PPM stable, ph dropping? (yet another ph/tds question)

[phattybudz]

Wow, $65?! The cheapest one I see on there is like $100... did you get it on auction or buy it now? What kind is it? It's kinda hard to tell from the pic...


I'm debating spending the money... I thought about getting the hardwater stuff but I'm going to want an RO filter eventually anyways so I might as well just buy it I guess...

 

[JohnnyToke]

I got mine on auction, not buy it now. I had to watch for several weeks to find a deal. it is actually the 6 step (not 5) similiar to this one http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Reef-6st-10...ryZ20684QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem .

I purchased mine last summer.

if I had to do it over again, I would get just the basic 3-4 step RO system. I dont think the DI steps are needed for plant growing.

ppms go in around 370 and come out @ 10.

regards,
JT

 

[FreezerBoy]

How much tap water does it take to get a gallon of RO. Can you collect runoff? Or have I confused RO with another process?

 

[wafflehouselove]

i got a merlin and it takes 3gal waste to make 1 gal product, they say that merlin produce the less amount of waste water but i dont know i never tried other RO system before. So glad i got the merlin i can't imagine seeing water running anymore slower.

 

[phattybudz]

ok... So now I'm freaking, ph dropped from 5.5-4.9 overnight.

Could my RES be too small? 15 gallons-6 five gallon buckets... I tossed in another 5 gallons of water + 0-8-16 Lucas (didn't ph it,) and I plan on adding another 5 gallons (my RES was on a crate, now its on the floor so there's room.)

Any other ideas? I'm really worried and I can't use a bottle of ph up every week...might not get RO for a bit because of funds, I might try the hardwater stuff but I can't get to the store in time today

I just thought about this: I added ph down to get to 5.8 from 6.5, but that shouldn't make the ph KEEP dropping fast right? 3 things to try I guess: new water, new nutes and/or increase RES size....

 

[JohnnyToke]

that reservoir is plenty big enough for 6 buckets since you are on top of it daily.

what is the nute temp in your reservoir?

what do your roots look like? do you have any root pics you can post up here for us to look at?

regards,
JT

 

[phattybudz]

it seems like it shouldn't be the tap water because stabilizers would bring it up not down right? And the nutes could be off maybe...

root rot.... I'll have to check the roots again...my RES temp is 68 (I have a chiller.)



The roots looked fine before but I'll check them again and post a pic; the 2 that are doing poorly might be rotting.....

 

[nano]

I really wish you find out whats going on, even though its not happening to me I keep asking myself what it could be haha!

 

[phattybudz]

I just read a post on gardenscure that said this was due to nute solution being too low; I think this might be the issue so I'm going to go ahead and increase nutes to 1200 (they're at 1065 right now,) and maybe go up to 1300 or 1400 if it seems to fall slower... This is promising, because I'm pretty sure my roots are healthy (they looked white last time I checked and my rez is 68 so that should be fine...

I'll report back tomorrow!

 

[JohnnyToke]

your nute temps are set the same as mine and 68 is ideal so you shouldnt have any root issues. hmm.

I read on another thread on IC about a month or 2 ago about someone having a similar issue as you with his PH always dropping way down. He ended up finding out he had an algae issue of somekind. not green algae and not root rot. maybe brown algae. cant remember but it was dropping his ph alot.

I wanna say he had to get some physan 20 to fix his problems. I will search and see if I can find that thread again for reference. maybe there is some info in there you could check against.

regards,
JT

edit - looks like the thread I read a while back regarding physan 20 was to combat rising PH due to brown slimy algae that some thought was root rot at first. seems that the algae slime caused PH to rise and root rot causes it to drop.

if your roots are healthy looking and slime free, then the only thing I can think of is switching over to RO water and see if that cures the problem.

 

[phattybudz]

JT, thanks for the input, I will investigate the roots even closer tomorrow but they looked fine except for the 2 plants that are doing poorly (they're stunted, the roots are really underdeveloped but I thought they looked ok,) and wouldn't the plants be suffering if they were rotted? I'm thinking maybe the roots of the 2 unhealthy ones are rotted where I can't see them maybe?

If the water is the problem, wouldn't I have had the problem in veg too? Seems weird that it would start all of a sudden...

So I lost track of what was happening with the ph last night/this morning, I am increasing nutes to like 1400 to rule out them being hungry... if it's still dropping I'm going to flush and fill up again...

 

[phattybudz]

R-R-R-Roooooot rot!!!

The 2 that I suspected were eaten through and through... I'm hoping that is what was causing the ph issue though, cus I guess it could be something else...

Here are pics:



And the remaining babies didn't even seem to notice their sisters' troubles... their roots look healthy white and huge! The biggest girl is 2 feet now




Should I still flush/treat them with sm-90 even though their roots look alright?

 

[FreezerBoy]

If your buckets share water in anyway, I would. Even if it's just taking an EC meter out of one bucket into another ... Hope this cures you up. Good work, Sherlock.

 

[phattybudz]

Ok, so at 1pm my ph was 5.6 and the ppm was at 1350, at 7 pm it was at ph 5.8 and 1345 ppm... this seems normal right?

 

[habitualoffendr]

johnnytoke-
careful with your RO machine in your room, i had an identical one that i mounted in a clone veging area and eneded up with brown algae. in the machine and then of course in everything it fed, disaster. took me forever to figure out what it was. i thought i kept getting some sort of root rot.

phattybudz-
i also had a problem with my ph dropping rapidly, i ended up tracking it down to my co2 burner, i guess co2 drops ph, they use co2 to adjust ph in aquariums. if your running co2 that may be something to consider.

 

[JohnnyToke]

johnnytoke-
careful with your RO machine in your room, i had an identical one that i mounted in a clone veging area and eneded up with brown algae. in the machine and then of course in everything it fed, disaster. took me forever to figure out what it was. i thought i kept getting some sort of root rot.

I haven't thought about that but you got a point. my last 2 filters on top of my RO are clear and light can penetrate. I will get that thing covered up and light proofed tonight.

regards,
JT

 

[JohnnyToke]

Ok, so at 1pm my ph was 5.6 and the ppm was at 1350, at 7 pm it was at ph 5.8 and 1345 ppm... this seems normal right?

sounds like your back on track.

you can pull off the rotted roots on the other 2 and place in another system or dirt and new roots will come back just fine. they should just pull off with no effort. it looked like new white roots were already making their way down. they will be stunted for a couple weeks and then start growing again.

regards,
JT

 

[asher1er]

anyone know what it is when your ppm's go down but Ph is stable? ppms where 850-860 passed few days now today they are 830-840 but ppm still solid on 5.8..

Recirc dwc system

 

[phattybudz]

I'm pretty sure that's normal/desirable, just plants taking in nutes and water at an even pace... But I'm a noob

 

[mme_oscar]

Yo

So I had seen this guide before:

PPM goes up, PH goes down=plants require less nutes.
PPM goes down, PH goes up=Plants require more nutes
PPM stable, PH goes up=Equilibrium=Good thing.

But what's the deal if my ppm is staying stable and my ph is falling? I would add back regular water but it's already at the optimal water level if not a little high...should I add ph up?

TIA!

Except in case of large amount of water being RH vaporized or drunk, that a sign of roots disease most likely a roots' rot....

Smell medium & res: any strange smell is another clue of roots rot... Check roots' color as well; you're aiming for a virgin white...

If you've got a roots discease you'll probably have to search on H202...

Cheers