pH rising quickly

[captaincronik]

hey all, started a dwc plant not long ago, ran into some issues quickly with res temps.. sorted that out hopefully, time will tell.... how ever im still getting a fast raise in PH. so i just did a res change. half tap water, half RO
mixed in the nutrients and enzymes, adjusted ph to 5.8

hour later go to check PH and it reads at
6.8

is there some thing obvious im missing..
could it be from the mild root problem im currently fixng?

 

[Mr. Krip]

I see two possible likely scenarios...When you go back an hour later and the res is at 6.8, and then you adjust it back down again, does it still shoot back up in an hour???

If no, it's just taking your nute mixture time to stabilize. If yes, you likely have some bacteria or something growing in the res which is common with high temps and you may need to totally disinfect the res, pumps, tubing, etc.

Also, you don't mention the size of the plant but, generally speaking, in hydro PH drifts up over time (it should take a lot more than an hour, though! ). As you get some roots in the res, they act as a buffer and PH becomes much more stable.

I hope that helps.

 

[nickeluring]

What additives are you using? Some of them will raise the pH over time. I know Canna's Rhizotonic does it.
I had to change to pH indifferent nutrients. Now I don't ever use my pH meter, and the plants are happier than ever.

 

[captaincronik]

thanks for response guys.
as for plant size its still in seedling stage..

additives are just food. (advanced ph perfect
micro,grow,bloom)

and grozyme (enzymes to help roots)

will have to check res again today at lights on.

will see if its just taking time to stablize like mr.krip said.

also the ph down i have is fairly old... maybe it has a effective shelf life. replaced that with new bottle as well..

well see later today

 

[nickeluring]

additives are just food. (advanced ph perfect
micro,grow,bloom)

If using those nutes, why worry about pH?

 

[captaincronik]

If using those nutes, why worry about pH?

why would i just trust advertising and ignore ph levels because advanced says its "perfect".. how do they know what someone may add to it after.
at the end of the day.. if the ph in the res is off, things wont be optimal.

my ph meter is showing me 6.8 which i thought was high for a dwc bucket.
going to recalibrate my meter today

again im no pro when it comes to any hydro style grow, i see the plant looking not so good.
im trying to diagnose a problem.

 

[Mr. Krip]

Also, have you calibrated the PH meter? The AN PH Perfect nutes, in my experience, are very good at maintaining PH.

 

[Bob Loblaw]

Every time I changed my res I had that issue for the first 24 hr's. As time went on I would get that issue for 24 hr's and then my ph would go down hard constantly until the next res change. I never did figure out what was causing that to happen and have since changed my setup. If you maintain proper ph your crop will be fine despite the fluctuations.

I posted this because there is a small chance we are neighbors... maybe it's something in our water? I've no idea. Did you use the name of a local shop to make part your handle in here? If so I have some Emerald harvest nutes I would like to get rid of, the Emerald harvest people are originally from AN.

 

[nickeluring]

why would i just trust advertising and ignore ph levels because advanced says its "perfect".. how do they know what someone may add to it after.
at the end of the day.. if the ph in the res is off, things wont be optimal.

my ph meter is showing me 6.8 which i thought was high for a dwc bucket.
going to recalibrate my meter today

again im no pro when it comes to any hydro style grow, i see the plant looking not so good.
im trying to diagnose a problem.

If the plants are not looking good and you are using those nutes you can stop thinking the pH is the problem and start looking at other possible causes for your plants well being. Otherwise you'll be wasting your time. These nutes don't care what pH you have in your mix as long as it's between a pH of 4 and 8. I don't think you'll get outside those boundaries so easily.

 

[captaincronik]

Every time I changed my res I had that issue for the first 24 hr's. As time went on I would get that issue for 24 hr's and then my ph would go down hard constantly until the next res change. I never did figure out what was causing that to happen and have since changed my setup. If you maintain proper ph your crop will be fine despite the fluctuations.

I posted this because there is a small chance we are neighbors... maybe it's something in our water? I've no idea. Did you use the name of a local shop to make part your handle in here? If so I have some Emerald harvest nutes I would like to get rid of, the Emerald harvest people are originally from AN.

im in southern ontario about a hour drive north of toronto.
i know i have hard water here. it does go through a softener and a filter thats suoposed to take out chlorine..
either way i installed an RO system because my organic soil needs it...

after everything iv seen in the last 3 days and the responses from you guys, the cause is definitely environmental, being the temp of the res got a little high, as my soil plants are doing fine in the same tent.
and i think my fixes were too late.. may have to toss, clean thoroughly and start fresh with a seed or clone

 

[Bob Loblaw]

I'm in Sask so that was wrong
How far gone are they? you can try peroxide to clean it up. I've used as much as 2.5ml/gal (30%) with no harmful effects IMO.
Enzymes Komplete would probably help with higher water temps, I'm impressed with it anyway, it is also compatible with H2O2. I used frozen water bottles and my incoming cold air to help control water temps. I am always home so that helps.

 

[captaincronik]

I'm in Sask so that was wrong
How far gone are they? you can try peroxide to clean it up. I've used as much as 2.5ml/gal (30%) with no harmful effects IMO.
Enzymes Komplete would probably help with higher water temps, I'm impressed with it anyway, it is also compatible with H2O2. I used frozen water bottles and my incoming cold air to help control water temps. I am always home so that helps.

yea were having some warmer weather this week too.. im gonna see how it does, let it go a bit longer..
may be easier to control once the cooler weather comes in.
do you put frozen bottle right in the bucket where the roots are?
right now iv got my plant bucket (3.5gal) sitting inside a 5 gal since the 3.5 is shorter than the 5 theres room in the bottom for frozen bottles.
also have an insualted grocery bag around the 5 gal

 

[Bob Loblaw]

Oh crap I forgot you're DWC... or I mean I wasn't thinking.
Mine was a nft setup I had a separate 10 gallon res.

Not sure what to suggest, I like the double bucket though. Can you draw cooler air through the airpump? That may be an option.

Seems to me from what I've read z9 or z7 is the answer for higher water temps, I know not what it is other than z7 is the USA version and z9 in Canada.

Oh ya you may want some airflow over the bucket under that lid I'm not positive on that though. I had plastic covers, seems to me after I raised them 3/4" I had less coodies on top. I had top feed and I always kept the entire top damp.

If that aluminum starts to deteriorate I would get rid of it. The nutes are very corrosive. Plastic sheet from signs etc or plastic cardboard. You can re-purpose #2 plastic by melting it into sheets, lots of youtubes on that.

 

[Newdwc]

hey all, started a dwc plant not long ago, ran into some issues quickly with res temps.. sorted that out hopefully, time will tell.... how ever im still getting a fast raise in PH. so i just did a res change. half tap water, half RO
mixed in the nutrients and enzymes, adjusted ph to 5.8

hour later go to check PH and it reads at
6.8

is there some thing obvious im missing..
could it be from the mild root problem im currently fixng?

I pretty much have the same issue as


Hi! Hoping someone can help me out. This is my second run and I’m learning a lot. I run a current culture 40g rdwc system and use the full line of cyco products. I fill up my res with 40g of R/o water and my water out of the faucet has a PH of 7.2, add my nutes (carefully measuring everything). I then use cyco down and bring my PH to 5.9. I do a full water change in 20 min using the pumps to remove the service of water and add the new mix. After 12 hours my PH is back to 6.4. I’m in the 2nd week of veg and would like to keep the PH between 6.0-6.3. My temps are 68-70c and my water temp is at 68 degrees. Can someone with more knowledge than myself please tell me why my PH is going up so fast and what I can do to fix it. THANKS!!!