Do you re pH the water in your reservoir?

[The123321]

I am looking at using autopots with water with calmag with silicon in it. I have been mixing a few days worth at a time and then when I test ph in the water the next day it is like .5 higher. How does that work with a reservoir? Do you test ph in the reservoir every day and then adjust it as needed? Is there a way to keep it from drifting up like that on there? I use gh ph down with tap water on there. If you have to test and adjust the ph every day that takes a lot of the convenience of the autopots out from it on there.

 

[BooMtoLate]

I check my ph 2-3 times a week and adjust as needed

 

[multiVortex]

I am looking at using autopots with water with calmag with silicon in it. I have been mixing a few days worth at a time and then when I test ph in the water the next day it is like .5 higher. How does that work with a reservoir? Do you test ph in the reservoir every day and then adjust it as needed? Is there a way to keep it from drifting up like that on there? I use gh ph down with tap water on there. If you have to test and adjust the ph every day that takes a lot of the convenience of the autopots out from it on there.

Trust me when I say this, you don't want to add silica to your water in hydro. It will make your pH way high, and fight it to come down. Then it will push it back up, you bring it down. Rinse repeat for a few days. If that's something you want to fight, power to you (and to your pH down bill, lol.) I've tried it, on several occasions, and it just isn't worth it. It took an 8oz bottle of pH down to bring down a 50gal res I tried it in the mix (at 3ml/gal) a few months ago.

There can be some benefits to a little bit of it with a recirculating res during flower (where the pH tends to naturally drop), but not on any regular basis.

With autopots, you shouldn't need to frequently adjust the reservoir like you would for a recirculating res, or DWC. You might after a day or two, but the mix shouldn't be moving much on its own. If it drifts a little it isn't a problem as long as it stays well within the 5.5-6.5 range. 5.8 is the sweet spot, but drifting a hair up or down from that isn't a bad thing.

If I were running autopots, or anything else for that matter, I'd be looking really hard at using MegaCrop. It's a one step, full formula, dry nutrient. It's very cost friendly (runs me about $20-$25 for an entire grow, on a 50gal system), dead simple to use, and also grows fantastic plants.

Autopots have been on my list to try at some point, but not sure when. I almost went for it this go, but ended up with a dutch bucket setup instead. As long as that's giving good results, it may be a while before I give it up and try the Autopots. Or it may be the next run, who knows. That's the fun of setting up a tent you can screw around with and try different things.

 

[The123321]

Thanks. I have started putting the silicon in then waiting like 15 minutes before putting the calmag in the water then ph down to 6.2 then it is around 6.7 the next day. I am now looking into trying biotabs with the next grow which say that you can use only tap water and not ph it though I would likely ph it down to like 5.8 then hopefully without the calmag with silicon in it that it hopefully would not drift much. That is the 1 main reason I wanted to try autopots to keep it to where I did not have to put a lot of time in inside the tent as for 1 reason I want to try to keep the tent closed when I can to keep the smell down on there.

 

[BooMtoLate]

You will need cal mag in coco.

 

[multiVortex]

Thanks. I have started putting the silicon in then waiting like 15 minutes before putting the calmag in the water then ph down to 6.2 then it is around 6.7 the next day.

That's the silica doing that. I'd stop using it.

I am now looking into trying biotabs with the next grow which say that you can use only tap water and not ph it though I would likely ph it down to like 5.8 then hopefully without the calmag with silicon in it that it hopefully would not drift much.

I wouldn't try biotabs in coco. At least I assume you followed their directions and used a coco/perlite mix, or straight perlite.

That is the 1 main reason I wanted to try autopots to keep it to where I did not have to put a lot of time in inside the tent as for 1 reason I want to try to keep the tent closed when I can to keep the smell down on there.

Inline fan and carbon filter will help with all that. If going that route, I recommend splurging on an AC Infinite Cloudline, the S6 specifically. It's a bit much for a single 4x4 tent, however running it on lower speeds isn't a bad thing. Plus when the temps get hot, you'll have extra in reserve to move more air.

