Looking great so far - nice job! Thanks for inviting me to check out your journal.
On the "PH perfect" nutes... it's a bit misleading. I believe you are really talking about a product with "advanced" chelates that allows the uptake of certain nutrients through a wider PH range - essentially giving you a larger buffer or wider effective PH range. There's a lot of confusion about this line, due to the name. Many other nutrient companies use high quality chelates as well, and will also be effective through a wide PH range. Clever marketing? For certain, if not a bit misleading. I'm not familiar with "Heavy 16" but I'm sure it'll do the job just fine.
What kind of TDS/PPM pen are you using - or, more importantly, do you know how your PPMs are calculated (there is a conversion factor such as .5 or .7 that is applied to the EC for PPM's). The reason I ask, is PPM's aren't a universal number. Some meters read the same solution as radically different PPM numbers. Weird, but true! Just want to understand your feed strength better. My gut reaction, is that you are feeding them a bit light, as your spots earlier in the grow may have been a simple calcium deficiency. At those low-level PPM's, the PH isn't typically as critical. I use a .7 conversion meter by Oakton, and I'd typically have a little higher PPM's for the plants you have going (assuming all else is good with environment and pests).
Speaking of pests, I noticed the Bti and yellow cards - are fungus gnats an issue, or have they been? Or are these preventative measures?
Also, if it were me, I'd consider getting the new nutrients dialed in before using Liquid Light/Penetrator much. Only because it adds a layer of complication that makes things difficult to diagnose if things aren't going ideally. I have used Liquid Light, and have had some "burn" when things weren't dialed in fully. Your call though, just a thought!
Some of the products you are using have a reputation for causing "gunk" though it's typically more of a nuisance than a problem. With hydro you have 2 options for a healthy root zone. The first, is sterile. Products like Dutch Master "Zone" help keep a healthy yet sterile root environment, and are usually pretty "gunk free" as far as reservoir sludge. The other way to go, which you are doing, is mycorrhiza (myco's), enzymes (ie. hygrozyme, cannazyme, etc.) and beneficials (benny's). The by-product of these is a bit more particulate and "muck" in your system as these living organisms and spores breed prodigiously and die-off prodigiously, or leave behind particulates. Orca, Cannazyme, Rapid Root, etc. are products that can contribute to some gunk and muck - products like Floralicious Plus feed some of the beneficials, etc. and contribute as well. Great way to go, but some sludgy bi-product can occur. Res temps at or under 67f should help limit it some. To remove the gunk, you'd probably want to remove all of those products and instead use a root zone conditioner/cleaner (I don't recommend h2o2 for this either, btw, too harsh and indiscriminating). Again, think products like "Zone" - (there are others too). Or, just live with some small amount of gunk/particulate/muck, which is okay too (as long as things aren't getting clogged).
Good start - Can't wait to see the through to the end!
