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Rapid Ph rise

Mtez44

Member
I got 16 - 5 gal buckets under 4kw led's. they are going to be 4 weeks old on Saturday. I'm at about 300ppm solution, from tap water and general hydro nutes. They are rooted in coir pucks buried in clay pebbles in an 8" net pots.

I changed the water/solution yesterday 9am. Nuted to 300ppm and ph'd to 5.9. 36 hours later the solution in the buckets are at 7.3-7.5 and I don't know why the rapid spike.

Is it due to the chlorine evaporating from the tap water? Should I let the water sit for a day before I make my solution? Any help would be great.

P.S. I have a high end inline water filter arriving tomorrow and will be installed asap. Solution change immediately after
 

gh0stm0de

Active member
What was ppm reading when ph spiked? Nutes will lower ph and and the plants eat its normal to see ph rise. Did they just eat it up? If so this could likely be sign of hunger and desire for higher ppm feeding potentially.
 

Mtez44

Member
How do I tell if I have algae? I see nothing with the naked eye.

I never though of it that way. I guess they could be hungry and just be depleting the solution. I will check PPM tomorrow. If it's low should I change water and replace with a stronger solution?

Again, everything looks nice and healthy so far.
 

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Douglas.Curtis

Autistic Diplomat in Training
What was ppm reading when ph spiked? Nutes will lower ph and and the plants eat its normal to see ph rise. Did they just eat it up? If so this could likely be sign of hunger and desire for higher ppm feeding potentially.
This here...

Most *problems* in hydro cause a drop in pH. Rises in pH are generally caused by nutes being used up or too much air being pumped through the water. :)
 

gh0stm0de

Active member
Algae will be visible. Ive seen guys get it in their rockwool.

Some raise ppm by adding nute or concentrated nute solution to control. Others do full swap.

Some dont swap out nutrient solution whole grow. Some do it weekly.

I have done both. I like regular swaps because you have more understanding and control over composition of nutes and what your ppm represent. Nutes aren't so expensive that its cost prohibitive to do this. Yet some swear by never changing out and only topping off

👍
 

gh0stm0de

Active member
Is that carpet? Consider laying down tarp or plastic next time first or between rounds. Also consider insulating buckets and tubing. Reflectix at home depot works well and foam tubing insulation is cheap
 

Ganoderma

Hydronaut
Mentor
Veteran
What is the ppm of your water that you are starting with? I ask because if you are using tap water there is most likely an amount of some stuff in the water giving you a starting ppm level of the water and if your ppm's with your nutrients are only at 300ppm's you may have your solution too weak.

Have you tried readjusting the ph of your nutrient solution/water since the ph went up?
 

WelderDan

Well-known member
Veteran
What was ppm reading when ph spiked? Nutes will lower ph and and the plants eat its normal to see ph rise. Did they just eat it up? If so this could likely be sign of hunger and desire for higher ppm feeding potentially.

I agree. Ph will rise quickly if the plants are feeding heavily in veg

PH swing is good, plants uptake different nutrients at different ph levels

I said fuck the ph meter long ago. The plant tells me what it needs, you just gotta learn to read the plant
 

noreason

Natural born Grower
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Tap water = bicarbonates.

Bicarbonates = alkalinity

Alkalinity : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alkalinity

You hydro guys should now this, it's just basic for any grower. Ph will rise up in some time (minutes-hours depending on the hydro system and other things), till saturation it's reached. Than pH don't fluctuate anymore this big, just little swings at max.
 

Speed of green

Active member
A low ppm solution is also harder to buffer, if you have ever tried to ph adjust pure r/o before then you know what i mean.

your plants are eating the nutrients, leaving your water "empty" allowing ph to run wild
 

Mtez44

Member
What is the ppm of your water that you are starting with? I ask because if you are using tap water there is most likely an amount of some stuff in the water giving you a starting ppm level of the water and if your ppm's with your nutrients are only at 300ppm's you may have your solution too weak.

Have you tried readjusting the ph of your nutrient solution/water since the ph went up?

Starting PPM was around 160. Which means my solution is way weak. I didn't even think of that. I have installed an inline filter today. Will change out the water tomorrow with stronger solution.

PPM is around the same for some buckets and only a little lower in others since I filled the buckets. Is a drop of 70 ppm in 48 hours a lot??

For the time being I just adjusted each bucket down to 5.8-6.0
 

Mtez44

Member
So I am realizing that I didn't rinse the clay pebbles as well as I should have. I have red residual dust in the buckets still. This can most likely cause a rise in ppm?

Also if I fill each bucket with nutrient solution through the pebbles, can it effect the ph?
 
I got 16 - 5 gal buckets under 4kw led's. they are going to be 4 weeks old on Saturday. I'm at about 300ppm solution, from tap water and general hydro nutes. They are rooted in coir pucks buried in clay pebbles in an 8" net pots.