You'll still leak some smell when you open the tent, but not much you can do about that (without going overboard, lol.)

I've thought about going overboard, but really don't need to. What I really, really want to do is rig up like a dryer vent and then pull air from inside, through a carbon filter, and out the vent. Not a real good place to do that, and I'm not overly keen on putting a hole in the side of the house.

I guess I could suck out of the room, and put the vent a room over in my workshop. Then at least it can look more useful.

The downside to all of that is I would then be bringing in the same amount of air through the natural intakes as would be going out, and I really don't want 300+cfm of 100F, humid AF air coming in at that rate.

 

[The123321]

Thanks. The just add water method they have recommends either using 50 50 peat perlite or 50 50 coco perlite. I am planning to do 50 50 coco perlite on there. I have the ac infinity s6 and it works great with the carbon filter on there. I just want to have as little time needed inside the tent each day as possible and hope that the more expensive biotabs work that way. The just add water method has you using only the line of products they have in the starter kit with tap water with no extra calmag. I am thinking of trying it without the calmag with only the tap water then if I see deficiency then add in the calmag to it. I would rather keep it water only if possible in the reservoir for the autopots with it on there.

 

[multiVortex]

IIRC those bio tab things are intended for soil?

You’re going to want a nutrient in the water, not the coco. A great option for that which works very well and is easy on the wallet is MegaCrop. Especially with weekly water changes. Although in late veg and flower you may find you’re replacing water instead of changing it out. Depends on how much they drink.


If you really want to go all out, you can pick up a bluelab guardian monitor. Monitors EC (also displayable as TDS (ECx500) or PPM (ECx700)), water temp, and pH. It’s constant monitoring, and helpful with reservoirs.

You won’t be overly concerned with water temp, but it's part of the EC probe anyway.

With the res out of the tent, that limits the time open. About the only time you’ll need to be in there is for plant training and such. That shouldn’t be more than 2-3x a week.

Especially when just starting, the simpler you can keep it the better. Autopots are a good start, and with a simple nutrient like MegaCrop you’re well ahead of the game.

With good lighting, and you've already got good ventilation set, you’ll be in for a much easier time than you would be fussing over a bunch of extra stuff.

For calmag, check out the organic calmag from True Plant Science. It has no nitrogen in it, which is a very good thing. It’s also a out the same, sometimes a tick less, than mainline calmag stuff.

 

[The123321]

Thanks. The biotabs website recommends either 50 50 soil perlite or 50 50 coco perlite. I am planning to follow their recommended guide for it. I have looked at the megacrop and may try that in the future. I have 2 autos in coco with dr earth dry amendments on day 24 from seed right now and the plants have had a rough time in the grow on there. I am hoping biotabs helps with the next grow on there.

 

[BooMtoLate]

Your plants are having a hard time because you refuse to take any advice. Same questions posted several times, isn't going to get the answer you want. Auto pots are simple your making way harder then it needs to be. All you need is Mega crop and cal mag, pH up and down.

 

[The123321]

Thanks. I am not asking why my plants are having a hard time. I wanted to try something different and it is not going as easy as I had wanted. I am now looking into a tried and true method and following the nutrient maker recommendation for the biotabs. I learned from the previous mistakes and now want to follow recommended guide which is what I am doing with the biotabs on there. I have looked at the megacrop but it would not work for what I am doing. I am doing plants that are in veg and flowering on the same autopot reservoir which you are not able to do with megacrop from what I have read. With the biotabs and the biotab recommended just add water method I could do that on there. I know I went against many recommendations with the first grow and learned from that and I am now trying to get everything ready to do it right with the biotabs when I plant those in a few weeks. This thread was about ph in the reserveroir and how to manage the drift of it on there.

 

[multiVortex]

You're going to run into problems with plants at different stages on the same autopot system. Nutrient doesn't make a diff for that. If you have to feed each container individually, you've just negated the autopot setup for the most part and made it nothing more than an expensive, glorified watering system.

I get it, you read something somewhere about biotabs and have your mind made up to use them. Best of luck on that. However, you have more issues that are slowly leaking out and you're headed for a big disappointment.

