Remember that maxi precipitation issue I was having? GH just reformulated their calimagic. Shocker,right? :)

I recently stopped using maxi and switched to Jack's 5-12-26 due to continuous unresolved calcium precipitation issues that contaminated my reservoirs endlessly. I tried everything to prevent the problem. RO water. Tap water. Hot. Cold. Don't add PH up until the day of water in. Omit the Armor SI. Mix PH up with a gallon of RO water and slowly add to the reservoir. Rub my tummy and tap my head at the same time while I pray for no precipitation. Nothing worked. Add maxi ONLY to the reservoir and not a single problem. I actually began using a strategy where I would mix my big 32 gallon reservoir full of maxi to hold knowing the maxi would cause me no issues. Then on the water-in days I would pull out however many gallons I needed, and then add my calimagic followed by PH adjustment. I know GH recommends adding the calimagic prior to maxi, but that caused precipitation so the order of adding did not matter. Adding the maxi first at least allowed me to keep a holding res full of fertilizer. In a nutshell the issue seemed to be isolated to the addition of calimagic. No calimagic. No precipitation.

So what's your fucking point jonny? I'm glad you asked. I had to go to the grow shop for some potting soil last weekend. While I was there I saw a bottle of calimagic all shiny and pretty looking. I grabbed a quart. Why? I wanted to get a brand spanking new bottle of fresh stock to run one final test on the holding reservoir. They reformulated the product.

Old formula: Ingredients: CALiMAGic is derived from magnesium nitrate, calcium carbonate, and iron DTPA.



New formula: Ingredients: CALiMAGic is derived from Calcium Glucoheptonate, Calcium Nitrate, Iron DTPA, and Magnesium Nitrate.



So they omitted calcium carbonate entirely and replaced it with Calcium Glucoheptonate. I knew I wasn't bat shit crazy here. The formula was bad, and they changed it as a result. Well, I'm probably still a little off my rocker but the formula was fucked. It had nothing to do with operator error. Changing a formula costs a lot of money in logistics, packaging, and distribution. They don't do such a thing just for fun. In any event I'll be running a 5 gallon bucket of maxi and the new calimagic formula. I'll report back in 72 hours what the condition of the reservoir is. At this fucking point I'll take photos


Edit: I previously incorrectly identified magnesium sulfate as an ingredient in the old formula. The only change is the omission of calcium carbonate which has been replaced with calcium glucoheptonate. The other ingredients remain unchanged.

You just sent everyone running to check their bottle.....
Mine is the glucoheptonate, purchased June 2019.

1212ham said:

You just sent everyone running to check their bottle.....
Mine is the glucoheptonate, purchased June 2019.

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Sorry to alarm you I sent a friend of mine the same message basically. He sent me back a pic of his bottle with the same formula. It's apparently been in circulation for awhile. I'll report back whether or not this formula resolves my precipitation issue.

It took 2 days for the res to produce a substantial amount of particulate. New formula didn't work. Dumped the res. Filled with maxi grow only. I'll add the calimagic on the day of water in until all the maxi is gone for my flower room. I'm going to run 1 more test with maxi grow only at 850ppm for the vegging plants in my nursery. No calimagic. I think maxi has enough in the base fertilizer that calimagic isn't needed. I'm going to test my theory starting tomorrow. If all goes well I'll start doing the same in my flower room. I'll test the maxi only mix for 7 days on the plants in my nursery. If they're right as rain in 7 days then I will confirm calimagic is an unnecessary product. I only ever started using the stuff when I installed my RO system because it was recommended by GH. I'll report back in 7 days if maxi only is doing the job.

jonnynobody said:

It took 2 days for the res to produce a substantial amount of particulate. New formula didn't work. Dumped the res. Filled with maxi grow only. I'll add the calimagic on the day of water in until all the maxi is gone for my flower room. I'm going to run 1 more test with maxi grow only at 850ppm for the vegging plants in my nursery. No calimagic. I think maxi has enough in the base fertilizer that calimagic isn't needed. I'm going to test my theory starting tomorrow. If all goes well I'll start doing the same in my flower room. I'll test the maxi only mix for 7 days on the plants in my nursery. If they're right as rain in 7 days then I will confirm calimagic is an unnecessary product. I only ever started using the stuff when I installed my RO system because it was recommended by GH. I'll report back in 7 days if maxi only is doing the job.

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Huh I've never had an issue with the calimagic precipitating.
I also dont regularly run that line
I'll watch for it next time

*had to edit do and don't because that makes a big difference.. lol
I do not run this line often

Interesting.
It'd be nice, for you, to have some idea of the actual levels of the elements you're dealing with, so you could compare before and after. It's as easy as entering a dozen numbers and clicking "enter" to get a nutrient profile. Then enter the changes you're considering making, and hit "enter" and you'll see how those levels differ.

