TLDR: My Monosilicic acid creates a foam on top of the water and where the roots sit in the foam it's creating a light brown film on the roots They seem to be fine once they get through the foam. Should I be concerned? Does anyone use a monosilicic acid that doesn't foam up in their res? I'm currently running two 5 gallon dwc buckets and using cronk nutrients Armor Armadillo (monosilicic acid that says it can be used in hydroponics) as the first thing I add to my nutrient mix. I add it to the whole 3 gallons of RO water and stir vigorously for a minute or 2 every 5-10 minutes over an hour or 2 period. The foam is present everytime I stir but quickly disappears once I quit stirring. Once air stones are introduced it's a different story though. Then I add cronk cal-mag. Week 2 I added a small dose of veg nutes also (floraflex in one, cronk nutrients bonnie in the other) I noticed it caused foam in the first reservoirs I made up at .50 ml/ gallon so for my second batch I only used .25 ml/ gallon and still had roughly the same amount of foam. I also add a heisenberg or "compost tea" to my res once everything has been added and mixed (made no difference with the foam) then I ph to roughly 5.8. Anyways, i wasn't terribly concerned until roots finally made it to the water. Where the foam is on top of the water and the root meets the foam, it's leaving a light brown residue. They seem to be fine once they get below the layer of foam and into the water. But I'm concerned it will turn into something worse once there's a whole root mass hanging there. Does anyone use a monosilicic acid product in their dwc that doesn't cause foam? I've considered giving it only by foliar feed but I won't be recieving the full benefit and that will have to stop a week or 2 after pistols develop too. I'd like to use it through most of flower since trichomes are primarily made of silica (I believe lol) These pictures are from Tuesday. Last res change was Saturday. The foam is always a little more aggressive in the first 2 days or so. The foam usually covers more of the res too but it's pushed back a bit because of the air stones being closer to the surface. Thanks in advance for any advice, tips and pointers!
Welcome aboard....I don't even need to see the plant. It's gotta be healthy from the looks of them roots. I did bubbler tubs years ago and used the other silica. Worked well. I'd had roots turn a little using additives but they never changed in a negative way. Under the hood looks great. I'm kinda wondering what everything else looks like.
Thanks for the response! Definitely makes me feel a little more at ease lol. The roots in the post above showed themselves on day 4. The other ones roots poked out of the net pot on day 6. I'm trying to take a picture everyday so I'll update with another post in an hour or 2 with both plants and the other roots.
The top pic is from the roots in the original post. The bottom 2 go together. The long root just reached water in the other bucket and has the brown now too. Look ok for day 9 from sprout? Either a lot of people lie about their timeframes or I feel like I'm a little behind lol. These are autoflowers by the way.
They look great for 9 days. They'll take off when them roots get going. Ya get some rapid growth in them buckets.
Awesome! Appreciate the input again. You've helped put my overthinking mind at ease... for a few days at least haha
Looking good for 9 days, plant is focused below the ground at this point, not much happened above ground on mine for the first 14 days then suddenly they blew up, 952g from 5 autos
That's awesome and definitely encouraging to hear! Tomorrow marks 2 weeks above ground. One is starting to take off the other is a little slower. They got a res swap with fresh nutrients today. I'll post some day 14 pics tomorrow!
Autos seem to take their sweet time at first. But they usually come out of that fast with their short veg cycle. They don't give much room for error either with the short life.