DWC PH rising too fast. Canna line nutrients

[zone 8]

So I have a 5gal DWC bucket (3 to be exact) With a 3watt air pump, leading to an 8inch airstone.

My problem is with my PH, I put the nutrient solution in the buckets at 5.8, and today (2 days later) I check the PH and its at almost 7.0!!!!

So in short, how do I keep my PH lower? I know airstones evaporate my PH down, which is Baaad, and also I think my Rhizotonic is helping the PH rise too fast.

How do you single bucket DWC folks handle PH issues like this? Do you just do the math to see how much PH down to add, and do it daily?

 

[Midnight]

There are a couple factors that cause your PH to drift. The most common is running the nute solution too strong or too weak. If it's too strong, your PH drops. If it's too weak the PH rises. What is your ec and ppm?

 

[zone 8]

PPM for the 3 ranges from 400-450 (Hannah) so thats .9 EC? these are seedlings (8 days old) so I really dont want to use any more nutes than what I have, if anything I might need a lower ppm.

 

[Midnight]

That seems kind of high for 8 day old seedlings. I'd do about 100-200 ppm with ec at .2 to .4

 

[FreezerBoy]

Aeration causes pH to rise. Aeration forces CO2 out of the water. CO2 exists in water as carbonic acid. Remove acid, pH climbs.

A 5 gal bucket is lucky to hold 3 gal of water. The smaller the res, the faster the disaster. Consider linking buckets to a common larger res to slow down the swing.

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

Check out Pipedream's 'tiny bubbler' thread. I think he grows in 4 liter buckets.

 

[budshoteyes]

From the first page of pipe dreams thread....

PH is another issue. I used to fight with it continuously and was never happy with it. About three years ago, I switched over to 100% rainwater and haven’t checked my pH since. The girls get it exactly as Mother Nature provides it and they love it. All I do is to run it thru a coffee filter to remove any suspended matter.

Interesting!

 

[DigDuggreen]

I always had that problem with canna in a flood and drain method and never could keep the ph consistent so I quit using it.

 

[FreezerBoy]

I switched over to 100% rainwater and haven’t checked my pH since.

Believe it or not, this could be illegal. There was a gal in CO that got in trouble for this as those with 'water rights" had a reasonable expectation that that rain would eventually reach them. Makes little sense to the human mind but, apparently makes sense to the law.

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

Yeah some estuaries are illegal to dam.

 

[John LOQUE]

I've got a small rez like yours, and for me, it's usual to see the PH rising and the EC dropping. It's a way you can see that your plants are eating well, so a good sign. Every day in the flower room, i add a gallon of water with a few drops of acid to correct the PH, and each week i change all the rez.

 

[Crush]

This is the main reason I stopped using hydroponics and moved away from it.. I couldn't handle the constant PH maintenance. It was spending all my time maintaining a system that I installed in order to save time.

Anyway, You really want to use rainwater. You can get big basins that sit outside and collect the rain water from the home roof gutter if you're a home owner. I haven't gotten one yet but plant on it soon during fall clearance.

 

[budshoteyes]

Freezerboy
It makes sense as it's about the governments collecting money for water usage....a money racket! Will they prosecute those that have open swimming pools collecting water and over flowing...nope! It's all about money!

Anyway....why would rain water have a stable ph quality? "Pipedream"s thread is the only reference Ive seen as to such!

 

[rambo6372]

this is ridiculous. is it possible that I received a bad batch of nutes. I have tried ro water and tap water and my ph skyrockets after a couple of days. With ro I have ph the water down to 4.0 and in 3 days its up to 6.5. With tap water I have to use alot of ph down before adding the nutrients down so I ph it to 5.2 and in two days it is up to 6.3. i cant believe anyone uses canna nutrients if every one is having the same problem. I MUST be doing something wrong. BTW my veg plants use GH 3 Part and ph is stable for weeks but as soon as everything is moved over to flower with Canna everything goes haywire.

 

[Incognegro]

So I have a 5gal DWC bucket (3 to be exact) With a 3watt air pump, leading to an 8inch airstone.

My problem is with my PH, I put the nutrient solution in the buckets at 5.8, and today (2 days later) I check the PH and its at almost 7.0!!!!

So in short, how do I keep my PH lower? I know airstones evaporate my PH down, which is Baaad, and also I think my Rhizotonic is helping the PH rise too fast.

How do you single bucket DWC folks handle PH issues like this? Do you just do the math to see how much PH down to add, and do it daily?

Wow... when i did check ph it didn't swing that much...ppm did drop, but it's supposed to..

 

[coonword]

i dont know what excalty your problem causing this but if u use liquid karma that always puts my ph to a rock soild 5.8 and it only benefiting you using it hope that helps if u cant get the ph swing under control.

 

[TheBioMaster]

Try just mixing your base nutrients with RO water and adding nothing else.....see if you get the same PH rise mixing this way......bet it goes away......then start adding your additives one a time waiting a few days before adding the next one until you find the culprit.....

Peace!

 

[Bob-Hope]

Are you using canna A+B or are you using, canna Aqua vega+flora if your using the later then you should not have to mess with your ph once set.

 

[anc0]

i think an ec of 0.9 at the early stage is far too high, asumming your water is 0.0 i think an ec of 0.5 might be better.
also canna aqua a/b are for recirculating systems and hydro a/b are for run to waste, iv used both in bubblers and actually found the run to waste to be better.

 

[rambo6372]

i dont know what excalty your problem causing this but if u use liquid karma that always puts my ph to a rock soild 5.8 and it only benefiting you using it hope that helps if u cant get the ph swing under control.

Im using canna aqua flora a+b with no other additives. I would also be willing to try the liquid karma but I went through the listed ingredients and I dont see how it could be any help. Could you delve further into it.