I changed the water/solution yesterday 9am. Nuted to 300ppm and ph'd to 5.9. 36 hours later the solution in the buckets are at 7.3-7.5 and I don't know why the rapid spike.

Is it due to the chlorine evaporating from the tap water? Should I let the water sit for a day before I make my solution? Any help would be great.

P.S. I have a high end inline water filter arriving tomorrow and will be installed asap. Solution change immediately after

If your EC is rising and the PH is dropping = add less nutrients

If your PH is rising and your EC is dropping = add more nutrients

If you EC is stable and your PH is rising slowly = sweetspot
 

Douglas.Curtis

Autistic Diplomat in Training
If your EC is rising and the PH is dropping = add less nutrients

If your PH is rising and your EC is dropping = add more nutrients

If you EC is stable and your PH is rising slowly = sweetspot
In my experience, you get vastly higher quality with a natural and complete cycle through the healthy pH ranges. Natural, as in not manually adjusted, and complete from 5.4'ish to 5.8'ish.

This fills and depletes the storehouses cannabis has for each element.

Warning: This does not work well with an imbalanced nutrient profile. :tiphat:
 

noreason

Natural born Grower
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Years now I grow hydro with a pH around 7 for the entire cycle…the only deference I can see is a reduced use of acids…and I guess a little more oxygen in the water. For me there's no need to keep it lower than that, maybe just if you're going with too much N and lowing pH will reduce its uptake.

Clay pebbles often rise EC level for the firsts days even if you rinse it good. It can rise pH too, but just a little. You should have no problem to water them through the pebbles, just ensure good oxygen uptake and that's it.
 

Douglas.Curtis

Autistic Diplomat in Training
Years now I grow hydro with a pH around 7 for the entire cycle…the only deference I can see is a reduced use of acids…and I guess a little more oxygen in the water.
What's your tap water analysis? My experiences are strictly with r/o water and any nutes added to r/o drops the pH like a stone. ;)
 

noreason

Natural born Grower
ICMag Donor
Veteran
What's your tap water analysis? My experiences are strictly with r/o water and any nutes added to r/o drops the pH like a stone. ;)

Water I use is under 0,6 mS/cm overall, but having more grow.ops going on...I have used, and I'm using different water sources and pH 7 just work OK for me, as many other pH range I tried in the past.
I also had very nice flowers using pH 8,5…but never tried in hydro this high.

any nutes added to r/o drops the pH like a stone

This happens because RO hasn't any alkalinity, or any acidity. It is just (in theory) pure water, so when you add ions, pH can fluctuate more because there is no buffer in it. Depending on ions added, pH can fluctuate from acidic to alkaline. Fertilizers almost always have acidic reaction once dissolved in water.

About RO water I'm going a little OT…I have my RO setup and everything…after years I just use it for misting, humidify and some more things, just perfect for these things, but no more for nutritive solutions because it's a real waste of good water in most cases and plants DO NOT NEED IT. Don't know exactly…but each liter of RO we use…we're wasting other 3 or 4 or more liters of good tap water, going directly in the drainage. Waste of money, waste of water for the planet, waste of water energy to carry that water in our houses in many cases and unless the water is contaminated with something you really don't want, or has a really high EC, RO is useless for nutritive hydro solutions.

:wave:
 

Douglas.Curtis

Autistic Diplomat in Training
Unlike with fruits and veggies, r/o is perfect for hydro with cannabis. Cannabis is a hyper/dynamic accumulator and feeding it exactly what it needs produces the finest quality. Any excess, whether nutrient or 'from the tap water,' is built up within the cannabis, eroding quality.

I know exactly why nutes drop pH in r/o. You mentioned using pH down and I've never used pH down in a properly set up r/o grow, only potassium citrate as a pH up. ;) The non-buffered nature of r/o is exactly what you want for cannabis.

Load up the reservoir with exactly what the cannabis plant wants, at the strength it wants. Set the pH at the lowest healthy range for the environment. Top off with pure r/o every day. Add nutes back to target ppm when pH rises to highest healthy range for the plant.

Lather, rinse, repeat. Once swelling ceases, begin the fade of the nutrient strength to the finish. Change out the res for pure r/o for a few days before harvest.

When you come across truly clean cannabis, it will completely change your outlook on how the plant needs to be cared for. I used to think the decent grade I used to grow was awesome. (It was a few steps better than anything I'd gotten from anyone, ever. Multiple states, thousands of sources of cannabis.) It took another grower's awareness to shock me to reality. ;)

When you've had a grower with 20yrs experience hand you a bowl, you expect something decent. When they tell you it's some of their best "fire," you expect at least decent. Lack of awareness can make it a nasty bowl you'd wish you'd passed on.

To the grower though, they believe it's awesome. Awareness is a powerful thing. :D
 
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