Greenleaf Nutrients MEGA CROP Q&A/Support/Pictures/Feedback/Anything thread

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#716

Very interesting thanks, learned something new. I wonder if I am aerating it too much for how small of a container it is in. My tap water is very soft the website says 30ppm total hardness. it comes out of the faucet around pH 9. After adding the nutrients it comes down to around 6.5 and then I add pH down to get it to 5.7-5.9. So the reservoirs need aeration and Ph down but aeration and pH down cause the pH to slowly drift up haha always something new. Gotta love it.

About the precipitation, I have only had it happen once, it was very very soft and brown coloured. Settled on the bottom but would float around with any agitation. I water with a 1 inch thick hose so I just gave it to the plants anyways.

Edit: that mes seems interesting. So adding some of that to my res would stop or significantly slow down the pH climb? Would love some more info on where to get it/ how much to use. pretty sure its used in that pH perfect advanced nutes line.

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#717

We have soft water mate.
You not remember the kid in the growshop that looked like Lurch telling you.

You having a couple beers?

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#718

We have hard water mate. I checked via my postcode.

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The kid in the grow shop was from a different area to us so likely different water provider.
Aye I’m sat having a few beers. :+1:
Got to be careful what I’m spending at the minute though.

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#719

I only see this if I let a sample sit undisturbed. Its brown and soft - not gritty at all. My water and my whole environment is filled with algae/mold/etc as I live in the middle of a literal rain forest. We get close to 50" of rain a year and Im surrounded by 100ft tall pines, firs, etc. The ‘soil’ where I live is 99% decomposing pine needles, pine cones, and bark.

If Im not careful about keeping light out of my rez, I get growing crap in the rez. Sometimes it brown and sometimes its faintly green. This stuff - which Im pretty sure is different types of algae - coats everything in the system and is difficult to kill.

When I keep the light out, and aerate the system or even just stir it occasionally (Im running a circulating pump in my system 2 minutes every hours right now), I have no issues at all.

If I keep the system sealed up and dont aerate enough, I get nasty smelly water after a few days.

I am quite certain this is mainly due to my water quality. Mega crop may have some stuff in it that settles out over time, but the vast majority of people will be stirring or aerating their rez, so it shouldnt be an issue.

By the way, I also got crap settling out when I tested AN liquid nutes, and Fox Farms liquid nutes by just letting them sit in a jar, so this is not just a Mega Crop thing. In fact the instructions for both state that you must shake well before use, so they know all about it. Even hi end $$$ nutes have stuff that is not 100% dissolved.

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#720

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This is my old reservoir. The white chalky stuff is caked on pretty good. My pump and lines also were just like this requiring a scrub brush to clean the impeller.

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#721

Take a look at the following thread, re: Effect of MES and other buffers, when to use, etc:

Most applicable as a stopgap solution.

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#722

Greetings. I’ve been a customer for years. Am I eligible for a sample of the new formula? I just ordered yesterday. Lol Thanks for hanging around…

:cowboy_hat_face:

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#723

A white chalky residue is almost certainly just normal hard water deposits/calcium etc. When I have let a mason jar of mixed up mega crop dry out, it left a dark brown residue. Mega Crop is a mostly brown powder and the liquid it forms when mixed is also brown, so brown stuff is what will be left when you remove the water again.

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#724

This is from Mega Crop? This is a bit different than previously, this is most likely Calcium/Gypsum (from a combination of hard water and also Mega Crop calcium). Usually I have seen this happen in some of our test systems, when you dump the powder nutrients into the tank, they immediately fall to the bottom and then kind of get “stuck” on the bottom in a small white layer. Most of the rest will dissolve out, but the bottom layer sticks a bit. A good solution for this is to “stir” the Mega Crop in, or give the tank a good stir immediately when you put the nutrients in. Based on your picture, there seems to be concentrated white powder/residue in a very specific spot in your tank, so I assume this is where you actually initially dumped the MC, and part of it didn’t dissolve all the way. So as I mentioned a good solution is to stir it in for the first minute or so, so nothing gets a chance to settle.

If the white residue/layer was move evenly distributed, then I would say its a hard water issue, but since it seems to be focused in a spot where I guess the nutrients were initially dumped, then I think it just didn’t dissolve immediately properly.

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#725

Hello, there is a coupon on the site that has a 1 time use for free 500g. Have you used it yet?

We are working on a separate promo now as well.

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#726

I have my cart ready to order. If I order now, do I get version 3 of megacrop? Is the sweet candy and bud explosion updated? I noticed magnesium in the bud explosion. My current seeet candy is pink and white with the small solid pieces. @GreenleafNutrients

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#727

I have no idea what version of MC I have, is there any way for me to tell? Does it even matter lol? I got it from Amazon Canada 2 months ago. I bought the whole lineup.

anyways I I been testing it out on a single clone which I have 13 other copies of. I’m about 3 weeks into flower, so far so good. :thumbsup:

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#728

As promised a picture of the empty rez showing the residue.

