hey guys,
For week 1 there's not a lot to mention as far as growth and such. so I'm using this week to explain my home-made HOCl recipe for keeping the life in your hydro buckets to a minimum.
you'll need some distilled or RO water and some Calcium Hypochlorite, you can adjust my recipe to your needs
In this example to create a stock solution of 0.5% chlorine using 67% strength Calcium Hypochlorite, where you want to fill a 2-litre bottle. The calculation for the amount of Calcium Hypochlorite needed is:
(2000x0,5) / 67 = 14,9
So, you need 14.93 grams of 67% strength Calcium Hypochlorite to get a 2L Chlorine bottle with 0.5% strength.
Please be cautious! Even though 0.5% might not seem like much, it is highly corrosive and can cause chemical burns.
Next, you want to dilute the stock solution, which has 5000mg of Chlorine per litre, to 2mg/litre (which is equivalent to 2 ppm). Remember, there are 1,000,000 milligrams (mg) in 1 litre (L). The calculation for the amount of stock solution needed per litre of water is:
(0,0002x1000) / 0,5 = 0.4
So, you need to add 0.4 ml of the stock solution per litre of water to achieve a total chlorine concentration of 2mg/l in your plant buckets. This will help keep your buckets free of bacteria by slowing down growth. Free chlorine dissipates quickly so if you have a case of root rot you could easily use more, like 5-6 ppm, the time it takes for your chlorine to dissipate varies depending on many factors.
Happy growing!