Perfect Sun LED
Well-Known Member
Hey, learn how to make your own high-quality bottled nutrients. This formula is similar to Flora Nova Bloom, which you can use for both veg and bloom. Maybe, I can give a Grow Formula if enough people request it. But honestly, you can use this for the whole grow.
We will be making this from raw salts, NOT from some premix like Masterblend.
This is not the formula I use for my Perfect Nutrients, but it is a formula that works well and if you buy the right ingredients, it will be high quality. Making nutrients is a pain, so I know not everyone will want to do this, but I have done all the math for you. BTW, if you would like to learn the math equations and logic so you can formulate your own nutrients, let me know. If I get enough replies, I can make a post for it.
Before we get started, there are some things you need to know. We will be making a part A and B. This is for a few reasons. Different minerals have different solubility in water. Sulfates, for example, take a lot of water to fully dissolve the salts. Because of this, one of the bottles would use up all the solubility and would no longer dissolve salts.
Think of it like this. Every liter of water can only dissolve so many minerals. Once the water reaches its max solubility, then it will not dissolve any more minerals. This means you would have a bunch of undissolved minerals at the bottom of your bottle.
Another reason is that Calcium doesn’t mix well with phosphorus or sulfur, thus, we have to separate them. To get them to be stable in one bottle is not easy and requires a low PH.
Disclaimer: Handle everything with care. This is for education purposes only. Make it at your own risk and use protection like a protective mask and gloves. With that out of the way, these are salts, so they do not create dust. The only exception is the mico mix.
Minerals you will need. You can buy these on Ebay by the pound, but I recommend buying 5 pounds to bring the price down. That might seem like a lot, but we will be using about half a pound of Calcium Nitrate to make 1 liter. However, you will save more money per bottle if you buy them by 20 pounds or 50 pounds, but the up-front cost will be a lot more. Either way, even if you buy them by the pound, you will save about 50% per bottle of nutrients and you will be making a better quality than General Hydroponics.
To give an example of the price difference. 1 pound of Yaralive Calcinit is $11.40 on Ebay but 5 pounds is $20, thus only $4 per pound. 2 pounds is $14, so $7 per pound. This will affect the price of the final bottles you make.
To really put that into perspective, the amount of Calcium Nitrate we use will be 210g per liter, this means that if you buy it at $12 per pound, the 210g we need to add to part A will cost $5. But if you buy 5 pounds at $20, thus $4 per pound, then that same 210g only costs $1.85.
I recommend buying Yaralive or Haifa Group brands. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find Yara or Haifa for each of these in lower amounts on Ebay or Amazon. For example, Magnesium Nitrate is hard to find in lower amounts, but I did find a brand that is water-soluble. To get Haifa magnesium nitrate, you will need to buy a 50-pound bag. Keep in mind the shipping price is more expensive than the bag itself. If you live near a place that sells it, pick it up locally.
Just make sure you get water-soluble products. Do not buy greenhouse grade.
Part A
Calcium Nitrate (yaralive calcinit)
Magnesium Nitrate ( This one is really hard to find and I cannot link to sites, so just search for 1lb of magnesium Nitrate aquarium. It is $3.50 a bag but shipping will be about $11, so around $15 for a pound. We don’t use much of this so, the price stays low per liter you make. If you can affording to pay more upfront, then find a 50lb bag of Haifa magnesium nitrate.)
Part B
Monopotassium Phosphate ($19 on Ebay if you buy one pound or $9 if you buy 5 pounds at $45)
Magnesium Sulfate (Epsome Salts) Ebay for $2.8 per pound if you buy 5 pounds, brand PowerGrow
Plant Prod Mix (Chelated Micronutrients)
Sodium Benzoate (preservative) Amazon just buy 8 oz for $10
We will only need 0.2g of Sodium Benzoate per liter of water, so this will last you a long time. The Micronutrient mix will last a long time as well as we only need 14g per liter. This means 1 pound will make you 36 liters.