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Other than tap water and megacrop I add a little food grade Epsom at half teaspoon per gallon (if they look like it’s lacking in mag) and little vitalink P.K once into full bloom (1ml per litre)
I use Growth Technology P.H down to drop the P.H levels.
The solution is constantly aerated 24/7
Temperature of the solution sits at 70f
I do admit to adding a little pool shock to the rez when the temperature rises to keep pathogens at bay. Not had to do that in a good while though. Usually just at the height of our British summer.

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#729

You have the 2nd update release 12/2018

This helps. Here is my best guess. If you look at the pictures its a brownish “sludge.” If you mix Mega Crop right away, it will dissolve pretty fully and not have sludge, especially that you mentioned running at hotter temperature which encourages microbes. What is happening here most likely, is some type of bacteria/algae that forms over time and is generating sludge residue in the tank. Mega Crop has organics in it that bacteria can feed off of, so its slightly more prone to this type of thing compared to a pure mineral/synthetic nutrient.

Its not too much of a problem since this type of thing usually wipes off easy and will not damage pumps (in the way that a calcium or hard water buildup could). You should be able to control it by using normal bacteria control methods from the start (chlorine?).

Also, what orientation do you use your pump in? It should be sideways optimally to help have circulation on the bottom of the tank, this might help prevent buildup also.

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#730

Yeah I use pool shock (chlorine) when the temperature rises to control algae etc. It’s a lot cooler here at the moment so I’ve not needed to use it as of late. 70f is ok to run without it being sterile. When I mix megacrop up I mix a strong dose in a 2 litre jug with hot water to ensure it fully dissolves then add that solution to the rez a little at a time until I get to the required ppm/ec level. There really shouldn’t be a residue like I’m seeing doing it this way unless the organic matter within the solution is able to bind together somehow over time as when it’s first mixed it seems fine. It’s really gritty. Kind of like fine sand you’d find at the beach.
It’s a gravity system so no pump other than the air pump that I use to keep the solution aerated and full of oxygen.

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#731

You said you had a pump that you were worried would clog. An air pump operates outside the tank so now I am a bit confused?

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#732

I’ve got a new RDWC system for my next run. I paid a lot of money for it. I plan in installing it in the coming weeks. It uses a submersible pump and an air pump together. I’m worried as the submersible pump has to draw the solution through it that the residue will cause me issues

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#733

If its one of the aquatech aquarium pumps I wouldnt worry. They work fine even in nasty water conditions. Plus, they dont have any tight tolerance bearings to wear out.

Ive been doing the same thing. I run at really low EC levels in my aeroponic system - like 0.4 right now. I only have a 9 gallon rez at the moment, so I only add a few grams when I re-fill the rez. Its hard to be sure you’re getting a good mix of ingredients when your measuring out 1/4 teaspoons full at a time.

This last time I mixed up about 20 grams on MC into a quart jar and have been using that for several weeks. I keep it in a closed cabinet when not in use to keep the light off it.

Apparently, it got some bacteria in the jar and they went nuts. I was in a rush Friday am to top off the rez before going to a surgery appointment and noticed some floating blobs in the mason jar as I was adding the mega crop mix to the newly filled rez, but I had to leave. When I got home yesterday, the rez smelled bad and the water was cloudy. I had to do an emergency drain and rinse with strong chlorine and re-fill. When I looked closely at the jar, I could see blobs of something floating in it and the jar smelled really bad with a strong almost alcohol smell and the color was off. I didnt think to take any pics until after tossing it.

Anyway, this pre-mixing technique has worked ok for me for a long time until now. The main difference is this last batch sat longer because I have been using less and its been stored in a hot cabinet this summer. All my other grows have been in winter, so I think the heat may be a factor in speeding up bacterial growth. This jar was also made with some of my left over V1 Mega Crop and the package has been opened and closed for close to two years. Based on the smell, I dont think the dry mega has gone bad, but its hard to tell its so strong anyway. Or I may have contaminated the jar maybe. I do live in a rotting rain forest with mold and algae spores everywhere. My soil is a compost heap of pine needles.

Anyway, next batch I mix up is going to get a dose of chlorine in it and stored in the fridge between uses.

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#734

The only time Ive seen anything like that was when I had light getting into my rez and/or the pipes that were white. This stupid algae crap can grow when there is very little light and there are dozens of types - brown, yellow, green, red, etc.

How does your rez look when its first mixed up? My nute water is stained, but clear if that makes sense - brownish colored but not cloudy. You can see the bottom of the rez clearly. When it gets bacteria or algae growing/infecting it, it turns cloudy, and is difficult to see through…

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#735

The submersible pumps really are not expensive to replace but at times my plants don’t get checked for up to 5 days at a time hence my concerns about blockages and failures. As they also get left to just grow themselves I need to figure out a solution for the ph drift. I know I expect a lot but my aim is to set and forget and not constantly worry. :v:

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