Bagseed Grow - TD Hydro under LED's

[TorturedSoul]

Oh, if you are getting municipal water as opposed to getting it from a well on your property, you should be able to take a sample to them and get it tested either for free or for just the cost of the test.

Actually, that's something that I recommend EVERYONE do since while not everyone grows, most everybody drinks (or at least washes dishes/clothes/themselves) the stuff.

You can have a look at... water dash research dot net slash hardness dot htm if you like. Hope that one didn't break the rules. They definitely aren't selling a product that would be in conflict with a sponsor lol.

[Tead]

In the middle of a water change... pardon the brevity.
Interesting to note that the PH of the water/Flora Shield mixture before I put it in the tank was 6.2
The PH of the mixture when I dumped the tank was 7.5
TDS stayed in the low 200's

Cheers

[Tead]

allllllllrighty then....
water changed. PH of water before it went in the tank was 6.2. PH of water in tank 1/2 after it was filled is also 6.2. So far, so good.

Process....
Dumped tank. Mixed Flora Shied per directions (1 part per 100). Added 5 Gal of mix to tank and ran it for several hours while the neut mix cured.
Added 4 Gal RO tap water to empty/clean 5 gal bucket.
Added Awesome Blossom to bring TDS from 250 to 550. Adjusted the TDS up from there to 950 with Ionic Bloom. Let the mix set for a few hours.
Dumped Flora Shied mix
Put 4 Gallons of neut mix into tank. Topped off with PH adjusted tap water (4qts) to bring the tank to 5 Gal. Adjusted TDS with some additional Awesome Blossom and Ionic Bloom.

TorturedSoul... you raise a good point about the test run, but I don't think I'd have any faith in the results unless the test was a full on replication of the real setup. I'm kind of a data-snob. I'm really hoping that the new mix applied post system flush will stabilize the situation without me trying to track down some wierd issue. Perhaps a bit optomistic.... but it sure would be nice.

"when the jug it is in is launched at the little lady's floor-to-ceiling (glass) display shelves full of her most prized "nick-nacks"
Nice! I dropped an open jar of Mayo on the floor once and the concussion on the jar propelled the contents (almost entirely!) directly onto the ceiling. It was one of the strangest things I'd ever seen. No real damage, but it sure was a classic moment.


Cheers!

[Tead]

A note about the previous tank of water...
When I first setup the last tank of water, I over PH Downed it because I'm new to all this and I had my head up my rectum. Anyway, I adjusted it back up with baking soda in a frantic frenzy. I wonder if that somehow caused my PH issues. Is it possible that the baking soda didn't all disolve into the water and being released over time? Perhaps baking soda is evil.
hmmmmmmm.... curiouser and curiouser.

Cheers.

[Tead]

Yet another random thing I feel I should mention....
I have a light layer of brownish algea over the surface of the tank. I assume this is the normal result of combining neuts, water, and heat. It's very light, except at the water line where it tends to build up as it dries out. It's barely noticable visibly against the white background of the tank, but you can feel it's slipperiness with your fingers.
Seems like a natural thing to me... yes?

[obxgardener]

Originally Posted by tead

Yet another random thing I feel I should mention....
I have a light layer of brownish algea over the surface of the tank. I assume this is the normal result of combining neuts, water, and heat. It's very light, except at the water line where it tends to build up as it dries out. It's barely noticable visibly against the white background of the tank, but you can feel it's slipperiness with your fingers.
Seems like a natural thing to me... yes?

I'd change the water and wipe down the tank if it was anything but clear, clean, and sweet smelling...

[Tead]

Final check for the night... PH at 5.9, TDS at 969.
I'll be very curious to see what tomorrow will bring.

Obxgardener, I just did a run of Flora Shield. It's supposed to take care of algea and what not. I'll keep an eye out to see if it returns. Do you think that algea growth would have a dramatic effect on PH levels?

Cheers

[TorturedSoul]

I'd recommend anything that's not supposed to be there. Then again, I happen to know someone who once used a clear (except for the lid) res and due to circumstances he never really got around to removing his rather healthy crop of algae lol. His roots seemed to like the company (not really, more like they didn't really notice). Final harvest might have been affected, who knows? At the time I'd guess that it was just a hobby.

[obxgardener]

Originally Posted by tead

Final check for the night... PH at 5.9, TDS at 969.
I'll be very curious to see what tomorrow will bring.

Obxgardener, I just did a run of Flora Shield. It's supposed to take care of algea and what not. I'll keep an eye out to see if it returns. Do you think that algea growth would have a dramatic effect on PH levels?

Cheers

The algae might be a complete non-issue, or it could be some strain that affects your plants... I'd just clean the system.

[Tead]

Thanks all. I'm in a very warm and humid climate. Things just grow like crazy, including mosses and algeas. I suspect I'll always have some sort of algea issue, but I'm armed with the Flora Shield to take an occasional shot at the growing demons.

On a related note, we're very early in the year, and I'm already concerned about the issues related to heat (like algea growth). This is a soft cabinet in an outside, way non-isulated out-building. I imagine that the overall best way for me to cool my setup (with the small res and the inability to stop heat transfer) would be to chill the water. I might put together a creative cooling device... hmmmmmmm...

alas I ramble....

Cheers

[Tead]

The Story continues...

Left the PH at 5.9 last night at 7pm(ish), and this morning at 7am, the PH is at 7.1.
I added 1 tsp PH down and considered going back to bed.
It would initially look like the system flush made no difference at all.

*sigh*


Cheers

[TorturedSoul]

OUCH! That's too much for my brain. Unless the water that you added was full of gases (chlorine?) and such that outgassed overnight.

Starting to wonder if the combination of nutes/etc that you are using just don't play well together. I'd really hoped that letting everything stand before adjusting (and then letting it stand again) would have done it. Sorry that it didn't fix the issue.

[Tead]

I know... it's killin me. I wonder if my RO system is working ok. It always seemed odd to me that the RO water from my tap had 200ppm TDS. We have really old steel water pipes running under the house, so I always assumed the issue was with the pipes.
Perhaps I'll purchase some 5 gallon jugs o'water at the local market.
I started a thread in the hydro group about my ph issue. Hopefully someone that doesn't follow the grow threads will chime in with some info.

Cheers!

[Tead]

Perhaps I'm over-reacting. I mean, I did just change the tank yesterday. Maybe some major swings are normal for a fresh tank... especially one as small as mine.
I'm going to give it another day of adjustments before I claim that the PH issue still actually lives.

Cheers.

[McBudz]

In response to your visitor messege:

Your pH swings are due to the fact you have maybe 8 plants in a 10 gallon res. The more plants you have in a res the more nutrients you will pull from the solution in a shorter time. These nutrients are what are keeping the pH low. As the plants pull them from solution the pH fluctuates, in your case is going up. The only way to slow down this fluctuation is to allow more gallons per plant. If you go 3-5 gallon solution per plant you will see a less drastic swing.