Here is the formula. I list the mineral, then the percent, then the number of grams per liter of water. This is to make 1 liter. If you want to make a gallon then multiply the grams by 3.8, so 210x3.8=798grams.
Something important about the percentages of Phosphorus (P) and Potassium (K). We are measuring the forms P2O5 and KO2 because that is what is listed on nutrient bottles. If you ever need to convert the P2O5 to P, it is P2O5 x 0.43, so P2O8 at 8% is 8 x 0.43 = 3.44% of P (phosphorus).
To convert KO2 to K is KO2 x 0.83, so KO2 5.2% is 4.3%
This means that a 4 – 8 – 5 is actually 4 – 3.4 – 4.3, thus it actually has more potassium than phosphorus.
Part A
Calcium Nitrate: C 4% - 210g per L (We get N 3.26% from this)
Magnesium Nitrate: Mg 0.52% - 54.1g per L (We get N 0.56%)
Part B
Monopotassium Phosphate: P2O5 8% - 153g (We get KO2 5.2%)
Magnesium Sulfate: Mg 1.5% - 155g (We get S 2%)
Plant Prod Micros Mix: 0.1% Fe – 14.2g (Gives us the right balance for growing, based on 0.1% Iron)S
Sodium Benzoate: 0.02% - 0.2g
Be sure when measuring the Sodium Benzoate, you are only measuring 0.2g, which is not 2 grams, it is a fifth of a gram.
WATER: you need to use R/O or Distilled water.
And now how to mix the salts properly so they all mix up. It is important to know the solubility for each ingredient so you know how much water will be needed to mix it well.
So for part A, the magnesium nitrate has solubility in water 71.2 g/100 ml (25 °C) and calcium nitrate has 121.2 g/100 ml (20 °C)
Now, this is at about room temperature. If you bring the water to a boil, it will dissolve more and it will dissolve it easier. I highly recommend bringing the water to a boil for the magnesium sulfate. As you can see, calcium nitrate takes more water to dissolve than magnesium nitrate does.
We are using 210 grams of calcium nitrate for 1 liter of water. This means 210g / 121g x 100ml = 173ml of water is needed to dissolve 210 grams of calcium nitrate.
And we will use 54g of magnesium nitrate so 54g / 71.2 x 100ml = 75.8ml of water is needed to dissolve the magnesium nitrate. So we need at least 248ml of water to fully dissolve everything in part A. Not a problem because a liter has 1000ml. You can actually mix this with room temperate water.
If you fill up to only a quart, that is fine because that has 946ml.
So fill up your 1-quart bottle with distilled water or R/O water, then pour that into a beaker or something to mix in. A magnetic stir works great. Measure out the calcium nitrate on a scale. Put a bowl to cup or beaker on the scale, tare it to zero it out, then measure the 210grams.
Add that to the water and stir well. Calcium nitrate dissolves rather quickly. It should only take a few minutes before the water becomes clear and there is no more salt at the bottom. Then measure the magnesium nitrate the same way and add it to the water and stir.
Pour this into your final bottle and shake it up well to help dissolve faster.
Be sure you are getting all the salts out of the cup you are measuring in before measuring the next ingredient.
That is it for part A. It doesn’t need a preservative. This will last pretty much forever.
Now mix part B.
First, here is the water solubility of the main ingredients that matter.
Magnesium sulfate 35.1 g/100 ml (20 °C) – Takes 441ml of water
Monopotassium Phosphate 22.6 g/100 mL (20 °C) – 676 ml water
We ran into a problem. 676 + 441 = 1117ml which is more water than we have in a liter. This means this water will not dissolve all the minerals. We have a few options. We can reformulate to use less magnesium sulfate and more magnesium nitrate or we can make 3 parts.
If we add the monopotassium to part C, a third bottle, then everything will dissolve perfectly. Then when you make a batch to water your plants, you measure an equal amount of A B and C instead of just A and B.
But we have another option. Magnesium sulfate and monopotassium phosphate dissolve better in boiling water.
