Canna - Aqua Vega A+B

Aqua Vega is the growth feed from the CANNA Aqua line, built for recirculating hydro systems such as NFT and ebb and flow. The difference from the Hydro line is not in your substrate but in what happens to your water, and that has one consequence which explains the whole line.

Your feed water changes as it circulates

In a recirculating system the water runs in a closed loop: from the reservoir, past the roots, back to the reservoir. The plant takes what it needs from it, but it does not take up every element at the same rate.

That means the composition of your feed water changes as it circulates. What sits in your reservoir after two days is no longer what you mixed into it, even though nothing was added and nothing removed. The plant has eaten selectively.

In run-to-waste this does not arise, because the water leaves the system after one pass. In a loop the effect accumulates, every circuit. CANNA write themselves that pH and EC can fluctuate more in recirculating systems than in run-to-waste.

Why the pH moves at all, and what the stabilisers are for

There is a mechanism behind that pH movement and CANNA supply it. When nitrogen is offered as nitrate, uptake of potassium and calcium is stimulated and the pH of the solution rises. When nitrogen is offered mainly as ammonium, the opposite happens.

So your pH does not drift because something is broken, but because the plant is taking out what it needs. It is a consequence of uptake, and in a closed loop there is no avoiding it.

That is what Aqua is built around. The line contains pH stabilisers, and the claim CANNA attach is unusually firm: the plant regulates the pH itself, so you do not have to correct it daily. They call that stability over time unique to this line.

It is exactly why Aqua exists alongside Hydro. It is not a better or dearer version of the same feed, it is a feed composed to survive in water that keeps going round.

Who this system is for

CANNA are honest about it: recirculating growing is a complex method that demands attention. You have to follow your EC and pH, read your plants and decide what they need. Do it well and you can get an excellent yield out of it.

If you have a drain for your feed water, run-to-waste with the Hydro line is the less complex alternative. That is not a lesser choice, just a different one.

In use

Always add component A to your water first, stir it through well, and only then add component B. Never directly into each other.

Use Aqua Vega through the vegetative phase, then move to Aqua Flores. Aqua works on inert substrates such as rockwool and clay pebbles, which neither release nor extract nutrients. Do not use the line on coco; there is more about that on the Aqua Flores page.

Available sizes

Technical Specifications:

• Type: mineral two-part base feed (A+B) for the growth phase
• Manufacturer: CANNA, Aqua line
• System: recirculating, such as NFT and ebb and flow
• Substrate: inert media, not coco and not soil
• Notable: contains pH stabilisers, so the plant regulates the pH itself
• Order: A into the water first, stir, then B
• Period: the vegetative growth phase
• After that: CANNA Aqua Flores
• For run-to-waste: use CANNA Hydro instead

Frequently asked questions

Why a separate line for recirculation?
Because the plant does not take up every element at the same rate, the composition of the water changes as it circulates. Aqua is built for that.

Do I have to adjust my pH daily?
CANNA state that with Aqua you do not; the line contains pH stabilisers so the plant regulates the pH itself.

Why does the pH in a reservoir move at all?
Because of uptake. Nitrate uptake makes the pH rise, ammonium uptake makes it fall.

Aqua or Hydro?
Aqua for a closed loop, Hydro for run-to-waste with a drain.

Can I pour A and B together?
No. A into your water first, stir, and only then B.