Kleeem
Just thought I would mention that before you just dismiss Daniel's
nutrient calculator, and/or the information from his/her "Science in Hydroponics" blog because of luche's say so. It may interest you to know that luche's often starts arguments with Daniel (the creator of that blog and calculator) in another forum. So it's simply no surprise to me that luche's would not recommend Daniel's calculator. It is true that the frequency of the updated versions is slowing down. But that's what you would expect because with each version there is less and less to update, as well as simply less and less recommendations for new versions. Also I have no doubt that Daniel frequently lets luche's questions and recommendations go unanswered. After all, Daniel must be tired of luche's arguments that have nothing useful to add for him/her by now.
I have nothing to gain either way myself if anyone uses it or not, but don't see how you would have anything to loose. Both the information and calculator are free, and at the very least you would have something to compare to other sources of information. Also Daniel is not selling products, and I would wonder about using a product manufactures calculator. At first impression it would stand to reason that they would want you to be successful. But after all, their goal is to sell products. I would also wonder if the manufactures calculator would accurately calculate products that they may not carry, check for incompatibility's etc.. Especially checking for, and adjusting for, anything other than their products (and letting you know about it if there was would be important).
Anyhow, that being said, I don't see anything wrong with trying it out. But the way I see it, now you have two that you can compare results with/against. Even entering values for known formulas, to see if you get the same results. If you get different results then you can try a small batch on two sets of test plants to see if there's a difference in how they grow, what grows best etc..
I just Checked out the
customhydronutrients.com website, and although I cant say much of anything good or bad about it, a few things caught my eye. One is the copyright date at the bottom is 2010, that in itself doesn't mean much other than it's likely a new site. But if it is in fact a new site, or especial a new company. That could indicate they are lacking in experience, and most important customer service. That's just not much of a track record (less than a year), but it doesn't mean that they aren't a legitimate company just starting out either.
Next is there is practically nothing in the way of information on either the "contact us" or "about us" pages (no phone#, no address etc.). The best I found was on their shipping page. Stating that there's free shipping to "Springfield and Joplin, Missouri." That would suggest they are local to that area (or at least their source is). However they also state "All other orders shipped via UPS. All UPS shipments repacked by us to ensure safe delivery."
I'm not exactly sure what that means, but if they are "repacking" all shipments other than Springfield and Joplin, Missouri, that would definitely indicate they were not the ones that packed it in the first place. I have no idea why they would need another company to pack it, then ship it to them just so they can repack it and ship out (except they don't actually pack any of it). Unless, they want to make sure it was their label that was on the package, and not the other company's label or packing slip that got shipped to the end customer.
And because they are not the ones that originally pack/ship the product, that would mean they were not ones that manufacture it, nor do they have their own supply, or even carry any in stock. That would make me wonder if they were just a drop shipping another company's product. That would bother me because then I would not know the company who's product I was actually getting, and what kind of quality it actually was. You would only be getting second hand information and there would be no way to be sure it was accurate.
P.S. I'm not saying that they are not a legitimate company, even shipping another company's product. Just that there are a lot of red flags I would need cleared up (by them), before I would ever feel comfortable enough to order from them (and/or completely trust their information).