PH drop???

[toastynoodles]

ON week 3 of veg,running 2 dwc buckets 3.5 gallons of R.O water in the buckets.
ph5.7
ppm 510
2 days later ph4.9 ppm 480 and about 2.5 gallon of water left.

Nutes= Dyna-Gro-grow and pro-tekt

 

[socialist]

Meter or drops? If meter, is it calibrated?

 

[Keep goin]

IGNORE IT...!!!

I never check my pH..! EVER!!

I got turned on to the concept by a hydro store owner who told me a story of taking care of display tomatoes in his shop...he kept freaking out about the pH, would come in daily and check it. (Which I thought was what you're supposed to do with hydro, right??) He said he battled with it constantly! Kept dropping ridiculously low...like down to 4.3!!! Adjust, adjust, adjust...shit results, plants looked horrible, he couldn't figure it out.

One day he decided to "fuck it" and just let it go...after all it was tomatoes, and a display, so whatever...it didn't really matter!

Plants started to grow "perfectly"...he just let the pH swing and kept an eye on EC.

Well, after some horrid experiences with hydro...(mainly from constantly fucking around with the solution...which like I said was what I thought hydro was all about)...I went back to amended pro-mix and coco grows for years. Then this guy told me this story and changed my life!!

I am now pure hydro...and loving it!! Simple and effective, none of the headaches of constant monitoring and adding things to balance the pH. Just keep your EC "in balance" and watch em go!!

I know a lot of people will probably disagree...but I only know what I have seen myself.

If in doubt try what he had me try, just run a water farm as a "sideshow" and check it out.

You'll never stress about pH again...

Good Luck
KG

 

[noreason]

ON week 3 of veg,running 2 dwc buckets 3.5 gallons of R.O water in the buckets.
ph5.7
ppm 510
2 days later ph4.9 ppm 480 and about 2.5 gallon of water left.

Nutes= Dyna-Gro-grow and pro-tekt

RO water has no alkalinity, so you would see some benefit using a part of tap water that contain buffer molecules, mainly calcium bicarbonates.

After that, you can try to use a humic acid product directly in the rez. I'm using a product from growth technology called ''green myst'' and the last rdwc run, it keep pH at 6.1/6.3 stable for days and I add it to the rez only when I completely remove the solution for a new one.

Good luck

 

[jm420]

bring your ppmup to about 700

 

[Easy7]

I never had issues with ph fluctuating, ever. The plants always would uptake the same ratio of nutrients to water. I would guess you have a bacterial issue, bacteria can lower ph.

 

[socialist]

IGNORE IT...!!!

Yeah that's great advice. Don't listen to this.

 

[Keep goin]

Yeah that's great advice. Don't listen to this.

Listen, don't listen...whatever.

Just sharing my experience...I don't appreciate you insinuating that I'm giving "bad" advice.

Try it, you'll like it. Simplicity at its finest. Stick a waterfarm in the corner of your room and check it out. I now run ALL my res this way. It IS great advice...just doesn't fit into YOUR experience.

KG

 

[Hydrolized]

Listen, don't listen...whatever.

Just sharing my experience...I don't appreciate you insinuating that I'm giving "bad" advice.

Try it, you'll like it. Simplicity at its finest. Stick a waterfarm in the corner of your room and check it out. I now run ALL my res this way. It IS great advice...just doesn't fit into YOUR experience.

KG

The issue is maybe 1/1000 people have success with it like you, and your sharing it with thousands of people, a lot of which are noobs just starting out that go by whatever they see first. In the infirmary there are tons of posted problems cured by the grower controlling pH...I understand you don't think your necessarily giving bad advice because it might help some people....it's still considered bad advice when it hurts 998 and helps 2.

 

[Hydro-Soil]

RO water has no alkalinity, so you would see some benefit using a part of tap water that contain buffer molecules, mainly calcium bicarbonates.

So tired of seeing this re-posted everywhere. I've been growing with R/O water for 10 friggin years and never had pH issues or had to use part tap water. Damn that gets old.

Your nutes have buffers in them... you don't need tap-water for this.


Your goal in DWC is to set your pH at 5.2 and let it rise to 5.8 or 6... depending on what your plants prefer. The full pH swing is VERY important and is often overlooked.

Your pH is going down as the nutes are being eaten... something is definitely wrong.

Check your nute temps and be sure they're staying between 65 and 69F.

Check your air input... make sure you have at LEAST 3watts of airpump per 10 gallons of water. I usually run 6w per 10 gallons. Too much air and it'll start affecting your pH as well. (Climb? Been a while since I did that)

Make sure those are correct first... When temp and air are out of whack... nasties start to grow quickly and the pH will drop significantly in a VERY short time.

Stay Safe!

 

[noreason]

So tired of seeing this re-posted everywhere. I've been growing with R/O water for 10 friggin years and never had pH issues or had to use part tap water. Damn that gets old.

Your nutes have buffers in them... you don't need tap-water for this.

Tap water = calcium bicarbonates

More calcium bicarbonates = higher alkalinity

Higher alkalinity = pH tends to raise more = more acids needed

If now the OP has troubles to keep pH a little higher I can't understand why he should not try to use some tap water. Am I missing something HS?

However, I don't doubt you're fine with pure RO water but there can be more than one factor that affect pH, like fertilizers brand first.
Most brands I use don't affect pH as they are electrically balanced but they give to the water different alkalinity, depending on what the producer put in the mix.

 

[socialist]

I don't appreciate you insinuating that I'm giving "bad" advice.

