HELP... the ph in my res goes bananas

[kokoatjo]

I have been searching and others doesn't seem to have similar problems. My problem is the PH in my res just runs away. almost a whole unit a day. I leave it 5,8 in the morning and when i check it in the evning its sometimes over 7. I guess its because organic growth in my res. I have totally light proofed my res and I have installed a air/water pump to get circulation and oxygen in the res. but still the same problem. I have only started to get thees problems after I started the blooming phase. But the vegetative phase where under florescent lights so I guess thats why.

I have i ebb/flood setup and grows in leca

My nutes are the following...

canna aqua flores a/b
canna rizotonic
canna cannaenzym
canna boost


I have a feeling that it is the boost but it could as well be the enzyms. I don't want to leave out the boost if I don't have to. I mean boost is good. Or could it be that the water is exposed for light when its "flood"? but that seems to be impossible to avoid.

Should I change my whole nutes setup for some crazy chemical stuff or can I fix this some way.

sorry for bad english... not my first languish

 

[Marshall]

how long did you veg? I ask because I wonder if the leca is causing a problem.

I think I have heard air pumps causing PH issues, may be wrong there.

If you think its nutes, I suggest starting over with base nutes, waiting 2-3 days, and adding one additive every few days and see what causes the PH to go up

 

[Sgt.Stedenko]

What's your water source?

 

[kokoatjo]

I vegged for 30 days give or take... my water source is plain tap water.
base nutes do you mean just the aqua flores a/b?

 

[krest]

do you autotop off your rez?

what's your tap ph and ppm out of tap?

 

[grow101]

Rhizotonic is known as a pH up, leave it out (after four weeks you should have enough roots) and see what is happening.

 

[greenmatter]

what are you using for ph down? ( not brand but active ingredient). how big is the rez? do you measure ppm?

 

[supersmallgiant]

Does the EC drop as the ph rises?

 

[kokoatjo]

my ec measuring thing doesn't want to work with me so I cant answer the ec questions...

I have experimented a bit. first i took just the basic nutes, the aqua flores a/b, and used that for a day. The ph went up. So now I took clean tap water, adjusted the ph, and fed that to my plants. and checked the ph right after. and the ph went from 5,8 to 6,1. So i guess the container that I have my plants in is contaminated with alga's or something. the question is now. can I re-plant my plants at this stage or is the root systems from all the plants to tangled up and I would just kill them. I grow in a eb/flood system so all the plant are in the same container.
I think if I re-plant them and clean out the container and wash of the root systems and put new lecas would give me a fresh start.

is this possible

 

[greenmatter]

don't go tearing into the root system for a ph problem. what are you using for ph down? the ph change in your fresh water is most likely because it leached nutes out of the grow media when you watered. it would be a plus if you ppm meter worked.

 

[mynameiskarl]

I've just had the same problem.
Yesterday I prepared 10L of nutrient solution, with ph5.8 and EC 0.7. 24 hours later, ph was 6.6, ec 0.65.
it's a small DWC bubbler with 4 plants (15 days from seed)

 

[kokoatjo]

I use the canna ph- for getting the ph down... should I perhaps use just clean water for a couple of days to try wash the lecas?
Could it be something else then organic growth (alga) that causes the ph rise?

 

[Sgt.Stedenko]

I've just had the same problem.
Yesterday I prepared 10L of nutrient solution, with ph5.8 and EC 0.7. 24 hours later, ph was 6.6, ec 0.65.
it's a small DWC bubbler with 4 plants (15 days from seed)

Initial bubbling of your water will cause the pH to rise. It should stabilize within a couple of hours.
I always check my res about 2-3 hours after a change and find the same thing.

 

[greenmatter]

I use the canna ph- for getting the ph down... should I perhaps use just clean water for a couple of days to try wash the lecas?
Could it be something else then organic growth (alga) that causes the ph rise?

could you tell me what kind of acids are in the canna ph down. tell us more about your grow, phase, water, etc., the more info you throw out there the better. that ppm meter up and running yet?

also what is leca ????/

 

[paladin420]

Your english is fine. Hav you calibrated ur PH monitor lately? Whenever I get strange readings I recalibrate. Usually that was my only problem. Good luck brudda

 

[Mate Dave]

I would suggest those watching a fluctuating pH to try to a base nutrient with a complete Chelation from 1-14 pH.

This way you can forget watching the pH and look very closely at the E.C ideally 3 times daily and spend more time training the canopy and doing better things.

You should set scratch marks in liters on the reservoir tank to indicate how much water has been lost/drank through transpiration/evapo-transpiration.

This mark will also let you know how much R.O water to top up with when the E.C gets out of the desirable range.

You should also change the reservoir water every 1-2 weeks and flush the plants through.

Emptying the reservoir can easily be done with a pump and a bucket.

(If you keep the E.C low between 1.2-1.4 you won't need to flush as often).

Add 1-1.5 ml of your PK or Booster per litre of your top up R.O water to re-set the reservoir E.C and top up the water capacity left over after the initial set-up grow stage.

This should be done around week 3 of bloom.

Remember that the plants will use more water than the feed and that evaporation will occur and the temps will fluctuate the pH always.

All in all get on the soil bro,, just water it!!

Most nutrient company’s will have a base feed that is absorbed at any pH try one.

 

[kokoatjo]

so I spoke with some local dude about it and he toldme its the tap water during the winters that everybody is having the same problem. its impossible to get the ph down. if you get it down it will rise by it self for some reason. he thought it was some chemical that they use during the winters... but thanks every body for the thoughts and everything

 

[Horsemanrocks]

Outgassing

Outgassing

Water that hasn’t had the chance to outgas (well water in particular) will outgas.
Outgassing is de-acidifacation….hence ph rises. When I do a res change it takes 36-48 hours for the outgassing to complete and the Ph to stabilize.

Try this experiment…..check your water as it comes from the tap (no additives)….then continue to check it until the Ph stops rising.

This may be the entire issue.

Hope that helps,
HMR