable PH reading. Maybe some others could chime in on this . Who would have thunk that h2o could be so complicated.
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It is very unstable. It takes just a tiny but of ph up or down to change it drastically, vs tap I need to use 10x more to change the ph a couple of tenths of a point. Then it rises fast. Some people recommend adding tap at 20% to have a buffer. I find that the nutes have worked just fine for me (except megacrop has had weird diving ph in deep flower). I've had my bluelab guardian probes in a jar of water plugged in 24/7 and the ph is 7.2 in the garage, hasn't moved.
 
Capt C

Capt C

Saltwater Cowboy
spyralout said:
It is very unstable. It takes just a tiny but of ph up or down to change it drastically, vs tap I need to use 10x more to change the ph a couple of tenths of a point. Then it rises fast. Some people recommend adding tap at 20% to have a buffer. I find that the nutes have worked just fine for me (except megacrop has had weird diving ph in deep flower). I've had my bluelab guardian probes in a jar of water plugged in 24/7 and the ph is 7.2 in the garage, hasn't moved.
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I know the RO is the best to work with as i have run them in the past. My tap is a little under 100 ppm. So far so good. I am running the water i use through carbon and sediment that i only replace once a year. So its a economical way to go. That 100 ppm does get included when mixing nutes though.
 
spyralout

spyralout

🌱🌿🌲🔥💨
Capt C said:
I know the RO is the best to work with as i have run them in the past. My tap is a little under 100 ppm. So far so good. I am running the water i use through carbon and sediment that i only replace once a year. So its a economical way to go. That 100 ppm does get included when mixing nutes though.
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If I had that I would use tap too. I break 250 and it wreaks of chlorine (& chloramine?)
 
Phylex

Phylex

PICK YOUR OWN
Capt C said:
I might be wrong but i thought that RO water was a bit unstable in the PH department. Meaning that you almost have to add something to it to get a stable PH reading. Maybe some others could chime in on this . Who would have thunk that h2o could be so complicated.
Click to expand...
I add 20ml of Cal/Mag per 5 gallon to RO for the F&D and 10ml per 5 gallon for my tap water that I use on soil. Like you @Capt C I use a charcoal filter that's attached to the end of my garden hose. I also always mix to include the total ppm as well. (y)
 
Capt C

Capt C

Saltwater Cowboy
Phylex said:
I add 20ml of Cal/Mag per 5 gallon to RO for the F&D and 10ml per 5 gallon for my tap water that I use on soil. Like you @Capt C I use a charcoal filter that's attached to the end of my garden hose. I also always mix to include the total ppm as well. (y)
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That is exactly what i am adding to my tap water 2ml per gal then i add the megacrop. Mostly because i am on the v2 of megacrop ( i think.lol ). It is my understanding that the v3 just has a higher content of cal-mag.
 
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