FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

So far so good. Be sure to clean and test before use.

Oof. Yeah every time I buy stuff I forget to look for a good Ph tester. Need that before anything.

So how long did you soak yours in tap before rinsing with distilled or whatever you use? I feel like it would just be easier to soak in distilled and rinse with same to hedge my bets.

I buy mine from a local pool supply. 15$ for 50lbs. Its not HTH, some smaller company. Its pretty fine. Always tested 000ppm. The most important thing in my opinion is consistent coloration(pure white) regardless of grain size. Yes a flush test, weak acid test are great starting points but not definitive. If it has color, it has oxides or minerals other than SiO2. And even if color is consistent, other minerals(CaCO3, CaF2, etc) streak white. I've tested my pool sand through X-Ray fluorescence and its 99wt% SiO2. I will see if I can get a pic of the bag tomorrow. Point being, I would not use anything with color in it. You don't have to have acid to have a reaction and leach minerals. Free O2 works just as well with time. I hear things like "washed river rock" is fine etc and just cringe.

Thanks @J_Max. I really wasn’t aware of any of that. And I’d definitely love to see what you’re working with.

When I was looking previously I saw HTH a lot, but I wasn’t sure if it was any good. Do you have any experience with that?

I’m also looking for coarse sand, but every time I find something on Amazon or Home Depot it’s usually such a large amount I’m worried about getting it and then having to find something else to do with it because it ends up being terrible for the plants.

I hear things like "washed river rock" is fine etc and just cringe.

But that’s crazy! It’s still a rock. It’s not like you can wash the rock out of the rock. It’s still rock? It might clean the surface, but…yup still a rock lol. It’s surprising that anyone would use that stuff for CPs if they’re experienced growers.

I mean most rocks are minerals, so I don’t understand why washing it would matter.

Just thinking about the sand, and I bet using white sand as a top dressing as well as part of the mixture would be very striking if it wouldn’t hurt to use that. Too bad black sand wouldn’t work. Also helpful if there’s peat in there.

Amazon sells a TDS and pH tester for about 15 bucks.

I will check it out thanks very much. I have the TDS meter that most folks recommend, but if I can have both options in one I could keep that one in the garage and use the old one for testing in the house. It’s always nice having indoors and outdoors stuff so I don’t have to carry a bunch of stuff back and forth. I’m always forgetting to grab at least one thing until I’m ready to do something or start a project and end up having to stop to get whatever I forgot.

evenwind wrote: ↑Sun Aug 11, 2024 7:46 pm FYI Amazon has several TDS/EC meters on sale right now for under $10.

Thanks for the heads up! I have this one which unfortunately doesn’t do ph but is great for tds.

https://a.co/d/dpHcitF

I’m thinking this is probably my best option for a ph meter, but I want to read the reviews on this and a couple other ones before pulling the trigger.

https://a.co/d/aMBAOrr