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Cyco Platinum Series Silica (250mL, 1, 5 or 20L)
Sale priceFrom $18.95
Regular price$21.95
Silica Supplements FAQ's
Pour it into plain water first, ahead of every other bottle. Stir the silica through completely, then add base nutrients and the remaining additives in their usual order. If undiluted silica meets concentrated calcium or phosphate, they react — the reservoir turns cloudy and solids settle on the bottom. That is why the order is not optional.
Traditional silica bottles are strongly alkaline, so they push reservoir pH up by a noticeable amount. Mix the whole solution first, give it a few minutes to settle, then bring pH down to your target. If you adjust before the silica goes in, you will do the job twice. Mono-silicic acid products move pH much less.
Traditional silica bottles give the plant silicon it still has to convert, so they are dosed in millilitres per litre and they raise pH. Mono-silicic acid bottles already hold silicon in the form roots absorb, so the dose is much smaller and the pH swing is milder. We stock both; the mono-silicic acid options cost more per bottle and last longer.
Yes — plenty of growers run both, just never pour the concentrates together. Silica goes into the water first and is stirred through; cal-mag is a later, separate step. Mix them undiluted and the calcium reacts and precipitates, which wastes both bottles and leaves residue in the reservoir and lines.
Most growers run silica through vegetative growth and the stretch into early flower — that is when the plant is laying down the structure that has to carry weight later — then taper it in late flower. Starting late gives the plant less time to lock silicon into tissue that has already formed.
Silicon is not classified as an essential plant nutrient, so a plant will finish its life cycle without it. Growers add it because plants that take up silica build sturdier cell walls and thicker stems, which helps under strong light and heavy airflow. Treat it as a useful extra on a solid feed programme, not a replacement for one.