Magnesium sulfate 50.2 g/100 ml (100 °C) – Takes 310 ml of water
Monopotassium Phosphate 83.5 g/100 mL (90 °C) – 184 ml water
If we bring the water to a boil, it will dissolve the magnesium sulfate and monopotassium phosphate. So boil 1 quart of distilled or R/O water then mix 155g of magnesium sulfate and mix it well until dissolved. The water will look clear and nothing will settle at the bottom of the beaker.
Then mix in 153g of monopotassium phosphate. Mix until dissolved.
Then carefully measure 14.2g of micro mix. I would wear a mask for this part. Scoop out slowly with a spoon so as not to create dust. I would not get this powder on my skin and if I did, I would wash it off right away. The metals in this mix can easily absorb into the skin.
Slowly dump this into the water, then mix well until dissolved.
Lastly, to make part B last forever, we need to add the preservative. Measure out 0.2g and add it to the water. This dissolves easily.
Pour this into your final bottle and cap it up.
Now how to use this nutrient. I recommend using Fulvic Calmag by Perfect Nutrients, which you can find on my site in my sig or Calmag +. This is so you get the extra nitrogen during veg.
Measure equal amounts of the A and B you made into a gallon of water. Here is a basic feeding chart you can use to get the right balance of NPK and calcium, magnesium etc.
Here is how many ppms of each nutrient this formulation of A and B adds to a gallon of water.
8mL per gallon - N 80ppm P 68ppm K 86ppm Ca 80ppm Mg 40ppm S 40ppm
15ml per gallon – N 150ppm P 127ppm K 161ppm Ca 150 Mg 75ppm S 75ppm
For the first half of veg add 8mL of A and 8mL of B to a gallon of water.
For the rest of the grow, bump it up to 15mL of A and 15mL of B per gallon of water.
If you want to make this A and B even better, then you can add Potassium Nitrate to part A. Right now the P (phosphorus is a bit high. It shouldn’t cause any issues because it is not toxic, but we can make it better.
If so, our target is to add an extra 1% of nitrogen. 72g of potassium nitrate will do this, and that gives us an extra 3.35% of k2O
So now we both A and B we have 5 – 8 – 8.35 And now at 12mL per gallon we get the following PPMs
12ml per G: N 150ppm P 103ppm K 207ppm Ca 120ppm Mg 60ppm S 60ppm
These numbers look really good. Much better. And after we add the potassium nitrate we get the following ppms for 8mL per gallon of water.
8ml per G: N100 P 68ppm K 138 Ca 80ppm Mg 40ppm S 40ppm
Okay, so how much does this end up costing you for 1 liter of A and 1 liter of B, thus 2 liters?
Cal N - $1.85 ---- Mag N $1.78 --- Pot N $1.26 -- Mono P $3 -- Mag S $0.95 – Micros $1.12.
Without Potassium Nitrate, the price for 1 bottle of A and 1 bottle of B, thus, this is the price for 2 liters total. $8.70 This is using all the prices I provided for you. 5 pounds of calcium nitrate, 1 pound of magnesium nitrate, 5 pounds of monopotassium phosphate, 5 pounds of magnesium sulfate, 1 pound of micros, a half-pound of sodium benzoate.
The cost to buy all the minerals is $115. Add another $40 if you get the potassium nitrate. If you add potassium nitrate then the price goes to $9.96 for 1 bottle of A and 1 bottle of B, so basically $10 for 2 liters.
This is a good quality nutrient that you can make for at least 50% less than if you bought some at the store. For example, for 1 liter of the 3 part series by General Hydroponics, thus 3 liters total is $36 free shipping on Amazon, which is the cheapest you will buy it for unless you find it on sale. You are saving $26, even if you make the more expensive version with potassium nitrate.
But, hey, it is a pain in the ass to make your own nutrients, so I know not everyone will want to do this. You can get Perfect Nutrients Complete A and B, which is very high-quality, and formulated for marijuana. It is better than what I showed you to make here. And it is only $34 for two liters after shipping. Thus, it is cheaper than General Hydroponics but way better.