I'm not insinuating, I'm saying straight up that it is bad advice. My Tap water comes out at at 7.8. If I never changed my pH I wouldn't even produce enough bud to cover the cost of the electric, nutes, and water.

Just so you know I have tried it before!! I listened to someone on another board ten years ago spouting the same incorrect information.

 

[socialist]

This chart may not be perfect but its close enough.

 

[Keep goin]

The issue is maybe 1/1000 people have success with it like you, and your sharing it with thousands of people, a lot of which are noobs just starting out that go by whatever they see first. In the infirmary there are tons of posted problems cured by the grower controlling pH...I understand you don't think your necessarily giving bad advice because it might help some people....it's still considered bad advice when it hurts 998 and helps 2.

Ok...I apologize if your numbers are correct...the store owner gave me this advice as "general advice", aimed at "the masses".

If you are correct and this advice is going to screw up 998 out of every 1000 people...well then I guess I'm an anomalous lucky bastard, and I do apologize!!

But, again...following that advice got me to change from years of soilless grows to pure hydro.

And BTW socialist...my water comes out at 7.0 and I never check it or adjust and average about .75 GPW with no CO2 and somewhat crappy environmental control (kinda crappy, depending on time of year).

So it's ok to disagree, no hard feelings.

Good example...ya know I have tried Lucas formula and hated it, I noticed obvious deficiencies...instantly fixed with a "touch" of the green bottle. Now LOTS of people love Lucas... It didn't work for me. That's OK...I don't tell everyone not to do it!! Or that it's bad advice to switch a 3 part formula to a 2 part.

Back to the original post...if the guys pH is drifting from 5.8 to 4.9 it might be a problem, it might not. It may self adjust depending on time of day addition of water or nutes upon add back?.

My point was really, if the plants look ok...freaking out about the pH swings might not be needed. If they look sick, using/checking pH as a possible answer is not a bad idea. I just remember checking, adjusting, rechecking, readjusting...constantly. PITA

Good Luck all....
Just trying to help...

KG

 

[socialist]

^ You obviously don't know anything about the science of growing cannabis. So instead of opening your mouth to make yourself look like a fool, how about you keep it closed and do some more reading.

 

[Hydro-Soil]

Good example...ya know I have tried Lucas formula and hated it, I noticed obvious deficiencies...instantly fixed with a "touch" of the green bottle.

Having used Lucas for 10 years, I can reliably say that your 'deficiencies' would have been easily fixed with a full pH swing. A 'touch' of the green bottle makes for stemmier meds.

No thanks.

Stay Safe!

 

[Hydro-Soil]

If now the OP has troubles to keep pH a little higher I can't understand why he should not try to use some tap water. Am I missing something HS?

Yes, actually... the issue isn't nutes or pH buffering, it's something out of whack in their setup. It's a biological issue.

No worries though.

Stay Safe!

 

[noreason]

Yes, actually... the issue isn't nutes or pH buffering, it's something out of whack in their setup. It's a biological issue.

No worries though.

Stay Safe!

Well, the cause of a drop in pH can be several. Let's assume it'a biological issue.
pH now is at 4.9 - Why not add some tap water to give some buffer capacity? It could help in the time to find what's wrong in the system.

Is this old? well...maybe because it works bro, and this does not mean that RO water is not good to grow with

 

[DHF]

So tired of seeing this re-posted everywhere. I've been growing with R/O water for 10 friggin years and never had pH issues or had to use part tap water. Damn that gets old.

Your nutes have buffers in them... you don't need tap-water for this.


Your goal in DWC is to set your pH at 5.2 and let it rise to 5.8 or 6... depending on what your plants prefer. The full pH swing is VERY important and is often overlooked.

Your pH is going down as the nutes are being eaten... something is definitely wrong.

Check your nute temps and be sure they're staying between 65 and 69F.

Check your air input... make sure you have at LEAST 3watts of airpump per 10 gallons of water. I usually run 6w per 10 gallons. Too much air and it'll start affecting your pH as well. (Climb? Been a while since I did that)

Make sure those are correct first... When temp and air are out of whack... nasties start to grow quickly and the pH will drop significantly in a VERY short time.

Stay Safe!

Never truer words spoken.......Guys....In fast hydro setups , as the plants eat their food ph rises gradually and ppm`s drop with a dialed setup....period......and....

Too much air in the bottom buckets will guaranteed give raised PH levels even if things are goin smooth and mess with your head while chasin parameters ......but....with ph droppin it essentially means the plants are drinkin water only from loss of solution but not eatin their nutes , thus causin ppm`s to stay constant and rise guaranteed sooner than later , and then........ph to drop as you`re seeing....

As HS stated , set ph lower in the mid to lower 5`s as yas swap out/top off/clean and refill rez`s for the proper drift upward so the plants can make use of all the macro`s and micro`s available at differing ph levels ......but....

Solution temps between 65-69 are paramount in importance with recirculating fast hydro setups or rootborn nasties can form and cause root rot/imminent crop death , but.......

Been seein bennie`s and teas added to kill rootborn pathogens here of late in recirculating hydro setups , so maybe there`s some improvements to be had and insure crop survival with the most volatile pain in the ass fast hydro setup there is FTW......anyways....

My 2 cents from all them yrs.......

Peace....DHF.............

 

[Hydro-Soil]

Someone mentioned bubbling White Shark from GH for a day or so... with molasses. Then adding to their recirculating system. Gosh, what thread was that? Stated that the process activated it and the root innoculation went really well in dwc or rdwc.

Planning on trying it myself next time.

Stay Safe!