AN Overdrive

[wolfeman]

I was in my local hydro store talking with the guy about bloombastic, as I wanted his opinion. He suggested Overdrive because that's what he uses. (or so he said) Sounded good because I use Big bud and the combo is supposed to be great.

I mix the overdrive in my 80ga res and BAM...the PH dropped from 6.0 to 4.1... sonnofabitch, I don't have any PH up as I have never needed it. Back to the store and grabbed a bottle of GH up and put that in to bring the PH back to 5.7. I could not believe how much of the GH PH up that was needed to do this- around 35ml. (This is RO water by the way).

The next day, the same thing. The PH is down yet again to 4.8. Another 20 Ml or so and it now seems to be holding, but I will check again.

The question...Is this massive PH drop normal with Overdrive? Or, is GH's PH up so weak compared to AN's that it just seems that I'm adding a ridiculous amount?

I will be taking the GH PH up back and exchanging it for AN PH up as I have since learned that the AN product is more highly concentrated. The shock of having to add 4 ounces of PH up is worrisome.

Any input from users of Overdrive would be appreciated.
For that matter, input on the combo of Big Bud powder then Overdrive in a flood and drain will be most welcome.

Also, if we could keep the comments on fat Mike and the AN advertising nonsense to a minimum, that would be sweet.

Many thanks....

 

[teemu shalanie]

I use advance products , 3part , b52 , BB , and Od, and never had that problem, I had something similar happen with a tri meter , you could check it make sure its on point?, weird maybe the ph up is super weak like you said?
TS

 

[wolfeman]

I use advance products , 3part , b52 , BB , and Od, and never had that problem, I had something similar happen with a tri meter , you could check it make sure its on point?, weird maybe the ph up is super weak like you said?
TS

I did go to recalibrate the meter recently and it was dead on....thanks

 

[DirtDoctor]

AN has probably the most concentrated pH up available. Overdrive shouldn't effect your pH any more than Big Bud. Did you measure the ppms of overdrive that you added?

 

[Guest3498]

I use overdrive and have never really noticed any huge effect from it on pH. Not sure what's going on there.

Also, GH PH up is very weak stuff, not strong at all.

 

[wolfeman]

AN has probably the most concentrated pH up available. Overdrive shouldn't effect your pH any more than Big Bud. Did you measure the ppms of overdrive that you added?

Do you mean the PPM in the res after the OD was put in, or the actual concentrate before it goes in the res?

Either way, no I didn't. I just took a little less than the reccomended amount and dumped it in. It was a fresh res with nutes set for the last two weeks of bloom before the flush. There is a high amount of bloom in there, which I have used in previous runs with no problems- but there was no overdrive then.

Could a high level of bloom combined with the OD cause this?

BTW...thanks for checking in dirtdoctor, I follow your posts all the time. I have learned much from you!

 

[bongo]

I used to use the big bud/overdrive combo for a couple years (until I got three bad batches of big bud) and never ran into the ph issues you did with od, it always seemed pretty stable to me with ro.. on a side note, I also used to geek out on the canna stats site quite a bit and found that the npk/mg levels were VERY similar to good ol gh bloom. Check out the labels for yourself. Unless there are some other unlisted ingredients in the od that I don't know about, you may wanna consider using gh bloom as a replacement. It is definately rock solid on ph and is less than half the price. I haven't noticed any dropoff in quality or yield since switching. That's just my personal experience, for what its worth.

 

[Guest 18340]

As was said, AN's ph up is extremely concentrated. One drop is all I need per gal VS 1/4 tsp/gal for GH.

 

[wolfeman]

Well after much investigation, I have gone ahead and relaced the three filter membraines on my Merlin RO system and the two on the Tall-boy pre filter. The only thing we can figure is the prefilter is fried and letting clorine into the res..

Can anyone confirm that if there is too much clorine in the water, that will make the PH low?

I still think the problem is with the Overdrive. I have two sets of girls in this room on separate res's (one month apart) they both use the same RO but the older girls had the Overdrive, and they are fed from the affected res.

On a side note, I could not get the PH above 5.4- no matter how much of that GH PHup I used. Weird... I just quit trying and swapped it for the AN product.

I'm refilling the res on the young girls now. Won't have time to do the Low PH side on the older girls till Sunday, but they are about ready to flush anyway. On Sunday I will refill that one and add the nutes and overdrive, let it go for a week and then flush. That is unless the ph plummets again- then I'll flush and take that Overdrive back!

Would love an answer to the question regarding too much clorine affecting PH...anyone?

Thanks guys!

 

[SergeantGod]

Mr Wolf
after watching this post for a while, i am wondering if you did not get a bad batch of OD.
Been using it for a year an never experienced it in my 30 gal res.

It is a mystery.... good luck. (don't know about he chlorine and pH) doesn't seem like it would affect pH.

 

[stoney917]

clorine will evaporate if ya let the water sit for a few hours. try to wait awhile before ya mix ur nutes. i think 1 day is reccomended. if ya toss an airstone in it will kill the chlorine faster

 

[stoney917]

im sure u know this but never mix bb and overdrive together. bad things will happen trust me.

 

[DirtDoctor]

Could a high level of bloom combined with the OD cause this?

Yes.

Overdrive and Big Bud are both PK boosters. If you've already added a bunch of P and K in your bloom nutes, then you're probably overdoing it.

When using them with the 3-part nutes, for instance, you use a 1-1-1 ratio of G-M-B, then add the PK booster (Big Bud OR Overdrive, but not both) to get the bloom nutrient profile that you're looking for.