Read about it on the site in my sig.
We will be making this from raw salts, NOT from some premix like Masterblend.
This is not the formula I use for my Perfect Nutrients, but it is a formula that works well and if you buy the right ingredients, it will be high quality. Making nutrients is a pain, so I know not everyone will want to do this, but I have done all the math for you. BTW, if you would like to learn the math equations and logic so you can formulate your own nutrients, let me know. If I get enough replies, I can make a post for it.
Before we get started, there are some things you need to know. We will be making a part A and B. This is for a few reasons. Different minerals have different solubility in water. Sulfates, for example, take a lot of water to fully dissolve the salts. Because of this, one of the bottles would use up all the solubility and would no longer dissolve salts.
Think of it like this. Every liter of water can only dissolve so many minerals. Once the water reaches its max solubility, then it will not dissolve any more minerals. This means you would have a bunch of undissolved minerals at the bottom of your bottle.
Another reason is that Calcium doesn’t mix well with phosphorus or sulfur, thus, we have to separate them. To get them to be stable in one bottle is not easy and requires a low PH.
Disclaimer: Handle everything with care. This is for education purposes only. Make it at your own risk and use protection like a protective mask and gloves. With that out of the way, these are salts, so they do not create dust. The only exception is the mico mix.
Minerals you will need. You can buy these on Ebay by the pound, but I recommend buying 5 pounds to bring the price down. That might seem like a lot, but we will be using about half a pound of Calcium Nitrate to make 1 liter. However, you will save more money per bottle if you buy them by 20 pounds or 50 pounds, but the up-front cost will be a lot more. Either way, even if you buy them by the pound, you will save about 50% per bottle of nutrients and you will be making a better quality than General Hydroponics.
To give an example of the price difference. 1 pound of Yaralive Calcinit is $11.40 on Ebay but 5 pounds is $20, thus only $4 per pound. 2 pounds is $14, so $7 per pound. This will affect the price of the final bottles you make.
To really put that into perspective, the amount of Calcium Nitrate we use will be 210g per liter, this means that if you buy it at $12 per pound, the 210g we need to add to part A will cost $5. But if you buy 5 pounds at $20, thus $4 per pound, then that same 210g only costs $1.85.
I recommend buying Yaralive or Haifa Group brands. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find Yara or Haifa for each of these in lower amounts on Ebay or Amazon. For example, Magnesium Nitrate is hard to find in lower amounts, but I did find a brand that is water-soluble. To get Haifa magnesium nitrate, you will need to buy a 50-pound bag. Keep in mind the shipping price is more expensive than the bag itself. If you live near a place that sells it, pick it up locally.
Just make sure you get water-soluble products. Do not buy greenhouse grade.
Part A
Calcium Nitrate (yaralive calcinit)
Magnesium Nitrate ( This one is really hard to find and I cannot link to sites, so just search for 1lb of magnesium Nitrate aquarium. It is $3.50 a bag but shipping will be about $11, so around $15 for a pound. We don’t use much of this so, the price stays low per liter you make. If you can affording to pay more upfront, then find a 50lb bag of Haifa magnesium nitrate.)
Part B
Monopotassium Phosphate ($19 on Ebay if you buy one pound or $9 if you buy 5 pounds at $45)
Magnesium Sulfate (Epsome Salts) Ebay for $2.8 per pound if you buy 5 pounds, brand PowerGrow
Plant Prod Mix (Chelated Micronutrients)
Sodium Benzoate (preservative) Amazon just buy 8 oz for $10
We will only need 0.2g of Sodium Benzoate per liter of water, so this will last you a long time. The Micronutrient mix will last a long time as well as we only need 14g per liter. This means 1 pound will make you 36 liters.
Here is the formula. I list the mineral, then the percent, then the number of grams per liter of water. This is to make 1 liter. If you want to make a gallon then multiply the grams by 3.8, so 210x3.8=798grams.
