The additives made no difference to my yield.
Agreed, get your nutrient delivery dialed in and there is no need for supplements. Any sort of carb based supplement and you're just asking for trouble in hydro, I've tried several and it always ended with an pH that would skyrocket to 7-8 and resist any attempt to bring it down. I'd always end up having to drain the reservoirs and flush the system with R/O and H2O2 to get the system back in the 5.4-5.8 pH range. No more supplements for me.
Also, I'd stay away from Advanced Nutrients, I tried their new
pH perfect Connoisseur two part system, just to experiment with, and it's not stable at all, I went to transfer the part B to my dispensing container the same day I bought it, so many of the nutrients had fallen out of suspension that what was left at the bottom of the original container looked like 2 ounces of rock candy, how they are still in business is beyond me.
I've had good luck in the past with GH 3 part Flora Series, very stable, I haven't had the nutrients drop out of suspension... but I've wanted to get the Nitrogen down in Bloom while still getting enough nutrients, which is hard because their FloraMicro is 5-0-1.
I have since switched to Botanicare's CNS17 Commercial Nutrient System and couldn't be happier. It's cheap, about $22 a gallon, and has all the nutrients you need, including decent levels of Calcium and Magnesium, which means you don't have to supplement with Cal-Mag until you hit the last few weeks of bloom. I have some smaller containers that I'm using up, they are more than a year old and still in full suspension. I just hit my plants with CNS17 Ripe (1-5-4) and within 2 days the buds exploded in size, I will be following this up with CNS17 Ripe/Hydroplex for the last 2 weeks.
This is what my current feeding schedule looks like (attachment). My reservoirs are 24 gallons, and so is my mixing tank, so I have an easy reference chart for both mixing a full tank, or just topping off with 5 gallons. I do adjust with R/O water if my PPMs rise too much, and I keep my pH between 5.4-5.8
My yields have gone up since I ditched the additives, I hit 38.5oz in a 3x6 area (4 week Veg, 8 week Flower) my last grow, from seed. Because of all the pH problems the additives were causing, especially the "Carb" based ones, my previous best for that space had been 22 Oz. Same strain, same lights... and 38.5 oz was from a heat stressed grow... we had several weeks of 100 (f) days with 80% humidity - air conditioning running flat out 24/7, I had each light cycle off for 30 minutes every 3 hours for the 600w's and every 4 hours for the 400w. Temperatures still stayed in the mid 90's, the chiller on my reservoir had trouble keeping them below 78 (f) when it normally keeps them at 65 (f). Summer sucks, and carb based additives suck for hydro.
The strain I was, and am currently, running is a cross between an
Underground Original's Killer Skunk (male) and a
Serious Seeds Bubble Gum (female). The
Killer Skunk male - I chose for it's fast production, It already had dozens of pollen sacs before any of my other
Killer Skunks were even showing sex. The
Bubble Gum was the best cross of bulk and trichome production from the 30 seeds I started with. I also crossed that fast acting male with my best
Killer Skunk mother, The resulting seeds are f2, and I've labeled them
Killer Skunk - Blitzkrieg Edition, I really should try them out... 1st world problems - too many seeds, not enough grow space.
Trichome production is much greater under my 400w Philips CMH MasterColor Retro White than under my 600w HPS Digilux bulbs, where the two lights meet I get the best of both worlds, but the Trichome production is still greatest directly under the 400w CMH bulb.
