Help with Nutes pH and PPM

[closetcase420]

I'm running a DWC set up using GH Flora Trio series (but not yet).

I'm just about two weeks into veg not using any nutrients as of yet.

I have a couple of unhealthy plants and I need help understanding what I'm seeing with my PH and PPM results.

The water level in my bucket hasn't really changed since no roots have dropped into the solution yet. I noticed my PH dropped from 6.2 yesterday to 5.9 today and the PPM went from 436 yesterday to 465 today. If the water level hasn't changed why would the PH go down and the PPM go up?

All the details are in the journal thread in my signature. I appreciate any help.

 

[closetcase420]

I think my signature got left out.

 

[Tead]

evaporation?

 

[Emilya Green]

double posting?

 

[closetcase420]

double posting?

I did, sorry I was hoping I could draw a few more eyes to the thread since I wasn't getting any feedback.

 

[Papageno]

I posted some stuff to your journal. After reading through it I think you need to turn down the frequency and duration of your drip. The nutes are not an issue at this point.

Your original statement of the Ph dropping from 6.2 to 5.9 wont get a lot of reaction here. 5.7-5.9 is considered ideal. 6.2 is a bit high. good for some nute intake but bad for others. 6.4 is the absolute top before you start to have issues but if you don't let it sit there for long that is still fine. But asking us what is wrong because the Ph settled to the ideal spot is hard to answer.

PPM is kind of irrelevant at the age of your plants. They are not involved with the res yet even with your top drip. They are not big enough to eat enough to be measurable. At best you probably are looking at wash off of the clay medium. Did you thoroughly wash the clay before starting?

Best of luck!

 

[closetcase420]

As soon as I finished reading your thread I backed the drip off. I had it as a constant drip directly butted up against the rooter. Kinda of makes me wonder because I've heard people say before they couldn't even reuse their clay because of so much root growth. I've only had root growth straight down, never outwards. Think that is because of the drip?

I did thoroughly wash the clay before I used it the first time however this is the second grow I've the clay for. Half the clay is old and half is new. it's all mixed together at this point.

 

[Papageno]

Well when I did top drip I could not find a timer that allowed for short enough times. I got an Apollo horticulture one and that allowed for a 15 min drip which was way too long even backing it off to once every 6 hours. I wasn't using rooting media and it still was way too much (IMO). Constant drip will kill the roots. If you are using a rooting cube (I use peat as well I like it much better) then you need no drip at all. If you design the aeration right (good air stones) so that water wicks into the basket it will be wet enough and need no top drip. Those rooting media retain water very well and need no help.

And yup that is the root to the fake problem you don't need to solve. Your old media is not clean at all. You should always wash out the media.

I use a living tea in my DWC grows. I do not run sterile. I make my own stuff which is way better than the stuff you can buy and I get superior results but at the end of the grow I have a ton of clean up. Living teas mean a bunch of stuff is shitting in your res. I know how to maintain a res and I don't need to dump it out. I dump the res at light cycle change and for flush. So I end up with a nasty system at the end of the grow and I need to clean everything. I can't imagine it really is all that much different even if you run sterile. I would imagine everyone has to clean up at the end of the grow. Reusing the media "as is"...well that just sounds ...um....welllllll....lets say not smart?

Top drip is just bogus. Looks cool...but a popper aero RDWC system under the lid works way better. As soon as the plant takes hold a top drip needs to be shut off.