[TR0N]

Hey all, This is my first grow that involves a significant investment. I have a c13 with a 400 watt hps, and a 170 cfm centrifugal fan. I'm using a 12 gallon tub with 2 rio powerheads. Things were going smoothly until about 4 days ago when I noticed some discoloration on the bottom leaves.

These are probably the two best looking out of all of the one type of seed. I have been having problems with my ph rising up to about 6.5 every day. I have to add about 1.5 oz of fulmag every day to keep the ph down. I live in the city and the water isn't hard, it is relatively good. I also add around 2-3 teaspoons of h2o2 every day. When this problem first surfaced I flushed with clearex and moved the plants into this larger tub. It seems that the leaves are not getting worse as quickly as they first were, but slowly they still are getting worse. I have this feminised white widow in the same tub:
It doesn't seem as effected by whatever is going on with the other plants... All help is appreciated, thanks in advance!

[pheen]

why can't you control the ph?
what are your nutes ppm at?
start yer ph lower around 5.2 and then add yer nutes. see if this works better to control ph levels.

[TR0N]

Thanks for the reply. I'm not sure what's up with the ph levels. I have treated water with ph down/fulmag and left it sitting in a jug and it stays at the same level without rising. I do not know the exact ppm for my nutrients, but I am using 1/4 of the reccomended level for seedlings/clones as printed on the container (using dry maxigro by gh). Should i adjust the ph of the water and let it sit for an hour or two before adding the nutes? The nutes are ph buffered so maybe that's the best way to go.

Hey Tron.If its not the ph I would try putting them under floros for a couple weeks and then put them under the 400w light. A lot of time the light from HID's is to intense for plants that small. Hope this helps and goodluck. peace

[icough2getoff]

what's up Tron? I was growing some small seedlings that size in some SWC tubs and had a similar looking problem. My PH was shooting way up constantly and I had to add insane amounts of PH down. It really screwed my plants up for a while, caused nutrient lockout.

It finally appeared that the hydroton rocks were causing the PH to go up, so I switched them from SWC to DWC so there would be more water so it wouldn't fluctuate as much. Also, I found that by dropping the water level just below the bottom of the net pots, and just having bubbles splash, that made the fluctuations pretty much stop. I've never used a powerhead so I dont know if this would work for you, but it might be worth it to maybe try that and put a bubble wand underneath your pots or something to help splash. Hopefully this helps.

[dowink]

You are growing from seeds with more then 1 plant per tub. I am doing the same thing with Femed NL. it was hell. each plant grew different, liked different strengths of nutes. I wound up killing the smallest 3" tall and the tallest 8" tall. I then put the 2 middle size plants in the same tub. They where 5" and 6" tall. They seem to get along alot better. This is my 1st try at DWC thats why I used FEmmed seeds. I have some reg plants going for clones and another try at DWC.

[tragic1]

Hey TRON. I just recently had the same problem and I would say mix your water and nutes. Then take a ph reading and add the ph down until you get the right level. Let it sit for awhile (couple of hours) and then take another reading. Thats what worked for me, hope it helps. By the way I was using Pure Blend pro.

[Harry Gypsna]

I have been using a home-made 3.5 gallon bubbler with a dual line aquarium pump since the 10th of October, using Vita-Links nutrients, Grow, a and b. this is my 1st hydro venture, and i have no ph testing pen, nor an ec pen, so i am just mixing according to the instructions on the bottle and have had no probs at all, i change it weekly. This plant is a clone from the big Kulu seeds Hindu kush x Skunk #1 mother plant which is now flowering as its too big, so this clone is the replacement mother, its doing great, bushy as hell, roots increasing rapidly to fill up the bucket, i am just starting to have to top up the water, but i just use plain water, and over here, the tap water is ok, its what ive used so far, but i do fill a lot of containers 48 hours before watering to let the chlorine evaporate, anyway, just popped in 2 say DWC rocks, all my mothers will be going in bubblers just as soon as the Mother/clone room is finished.

[TR0N]

Thanks for the help!! I have followed everyones advice and at this time the ph changes are much less drastic. Thank you DeviLock for the advice about the light too, I think that was also contributing. Unfortunatly before I could straighten all the problems out I lost all but one femmed White Widow and a regular big bud cross. Let's hope one of these is a female! If not I've got some money saved in egold I can send to Andre when he returns.. Here are the two remaining plants, the widow sure likes the light too as when it turns on it starts to bend right up towards it. First two are the widow, the last is the big bud cross.

Sorry about the lost plants but it sounds like you gained some knowledge out of it. Good luck with the remaning plants. peace.