Something important about the percentages of Phosphorus (P) and Potassium (K). We are measuring the forms P2O5 and KO2 because that is what is listed on nutrient bottles. If you ever need to convert the P2O5 to P, it is P2O5 x 0.43, so P2O8 at 8% is 8 x 0.43 = 3.44% of P (phosphorus).
To convert KO2 to K is KO2 x 0.83, so KO2 5.2% is 4.3%
This means that a 4 – 8 – 5 is actually 4 – 3.4 – 4.3, thus it actually has more potassium than phosphorus.
Part A
Calcium Nitrate: C 4% - 210g per L (We get N 3.26% from this)
Magnesium Nitrate: Mg 0.52% - 54.1g per L (We get N 0.56%)
Part B
Monopotassium Phosphate: P2O5 8% - 153g (We get KO2 5.2%)
Magnesium Sulfate: Mg 1.5% - 155g (We get S 2%)
Plant Prod Micros Mix: 0.1% Fe – 14.2g (Gives us the right balance for growing, based on 0.1% Iron)S
Sodium Benzoate: 0.02% - 0.2g
Be sure when measuring the Sodium Benzoate, you are only measuring 0.2g, which is not 2 grams, it is a fifth of a gram.
WATER: you need to use R/O or Distilled water.
And now how to mix the salts properly so they all mix up. It is important to know the solubility for each ingredient so you know how much water will be needed to mix it well.
So for part A, the magnesium nitrate has solubility in water 71.2 g/100 ml (25 °C) and calcium nitrate has 121.2 g/100 ml (20 °C)
Now, this is at about room temperature. If you bring the water to a boil, it will dissolve more and it will dissolve it easier. I highly recommend bringing the water to a boil for the magnesium sulfate. As you can see, calcium nitrate takes more water to dissolve than magnesium nitrate does.
We are using 210 grams of calcium nitrate for 1 liter of water. This means 210g / 121g x 100ml = 173ml of water is needed to dissolve 210 grams of calcium nitrate.
And we will use 54g of magnesium nitrate so 54g / 71.2 x 100ml = 75.8ml of water is needed to dissolve the magnesium nitrate. So we need at least 248ml of water to fully dissolve everything in part A. Not a problem because a liter has 1000ml. You can actually mix this with room temperate water.
If you fill up to only a quart, that is fine because that has 946ml.
So fill up your 1-quart bottle with distilled water or R/O water, then pour that into a beaker or something to mix in. A magnetic stir works great. Measure out the calcium nitrate on a scale. Put a bowl to cup or beaker on the scale, tare it to zero it out, then measure the 210grams.
Add that to the water and stir well. Calcium nitrate dissolves rather quickly. It should only take a few minutes before the water becomes clear and there is no more salt at the bottom. Then measure the magnesium nitrate the same way and add it to the water and stir.
Pour this into your final bottle and shake it up well to help dissolve faster.
Be sure you are getting all the salts out of the cup you are measuring in before measuring the next ingredient.
That is it for part A. It doesn’t need a preservative. This will last pretty much forever.
Now mix part B.
First, here is the water solubility of the main ingredients that matter.
Magnesium sulfate 35.1 g/100 ml (20 °C) – Takes 441ml of water
Monopotassium Phosphate 22.6 g/100 mL (20 °C) – 676 ml water
We ran into a problem. 676 + 441 = 1117ml which is more water than we have in a liter. This means this water will not dissolve all the minerals. We have a few options. We can reformulate to use less magnesium sulfate and more magnesium nitrate or we can make 3 parts.
If we add the monopotassium to part C, a third bottle, then everything will dissolve perfectly. Then when you make a batch to water your plants, you measure an equal amount of A B and C instead of just A and B.
But we have another option. Magnesium sulfate and monopotassium phosphate dissolve better in boiling water.
