Aloha, syncopated quadraped.

So, ya wants fish, does ya?

Want me to catch some fish for you?
A beeg Halibut, or maybe two
Go sit in da hot sun all day.
Den bringum home wit' out delay

Shall I scale, gut, and fry it as well?
Shall I dry it inna sun 'til dere's hardly any smell.
If I does all dat, your tail gonna wag?
Maybe mo' etta, you jus' read da bag.


Directions are usually written on da bag ya know.

Yeah, I unnerstan'
When dey ask me; "did you read da manual?"
My usual reply is; "Do I look like a sissy?"

So, jus' dis one time.
Here's da dish finner ya ordered;
Bon appetite!

"The thing that I havenâ??t learned is how to â??condition hydrotonâ?ť (and from all appearancesâ?¦..youâ??re not gonnaâ?? tell me)â?¦..letâ??s try this:
1: Dose with Acid solution until the ph neutralizes

That's what they recommend.
Soak in PH 4.5 or so for 8 hours.
I did that for 8 hour.
Then 24 hours.
Then 3 days.
And no matter how much you rinse it, that superfine red powder is ubiquitous and never quite rinses clean.

2: Switch to lava rock before I even get started
.
Not a bad idea. Same thing I did.
Longstoryshort, nothin's perfect.

3: Suggestions?

(Fasten da seatbelt brah.:stoned

Then I stumbled upon coco.
Coco is very near perfect for my needs.
You can store it easily, it's sold in highly compressed "bricks".
Lightweight, PH neutral, excellent nute delivery system.
Looks like soil, smells like cocoa, works like hydro.

I grew peppers and tomatos in coco, foxfarm ocean forest, and DWC , as a test.
And was taken aback by their size and health vs the foxfarm.
The DWC was the clear winner, but coco was a close second.
The FF? Feh! I'll never use it again.
Still have the pictures if ya wanna see 'em.

It seems a little foolish to needlessly chase ph.

Agreed!
But, since he was already committed to 'tron I was just saying he should "make lemonade", yah?

You've seen my square peg DWCoco, rig.
(Mahalo fo' da busy mind comment.)

Finessed it a bit.
Did not need that big a coco backup, so I dialed it down to a 4" pot with a few extra holes drilled in it.
The idea here is; if/when I forget to check the DWC water levels,
all is not lost, the coco will then be life support.
'tron is worthless as life support, so is lavarock.

Well, you asked.

Weeze