This is not going easy because you're making far, far, far more difficult on yourself. Exactly what BooM said, it was spot on.

Did you pop one auto seed and then wait? Why are they not on the same schedule? How far apart are they?

The good folks here are absolutely willing to help you not bust a grow, but you have to do your part too by giving as much info as you can upfront (like grow setup, number of plants, strain(s), photo or auto, light setup, etc) and be willing to toss out preconceived notions of "what you think" you know.

Sometimes that's a hard pill to swallow. Been there, done that. However, when you end up with a nice harvest you realize that those offering advice (mostly) have your best interests in mind. What exactly is in your best interest (and any new grower, really), you ask? Simple. A successful, as uncomplicated as possible, grow. You get a good grow, you continue to grow and maybe decide it's a great hobby. You bust a grow and you are more likely to throw in the towel, especially if you bust a second one.

I run a tent with nothing but autos. I just did a run in a 4x4 tent, with promix and mega crop. I pulled 17.25oz from that run. Granted it wasn't autopots, but with the right combination of genetics, lighting, environment, nutrients, and plant training, you can really have a nice harvest.

I flipped that run, built out a dutch bucket system (with a recirculating res), and now have 4 more going. Way, way easier to run them all at the same time when you try to automate things like watering/feeding, etc.

So the root of your issue is (or could be depending on exact age diff) running plants at different ages off the same res/feed. Depending how far apart they are, you could be caught up fairly quick or not. Typically by the end of the 4th week, autos should be at close to a full feed.

 

[The123321]

Thanks. I did not want to get into a big why dry amendments do not work in coco talk on this thread because I have threads that talked about that and did not want to repost those questions here and meant for this thread to be only about ph drift in the reservoir. I only have the room for 1 tent really and I want to do perpetual grow in the same tent with 1-2 plants planted every like 6 weeks to where you could harvest 1-2 plants every like 6 weeks and I wanted to do it with autopots on 1 reservoir. That is why I tried dry amendments as that is something that would be able to get the same water from the 1 reservoir for all the plants. I have found that dry amendments is not working as easy as I wanted for the coco which is what many said here which is 1 reason I am now moving away from that to the biotabs. There have been many posts on it working with coco and that is a way I can have the plants all on the 1 reservoir with only water in the reserver as the nutrients are mixed into the pot with the coco on there. They have a recommended guide for biotabs with autopots which I am planning to follow mostly and adapt the grow as needed on there.

BioTabs

biotabs.nl

 

[multiVortex]

MegaCrop is a dry amendment, yes. It also kills it in coco. Plenty use it with coco here.

You aren't going to do plants in different stages off a single reservoir that has nutrients. It would be a disaster. While I can appreciate wanting to be perpetual, start out simple and learn to grow first. You have a nice setup (although I'm not sure about lights, but the rest is solid equipment), but you need to use them as intended.

You're obviously set in what you want to do, so all I can do is wish you luck with what you think you're going to do no matter what.

 

[The123321]

Thanks. The reservoir is only going to have tap water in it. The biotabs are in the pot with the plant. Megacrop is a dry mix you mix with water right? When I said dry amendments I mean dr earth dry fertilizer you mix into the pot with the plant on there.

 

[Hrenklin]

I am looking at using autopots with water with calmag with silicon in it. I have been mixing a few days worth at a time and then when I test ph in the water the next day it is like .5 higher. How does that work with a reservoir? Do you test ph in the reservoir every day and then adjust it as needed? Is there a way to keep it from drifting up like that on there? I use gh ph down with tap water on there. If you have to test and adjust the ph every day that takes a lot of the convenience of the autopots out from it on there.

I use the auto pot with mega crop in coco.

When I change the resevoir I start with 50l of water in a separate tub. Then add the required ammount of megacrop and ph down to 5.5. I let it filter through a water pump for an hour while I tend to my plants. After 1h I adjust ph to 5.5 again then filter for 10m and filter into the resevoir. Let it sit overnight and ph adjust again then open the tubing. I normally dont have to ph for the rest of the week, but still check in the mornings.