question about ph...
- Thread starter zukinjo
- Start date
dollars to donuts, great white has bacteria in it, but yeah. back on topic.
wachoo mean mang?
S
SeaMaiden
I personally don't mess around with it. I put water in the container, dump in my stuff, add the bubbler and we're off.
Reverse osmosis water has no alkalinity at all. That means that whatever you put in it is going to have a large effect on the pH. My tap water (deep well) is heavily alkaline (defined as resistance to pH shift) due to a high level of carbonates, therefore the pH doesn't shift easily at all, and when it does it tends to bounce back.
Reverse osmosis water has no alkalinity at all. That means that whatever you put in it is going to have a large effect on the pH. My tap water (deep well) is heavily alkaline (defined as resistance to pH shift) due to a high level of carbonates, therefore the pH doesn't shift easily at all, and when it does it tends to bounce back.
to be clear, you're doing a drain to waste coco system and your ph is going bonkers?
and are you using tap or filter water? i know folks asked that but i dont see that you answered.
and are you using tap or filter water? i know folks asked that but i dont see that you answered.
huh. my best guess is that it's your water too. it's probably the hardness / alkalinity of it causing the pH swing, rather than some funky microorganism. no need to guess about it though. it should be easy enough to isolate the cause. that is, if you even want to. pH fluctuations in and of themselves aren't going to hurt your roots (or any part of your plant, necessarily). the reason we monitor pH is because certain nutrients are less available to the plant when the pH is out of whack. hence the term pH lockout. if your plants look healthy, i wouldn't trip out too hard about it. if you're seeing signs of deficiencies, then put some more energy into it. what's the baseline for your tap water? if your pH is much higher than 7 or your EC is 0.4 or higher, chances are you know what your problem is. do an experiment to verify it.
first though, a note regarding sterilization. i do run a dead rez in my rdwc system because a. the roots are constantly submerged in water and consequently are prone to rot, and b. because if one plant gets sick, it will spread like herpes to the others since they're all basically drinking out of the same cup. peroxide and uv lights saved my ass. in a DTW system though, sterilization is going to be overkill. that said, consider removing from the menu anything that is derived from or which contains living things. this would include aminos, sugars, bennies of any kind, guanos, plant extracts, fish emulsions, anything that has -zyme in the name, etc. basically, you're going to want to limit yourself to your base nutes, cal mag, and a PK bloom booster—at least until you've figured out what's causing your problem. for what it's worth, ptone's idea of a sterile rez probably isn't sterile, but file that information away for another day.
first thing you'll want to do is to empty your rez and scrub and rinse your rez. next, treat it with an anti-biological agent. i like physan (or any other quaternary ammonia), but bleach will work reasonably well if that's what you've got. rinse again. now you're ready to start testing variables. i'd start by checking my water since that seems to be the consensus best guess.
1. mix a control batch in your current rez. in the interest of time, consider doing a half sized batch. just make sure you mix enough to last you to the point where you're usually seeing the pH jump around. note everything you do, everything you add, in what order, &c. record your pH. check it at regular intervals (say every 12 hours) and record any fluctuations.
1a. this is probably obvious, but you aren't mixing your nutes in concentrated form, are you? this would cause the ions in your salts to precipitate out of solution, thus driving your pH up as they do.
2. run through all your nutes. rinse out your rez.
3. repeat step 1, but change one thing. this time you're going to use clean water instead of what comes out of your tap. i'm guessing that you don't already have an RO filter or we wouldn't be having this conversation. if you've got water machines near you, they're probably the most economical option. just check that they've been serviced recently and that the water coming out of them is actually 6.5-7.0 pH and 0.0 EC. in the alternative, distilled or purified drinking water are fine. i'd shy away from spring water (or drinking water like dasani which have salts added for flavor) as these will have some dissolved solids in them. record everything for comparison.
did that fix your problem? i hope so. if not, check that you followed your technique to a T. otherwise, repost it and we can try something new.
hope that helps. apologies if i was cranky with anyone. anymore i spend too much time with the plants and not nearly enough time putting up with other human beings and their bullshit.
first though, a note regarding sterilization. i do run a dead rez in my rdwc system because a. the roots are constantly submerged in water and consequently are prone to rot, and b. because if one plant gets sick, it will spread like herpes to the others since they're all basically drinking out of the same cup. peroxide and uv lights saved my ass. in a DTW system though, sterilization is going to be overkill. that said, consider removing from the menu anything that is derived from or which contains living things. this would include aminos, sugars, bennies of any kind, guanos, plant extracts, fish emulsions, anything that has -zyme in the name, etc. basically, you're going to want to limit yourself to your base nutes, cal mag, and a PK bloom booster—at least until you've figured out what's causing your problem. for what it's worth, ptone's idea of a sterile rez probably isn't sterile, but file that information away for another day.
first thing you'll want to do is to empty your rez and scrub and rinse your rez. next, treat it with an anti-biological agent. i like physan (or any other quaternary ammonia), but bleach will work reasonably well if that's what you've got. rinse again. now you're ready to start testing variables. i'd start by checking my water since that seems to be the consensus best guess.
