Help - First DWC grow - pH is rising to 7.0 after an hour

BirchFarms

420 Member
Hi everybody,

First of all, thank you all for your contributions to this forum. There is an immense wealth of knowledge available here, without which I would have absolutely never made it to this point in my growing career.

Today I set up my first DWC system. I have grown in soil up to this point, with reasonably good success. I made the switch to DWC in hopes of achieving the porn-level results I have seen posted here.

My setup is pretty standard: two 5 gallon buckets with net pots, hydroton, and 4-inch air stones. They are in my 2' x 3' veg tent, lit by a 300w LED.

The ladies are Mint Cookies and Sour Diesel, clones were purchased from a local dispensary.

I set up the system about 6 hours ago. When I mixed the nutrient solution (tap water, botanicare pureblend pro grow, cal-mag, and pureblend tea, total EC 1.2), I pH'd to 5.9 using juice from a fresh lemon.

I checked in about 4 hours later, and the pH had risen to 7.0, I added more lemon juice bringing it back down to 5.9. I just checked again, after about an hour, and the pH has already risen to 6.7.

I have read that it is normal for the pH to rise slowly over time, but this seems much too fast to be normal. I am fearing a lockout on day 1.

Does anyone know what may be causing this, and how to fix it? Please help me my save my babies. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

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Hi,
Are you setting the tap water out for at lest 24hrs before using?

Did you wash the hydroton out before using?

I would go ahead and pick up some ph down and up.

The juice could be messing with something in the mix.

You should not be getting that much movement in that amount of time.

I use Botanicare Kind and it is rare for me to use any up or down.

When I mix it with my tap water that has been set out it comes out close enough that I do not need to add any up or down at the time of mixing.

I use 3/4 of what they recommend to use on their chart.
 
I would also recommend that you get some 6" tops for your buckets the next run.

That way you can just slide the top over a little so you can see into the bucket and you can fill and check ph without lifting the top.

Also you might want to pick up a cheap battery transfer pump. They cost less then $20 and they make it real easy to move water between buckets.
 
If you don't have a sight tube on the buckets, buy two 1/2" grommets and 2-90* barbs and add a sight tube to each bucket.... Raise the buckets off the floor about 6-8"... Then it'll be simple to drain and sample.. It only takes a drill, and a 13/16" spade bit.. That type of drill bit has a little tooth on each outside of the bit that cuts a perfect hole .. In less than 10 minutes you'll have much improved grow buckets...
Thats a lot of hydroton to keep wet enough for the roots to grow through.... I don't think it'll ever get wet enough with bubble splash alone.... You may need to have the net pot a few inches deep in the water, to begin with, then move the water down as it takes hold...
 
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