Yeah I remember the reviews a good while back about them being excellent. My only issue is they need recharged every so often so you still have to check your pH using a pen regularly. For me that was reason enough not to buy one. If I’m already checking the pH anyway adding a drop or two of pH up or down won’t kill me 
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That’s a good point. Buffering is an excellent tool to control wild or rapid swings, usually indicative of other issues. As an interim fix, valuable. And it’s a really powerful tool. Larry’s thing was way out-of-control and nothing he tried could get it stabilized. He was able to get it under control with some buffering until the root of the problem was corrected (organics in aeroponics).
For the slower moving or relatively normal PH swings value might not be as great but it would be sensible if you have to let it go hands-off for a length of time, out-of-town, etc.
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Hey! Since I can’t comment in your other thread I will comment here. Are you feeding your plants at full strength 5ml Mantis solution per 1L water? I run Coco coir and expanded clay as Mantis loves an inert substrate. It’s recommended to start with a neutral substrate so it won’t be so hot and you can use mantis same rate seed to harvest. I know a lot of people like to use promix HP or FFOF so will tend to do half strength just so the plants don’t get burnt.
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Are some of your plant in just perlite?
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The 4 bigger ones are in promix and are doing fantastic but the smaller ones all all in straight perlite, those are the ones not doing great.
Yes I shake well and mix 5ml per litre from start to finish.
That’s weird it won’t let you post on the other thread, I wonder why.
Forsure! I think you are probably the first person to document Mantis with 100% perlite! I can’t imagine many nutrients doing well in straight perlite unless you have it dialed in like you do with your normal nutrient system. I think because perlite tends to be fairly dusty it might mess with ppm and cause build up. I know it would do well if it was perlite into DWC.
Those 4 in promix are what i’m use to seeing! PH has never been an issue for me using Mantis. To be honest I haven’t used a PH pen in 3 years growing out 30+ strains and have only had one strain that needed a little extra calmag (she was finicky with every step of the process) 
The other group says closed so no new comers 
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Oh that’s my first co op. I didn’t know it worked like that.
I also just started a solo cup challenge and will be using the mantis for that as well. I haven’t started feeding that yet it’s pretty small so I’m waiting a bit to start feeding
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Solo cup challenge! I have been meaning to do one. Just saying, autoflowers work beautifully with Mantis as you don’t have to guess when they switch to flower. Are you using a photoperiod or autoflower?
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It’s a CDLC X DG auto from @Yetigrows. Hopefully I don’t drop the ball on the challenge and get to see the final outcome, it sounds like a good cross
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I think you’re going to kill it!
Yes, for sure always flush your perlite well before using. Recommend using a mask, the dust is dangerous when airborne, like masonry or concrete dust!
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