yellow leaves after a few tries to fix, thinking about changing my setup (hydroton)

[pigling]

grow specs:
300W leds, currently 80-90cm from the plants
temp is moving between 21-30C and humidity is about 30%

a few people might get a heart attack seeing how i tortured my little girls

i had a disease looking yellow decay from the end of the more mature leaves, slowly moving in to the "root" of new leaves, destroying everything


a few notes:

the first appearance of the yellow decay was after i gave it a wrong ph batch (was about 4.5) and after i accidentally used the hydroton without washing it

after fixing the ph i saw no change in the yellow leaves (or the yellow stop from spreading)
so i washed the hydroton first chance i had in my shower (7.5 ph) just to get all the mud and crap out

after washing and draining it in 5.8 water with a bit of biobizz heaven and root juice i thought my problems are over

that's when i cut 6 of the little leaves that looked waiting to die to speed up stuff (which today i saw started new leaves there so it worked)

yesterday i saw in my remaining leaves the cancer i realized its still not solved
most of the pics are from today
the yellow is spreading again soon to destroy all that i love

important notes:
as its my first grow i made a lot of mistakes
i'm not sure that choosing hydroton really helped here as i'm pretty sure its causing the problems

i'm currently draining the hydroton (like a cup with holes with hydroton in a cup of water)
so i can drain it and check it daily for the ph which i'm tracking (moving between 5.7-5.9)

that's where i'm scared i made a mistake because then i realized i'm pretty much growing in water that should be probably flowing not still
then i saw how much water disappear in one day, making me realize its not that bad and might work

i still cant figure out what i'm doing wrong and why the cancer is not going away

i'm considering just buying growing ground
info:
Peat-based soil, perlite and coconut fiber appropriate doses and enriched Bormicoliit and humus. Especially dark soil, with excellent drainage to prevent water hoped ideal development of the root system.
will it do?

before the mess started

about 2 weeks later, it grew but i had cut the yellow leaves

as you can see its still spreading soon killing the newest 6 leaves

so in short
should i switch to ground and will it rid me of my problems? or can it be not from the hydroton at all?
in that case does the ground i choose is good? or should i aim for another mix?

what should i do to get rid of the yellow spread?

*i'm not sure its posted in the right place, please move it if needed*

 

[pigling]

Re: yellow leaves after a few tries to fix, thinking about changing my setup (hydroto

also, look at this picture

i think i need to up the ph to 6.5, that might solve stuff

 

[BuddroGreen]

Re: yellow leaves after a few tries to fix, thinking about changing my setup (hydroto

Keep your pH @ 5.7 - 5.8,..... pH of 6.5 is for soil/dirt. The orange/brown on the seedlings looks like pH issue you had with pH 4.5, that's what pH issue will do along with other things like twisted leaves. Just keep giving pH 5.7 - 5.8 water, make sure you have a good pH pen and calibration solution to keep calibrated.

When the plant gets 2-3 more sets of leaves & roots, then you can start adding a diluted nutrient solution.

Also, anytime you get new hydroton just put in a plastic tote and then boil water, pour over hydroton rocks in tote and soak hydroton rocks until they cool and then rinse, this cleans and sanitizes them....I do this with used hydroton from a previous grow to re-use.

 

[pigling]

Re: yellow leaves after a few tries to fix, thinking about changing my setup (hydroto

the ph was on steady 5.7-5.8 for a week and i saw 2 sets of leaves born and die in it
that is why i think 6.5 will do good because on a look back i had green leaves on tap water before i got my ph meter than saw that the tap water was 7.5

anyway iv'e raised the ph to 6.5 and i'm waiting tomorrow morning for result, hoping for good

 

[FatBeaverBuds]

Re: yellow leaves after a few tries to fix, thinking about changing my setup (hydroto

Buddro just gave you good advice. I'd take it. 6.5 ph is too high....like me

 

[Dr Fish]

Re: yellow leaves after a few tries to fix, thinking about changing my setup (hydroto

If you didn't calibrate your ph meter when you got it, you could be getting wrong readings... Not washing the hydroton is just messy in the bottom of the bucket... Not usually a deal killer... Your plant is still reacting to your previous mistreatment...
I love my hydroton... I've been using some I have, for years... Stick you what you start, dirt farming is not that easy.... To me soil farming really takes more skill... It's easy to blame the hydroton..... By the way, just what is in Biobiz Heaven, and Root Juice???