Magnesium sulfate 50.2 g/100 ml (100 °C) – Takes 310 ml of water
Monopotassium Phosphate 83.5 g/100 mL (90 °C) – 184 ml water
If we bring the water to a boil, it will dissolve the magnesium sulfate and monopotassium phosphate. So boil 1 quart of distilled or R/O water then mix 155g of magnesium sulfate and mix it well until dissolved. The water will look clear and nothing will settle at the bottom of the beaker.
Then mix in 153g of monopotassium phosphate. Mix until dissolved.
Then carefully measure 14.2g of micro mix. I would wear a mask for this part. Scoop out slowly with a spoon so as not to create dust. I would not get this powder on my skin and if I did, I would wash it off right away. The metals in this mix can easily absorb into the skin.
Slowly dump this into the water, then mix well until dissolved.
Lastly, to make part B last forever, we need to add the preservative. Measure out 0.2g and add it to the water. This dissolves easily.
Pour this into your final bottle and cap it up.
Now how to use this nutrient. I recommend using Fulvic Calmag by Perfect Nutrients, which you can find on my site in my sig or Calmag +. This is so you get the extra nitrogen during veg.
Measure equal amounts of the A and B you made into a gallon of water. Here is a basic feeding chart you can use to get the right balance of NPK and calcium, magnesium etc.
Here is how many ppms of each nutrient this formulation of A and B adds to a gallon of water.
8mL per gallon - N 80ppm P 68ppm K 86ppm Ca 80ppm Mg 40ppm S 40ppm
15ml per gallon – N 150ppm P 127ppm K 161ppm Ca 150 Mg 75ppm S 75ppm
For the first half of veg add 8mL of A and 8mL of B to a gallon of water.
For the rest of the grow, bump it up to 15mL of A and 15mL of B per gallon of water.
If you want to make this A and B even better, then you can add Potassium Nitrate to part A. Right now the P (phosphorus is a bit high. It shouldn’t cause any issues because it is not toxic, but we can make it better.
If so, our target is to add an extra 1% of nitrogen. 72g of potassium nitrate will do this, and that gives us an extra 3.35% of k2O
So now we both A and B we have 5 – 8 – 8.35 And now at 12mL per gallon we get the following PPMs
12ml per G: N 150ppm P 103ppm K 207ppm Ca 120ppm Mg 60ppm S 60ppm
These numbers look really good. Much better. And after we add the potassium nitrate we get the following ppms for 8mL per gallon of water.
8ml per G: N100 P 68ppm K 138 Ca 80ppm Mg 40ppm S 40ppm
Okay, so how much does this end up costing you for 1 liter of A and 1 liter of B, thus 2 liters?
Cal N - $1.85 ---- Mag N $1.78 --- Pot N $1.26 -- Mono P $3 -- Mag S $0.95 – Micros $1.12.
Without Potassium Nitrate, the price for 1 bottle of A and 1 bottle of B, thus, this is the price for 2 liters total. $8.70 This is using all the prices I provided for you. 5 pounds of calcium nitrate, 1 pound of magnesium nitrate, 5 pounds of monopotassium phosphate, 5 pounds of magnesium sulfate, 1 pound of micros, a half-pound of sodium benzoate.
The cost to buy all the minerals is $115. Add another $40 if you get the potassium nitrate. If you add potassium nitrate then the price goes to $9.96 for 1 bottle of A and 1 bottle of B, so basically $10 for 2 liters.
This is a good quality nutrient that you can make for at least 50% less than if you bought some at the store. For example, for 1 liter of the 3 part series by General Hydroponics, thus 3 liters total is $36 free shipping on Amazon, which is the cheapest you will buy it for unless you find it on sale. You are saving $26, even if you make the more expensive version with potassium nitrate.
But, hey, it is a pain in the ass to make your own nutrients, so I know not everyone will want to do this. You can get Perfect Nutrients Complete A and B, which is very high-quality, and formulated for marijuana. It is better than what I showed you to make here. And it is only $34 for two liters after shipping. Thus, it is cheaper than General Hydroponics but way better.
Read about it on the site in my sig.
