DWC Trouble!

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sammyz2646

Member

• Jul 16, 2009

• #1

I have been using the DWC method now for a couple of years with great success and now a mystery. I have some trouble now in my veg room. I have a 50 gal res seperate from the recirculating active water. The next step for this water is into my bucket system consisting of 5 gallon buckets and hydroton with a rockwool cube at the core. (Babies started in rockwool and then added to hydroton . This is where all water is pre made as always. PH balanced and put into the recirculating system and away we go. Waking up in the morning and my PH went from 5.7 to 4.0 in the morning. I have tried so many fixes and am baffled at what may be causing this. Any ideas? Thanks! All buckets have nice bubbles 24 hrs a day room stays nice and cool (about 72) at all times. I have flushed with fresh water and still the ph drops Many friends are baffled as well.

 

Last edited: Jul 16, 2009

Mist

Member

• Jul 16, 2009

• #2

Some other info might help. Like what type of nutrients, the ph of the water before being adjusted, type of water(straight tap, RO, etc..), method of adjusting ph and are the plants showing signs of ph problems from this shift??

 

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sammyz2646

Member

• Jul 16, 2009

• #3

I am in NW oregon and am have been using Vita-grow nutrients now for about ten years. Adjusting ph with GH ph up or down. I am using tap water with a natural ph around 7 and after adding nutes, usually a bit of ph down to adjust down to mid 5's. I thought my tap water might be hard so i am now also using a water conditioner(Vita grow) and I found that either with or without conditioner, same results with ph dropping. Plants are alive but with ph imbalance they are slow and idle at best. No visible signs on plant , but roots are not popping out white like they were. The only thing im now wondering is clean hydroton.. A friend of mine suggested to re-use hydroton, get a mini-mixer and rotate with hot water and clean it that way. Could this be it? I have flushed a few times wondering if i had salts from previous uses. Would this cause the ph in my new water to drop?

 

Mist

Member

• Jul 16, 2009

• #4

It could be the hydroton if there is left over salts and nutrients in the pores. reusing it can be done, but I have always rinsed to waste for 3-4 hours to make sure it is totally clean. But if you are doing DWC and have roots hanging down the hydroton shouldn't even be in direct contact with the nutrients. Maybe you just got a bad batch of nutrients. It does happen now and then.
I personally would thuroughly flush to waste the whole setup you are having problems with and then go back with just plain ph adjusted water and let that run for 24 hours and see where the ph level is. Then you will have a starting point for your issue.
Then if all is stable you can add your nutrients and see where you go from there. One step at a time will make it easier to find your problem.
DWC systems are notorious for ph fluxuations due to the cycles of uptake of nutrients and water at different rates and also from the plants transpiring waste. But your problem is a bit out of that range.

 

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scooty

New member

• Jul 16, 2009

• #5

Like Mist said, if the hydroton isn't clean it can have left salt and nutes from previous runs. I get a huge container and after every run I put all the used hydroton in the container and pour about a bottle of hydrogen peroxide in with water until everything is soaked. I let sit for about a couple days stirring occasionally then I'll fill up net pots (or something that will hold the rocks and let water pass through) and thoroughly rinse for a couple of min. under hot water then cold. Then I let them dry out and then they're ready to go another round. As for getting a bad batch of nutes, it happens. I've been doing this for a couple of years and have gotten a bad batch and when I did it was a disaster field and eventually found the problem. It's definitely good to try and weed out the problems one by one. I hope everything is fixed soon and running great!

 

JohnnyToke

Member

• Jul 16, 2009

• #6

do you have a backup PH pen to make sure its not your PH pen on the outs. I have had this happen before and after trying everything to fix, I found out it was a bad PH pen. you might check it.

JT

 

Mist

Member

• Jul 16, 2009

• #7

JohnnyToke said:

do you have a backup PH pen to make sure its not your PH pen on the outs. I have had this happen before and after trying everything to fix, I found out it was a bad PH pen. you might check it.

JT

Click to expand...

Great point! And that is one reason that I use the general hydroponics dropper ph test kit. Just fill the vial half way and add three drops and you have your ph. No dead batteries, no calibration and no errors.

 

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Wait...What?

Active member

Veteran

• Jul 16, 2009

• #8

the reagent dye is only as good as the guy comparing the colors

 

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sammyz2646

Member

• Jul 17, 2009

• #9

OK cool. I went out and got some new nutes and also bought some H&G drip clean and completely flushed each plant with about 5 gallons of fresh water over another empty bucket with the recommended dose of drip clean. (20 ml for 50 gal) Not much. Hope that frees up some salts. Then I changed the food temporarily to a powdered version just to see if the food was an issue as well. Funny, I left the house before getting any responses and came home to the same advice I concluded with another few friends. Thanks to everyone here for the good info. This is my first time online cause Ive been pretty successful but do very much appreciate the words of wisdom. And yes, I always double check these situations with the old reliable drop ph kit. It never lies! I should know by tomorrow morning how this works. My conclusion if this works: Just get out your lazy ass to the store and buy new hydroton next time.

 

medicine_man_bc

Member

• Jul 30, 2009

• #10

its usually nematodes, beneficial or hostile, usually a sign of pre root rot. clean the system and avoid more then 25% organics and never use powders or slimy nutes addat

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