1. mix a control batch in your current rez. in the interest of time, consider doing a half sized batch. just make sure you mix enough to last you to the point where you're usually seeing the pH jump around. note everything you do, everything you add, in what order, &c. record your pH. check it at regular intervals (say every 12 hours) and record any fluctuations.
1a. this is probably obvious, but you aren't mixing your nutes in concentrated form, are you? this would cause the ions in your salts to precipitate out of solution, thus driving your pH up as they do.
2. run through all your nutes. rinse out your rez.
3. repeat step 1, but change one thing. this time you're going to use clean water instead of what comes out of your tap. i'm guessing that you don't already have an RO filter or we wouldn't be having this conversation. if you've got water machines near you, they're probably the most economical option. just check that they've been serviced recently and that the water coming out of them is actually 6.5-7.0 pH and 0.0 EC. in the alternative, distilled or purified drinking water are fine. i'd shy away from spring water (or drinking water like dasani which have salts added for flavor) as these will have some dissolved solids in them. record everything for comparison.
did that fix your problem? i hope so. if not, check that you followed your technique to a T. otherwise, repost it and we can try something new.
hope that helps. apologies if i was cranky with anyone. anymore i spend too much time with the plants and not nearly enough time putting up with other human beings and their bullshit.
zukinjo
Member
i didnt do my coco run yet...i wanted to do it but first i wanted to see if its stable...had a filling that its not so simple just mix up my nutes a lil bit of ph down and u are fine...so i dont know if the plants can handle it or not... i ve done a test run with my rez...and it went up for a point or two...
My tapwater ph is 8.2 so to high...and with ph down i put i to 6.0...
Appreciate the help...
My tapwater ph is 8.2 so to high...and with ph down i put i to 6.0...
Appreciate the help...
i'm going to try again, your answer is in here:
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=23357
good luck,
cm
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=23357
good luck,
cm
i just realized you asked how we mix our nutes, so i didn't even answer your question. 1000 pardons.
i don't pH adjust my water to start.
first, i add my base nutes.
next, anything else that's NPK. a PK bloom booster is probably all you've got.
then, CalMag (if you're using it) and anything else acidic like b vitamins.
next, anything that's going to drive the pH down. k silicate & physan in my case.
NOW, i check the pH and adjust to 5.8.
finally, add anything else that's mostly neutral (sugars, plant extracts, H2O2, sm-90, etc).
adjust again.
rock on.
i don't pH adjust my water to start.
first, i add my base nutes.
next, anything else that's NPK. a PK bloom booster is probably all you've got.
then, CalMag (if you're using it) and anything else acidic like b vitamins.
next, anything that's going to drive the pH down. k silicate & physan in my case.
NOW, i check the pH and adjust to 5.8.
finally, add anything else that's mostly neutral (sugars, plant extracts, H2O2, sm-90, etc).
adjust again.
rock on.
Hey buddy. I do. Coco at 5.8 strictly. House and gardens line with rock resinator in there with some advanced and primordial solutions and always use budswel bat guano its great. I do Pre 98 some of the planets a GSC cut and Deep Sleep. Best meds period. Happy gardeningIve done all my grows in soil to right about now...i bought bluemats to start my first coco grow...starting next month...
When i mix up my fertelizer and water i add ph down to about 6.5 in flowering...and last time i didnt use all my fertelizer (about 3 days after) i checked the ph again and it was about 7.5...and i know thats normal...but can anybody explain why that happens?
I am worried when i will do my coco grow the ph of my solution in the
reservoir will be 5.8-6.0 and whit time the ph will go up to much and the plants wont like it?
Am i whey off or is there something i dont know?
And guys keep up the good with work helping guys like me...
peace....
Toss in some great white initially when transplanting and everyother week 2 1/2 small blue scoops per 5 gallon. Coco is inert nothing existing thats why the ph is lower than soils. I strongly recommmend putting growstones about an inch deep in bottom of pots. Use 5 gallon tall pots. Happy gardening. I have nothing to do with the companies I spoke of but nothing compares to house and gardens in coco. I use Biobizz brand coco and ONLY R/O WATER WITH 5 mils of Cal Mag per gallon.
