Sweetness. So I just got my ferts from Greg Watson, awesome guy to deal with BTW. The ferts I got were Potassium Sulfate, Potassium Phosphate, Potassium Nitrate, and the Platex micro ferts.
I was just wondering, but how do you all store your ferts? I'm not sure which route to take, as I've heard that if you store the fert solution for too long, it will go bad. I've also heard that you shouldn't store them in "open cell" plastic bottles, i.e. soda pop bottles, as bacteria will grow inside the spaces between the plastic. Is this all bull poop? Or should I really go for some medical grade glass jars?
I just use regular glass jars like used for jam and jellies. I think it is sound advice to not let solutions get too old... I saw some fungus growth in a KNO3 solution before.
Glass jars it is. BTW, how do you usually dose? I'm looking for stores out there that sell those mini pipets found in the "Fluorish" bottles, but haven't had any luck so far.
K2SO4 isn't very soluble in water, so it is impossible to make a highly concentrated stock solution like with KNO3. Also, I dose relatively large amounts, like a teaspoon at a time, so it is fairly easy to measure, compared to say PO4 where you need only a tiny amount.
Ah, I see. In any case, I'll have to wait for my test kits to come in first. I know my NO3 is at 0, but as for P and K, I have no idea where they're at. I'm assuming 0, but I've heard that even a small overdose of P will flood the tank with algae .
There aren't any useful test kits for K, so you just dose according to Chucks calculator, for example I am adding 1 tsp weekly, and just cut that down to half dosage just to see what will happen :twisted:
I dose KNO3 and K2SO4 dry. I dose KH2PO4 and Plantex as a solution. I keep the dry stuff in Rubbermaid containers and the solutions in 500 ml medicine bottles I got from a Pharmacy. I also keep the solutions in the refrigerator.
I use baby medicine droppers, 1ml increments to 5 ml, just like a large eye dropper. Find them in the grocery store or maybe a Dollar store.
I store my solutions in glass vitamin jars, I keep the dry materials double bagged in a box under the sink, with a small plastic or glass jar to store maybe 1/4 cup of dry materials so I don't have to dig too deep to make a new solution.
I've begun adding some diluted muratic acid to see if I can keep the Plantex from getting some sort of snot-like stuff in it. Seems to work.
All my solutions are remixed about every month or two so they don't sit around too long.
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