I finally got my Jack's RO.
Some very preliminary observations:
The bad:
- Even though I was careful not to buy a mix that contains ammonium nitrate, this stuff is still hygroscopic. It's not as brutally clumpy as Jack's other formulas that do contain ammonium nitrate, but there is still something in there that is doing it to a lesser extent. Could it be the Ammonium molybdate? It was relatively easy to break up into the consistency of soft brown sugar by crushing the bag in my hands for less than a minute, but it could be an issue if someone were to buy one of the large bags. The date on the bag was 2017, so maybe that's a factor too.
The good:
- It mixes beautifully. Clean and clear, with a slight blue-green tint to the water. Highly soluble. Not even the slightest particles on the bottom of my clear plastic testing jug.
- Consistently mixed, in spite of the hygroscopic issues. Measured 1 gallon test mixes were all equal values for EC.
- Stable. The PH test mix has been tested twice a day for PH stability. It's been exactly the same for 3 days.
- My water is close to a PH of 7. Mixing at slightly stronger than their recommended amount takes it to a PH of around 5.8, which is right where I like to be with my Promix. It's not a big deal, but it's nice not to have to care about it. This mix is potentially basic, which I prefer because I'm big on run-off and it's more easy to acidify the Promix if needed. That's one of the main reasons that I bought this high calcium RO formula to test.
-No dust. The upside of the soft brown sugar texture of this mix is that it produces no readily detectable dust when scooping and mixing.
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That's about all for now. Time to do a few testers with it and report back in the future.