It's just a reference point Don't fight it, bro.

I don't like that they use two nitrogen containing inputs, either. There's a few types of calcium that doesn't have nitrogen, and magnesium sulfate is completely water soluble and dirt cheap.

You can possibly get a water report for your area, by going to your gov. website and looking for it. It could give you valuable information regarding, Ca, Mg, harness, alkalinity, etc.

ÒÒlegilizeitÒÒ said:

Huh I've never had an issue with the calimagic precipitating.
I also do regularly run that line
I'll watch for it next time

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After 48 hours retrieve a shot glass of water from your res and put it in front of a light. It worsens significantly at 72 hours to the point you don't need light to see all the floaters. Buddy of mine does DWC buckets and he trashed 2 rounds of clones because he was expecting to swap the water at 7 days. Roots and water were so mucked up he had to toss em and start over. Twice. He was convinced it was bacterial growth and I kept telling him it was the cal mag. Bought uc roots and hydrogaurd. Of course neither fixed the problem because it was the calimagic. He switched to flora series. Problem fixed. Calimagic and maxi don't seem to get along in a bubbling res. I grow water to waste. By 48 hours the plants are due for water again. There is no chance for precipitate to form because the plants are immediately drawing it up after watering. I just wish I could keep a dam res of maxi and calimagic stable for 7 days. I now mix maxi only. Add my calimagic on the day of water in.

Starting my clones on lucas formula. 7g maxi bloom start to finish. No calimagic needed. Maxi has 5% calcium and 3.5% magnesium sulfate. Some guys are adding 1g/gallon epsom for heavy mag whore strains, but most just rock the 7g/gallon RO. EC comes out to 1.8 and 872 ppm on the 500 scale.

I am glad I found this post. I have been going thru the exact same thing. I was convinced it was bacterial growth as well, and spend so much time sterilizing my ro holding tank and everything else. I am using ro water, and the new formula of calimagic with jacks. I know jacks isn't designed to be used this way, but it is what I have found works best in veg growing in straight coco. I have been surprised how I can't find others besides this online who have dealt with the same issue. Did you have the same issues with jacks?

lcmon said:

I am glad I found this post. I have been going thru the exact same thing. I was convinced it was bacterial growth as well, and spend so much time sterilizing my ro holding tank and everything else. I am using ro water, and the new formula of calimagic with jacks. I know jacks isn't designed to be used this way, but it is what I have found works best in veg growing in straight coco. I have been surprised how I can't find others besides this online who have dealt with the same issue. Did you have the same issues with jacks?

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No problems with jack's. 3.6/2.4 in veg @ 600ppm. 3.6/2.4/1.1 in flower @ 750ppm. I can hold a jack's res for 10 days without a problem.
Maxi might work fine for growers using tap water, but adding calmag with it for RO causes precipitation every time without fail. Garbage product. I was shocked how little discussion there was online about this. Another fella I recommended maxi to a couple years back had the same problem before I switched to jack's.

I've run a local version of Jacks for years, specifically to avoid problems like these.

www.hydro-gardens.com

I use their hydroponic formula 5-11-26 mix with micros. Use as directed with calcium nitrate, magnesium sulfate and MKP occasionally as needed in bloom.

DONE.

ttystikk said:

I've run a local version of Jacks for years

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Currently there is a nationwide shortage on several nutrients, MKP being the biggest issue. Because of this shortage we are not currently able to make fertilizer. We are doing everything we can to find suppliers of these products to get back to making our amazing Chem-Gro fertilizers. We apologize for this but it is WAY out of our hands. Please be patient and check back later to see if we have found products.

hope they can stay open during this?

rkymtnman said:

Currently there is a nationwide shortage on several nutrients, MKP being the biggest issue. Because of this shortage we are not currently able to make fertilizer. We are doing everything we can to find suppliers of these products to get back to making our amazing Chem-Gro fertilizers. We apologize for this but it is WAY out of our hands. Please be patient and check back later to see if we have found products.

hope they can stay open during this?

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Me too! They have a lot of products and a greenhouse facility on site, and a close read of the website does disclose that they have scrounged up enough MKP for some of their nutrient lines.

They're a tough bunch, I'm sure they've weathered worse.

I need to get back down there one of these days. I always learn a lot from them.

Yeah, i've been out there once just to buy some greenhouse stuff but they seemed like good people

Sounds like your not adding calimagic to your jacks formula? I do fine with that too. I like adding calimagic in veg, but I think I gotta figure something else out

lcmon said:

Sounds like your not adding calimagic to your jacks formula? I do fine with that too. I like adding calimagic in veg, but I think I gotta figure something else out

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Correct. If it's in the base mix at the right ratios, there's no need to add anything else.