Can bacteria in my reservoir raise its temperature and affect its pH?

[Scientific]

Question: Could the elevated temperature of the nutrient solution in my reservoir, and possibly the overnight pH drops, be the result of the bacteria culture that I dose the tank with at my weekly water change? (2 ml/gallon Hydroguard brand bacillus)

What I have observed

• My reservoir has been three or four degrees F warmer than the surrounding air temperature.
• The pure water that I'm flushing the reservoir with now is the same temperature as the surrounding air temperature.
• Compost piles dosed with a bacterial culture "compost starter" can heat up so much that they catch fire, so I know vigorous bacterial activity can significantly raise temperature.
• The pH in the reservoir would often drop from 5.8 to 5.2 overnight.

What I have read
"Sometimes pH crashes because of the presence of a large amount of microbial activity in the nutrient solution." -- pH Dynamics at generalhydroponics.com

So I'm wondering if my mysterious pH instability and the mysteriously warm reservoir temperatures may be related side effects of bacterial activity.

By the way, even when the weather got hot and my reservoir temperature was in the mid-80s for days, the roots and the plant stayed healthy. I just really had to watch the pH.

What do you think? Could the elevated temperature of the nutrient solution in my reservoir, and possibly the overnight pH drops, be the result of the bacteria culture that I dose the tank with at my weekly water change? Has anyone seen this sort of thing before?

Thanks!

 

[Scientific]

I just read a post somewhere else here at 420 saying not to underestimate the amount of heat introduced by pumps. I had two submersible pumps running in a small reservoir. I had totally not thought of that. I'll bet that's my heat source, not some woo-woo bacterial process.

 

[Suntana]

Scientific have you got an air stone in your resavoir?

 

[Scientific]

Scientific have you got an air stone in your resavoir?

Yup.

 

[Suntana]

Well air injected into your res will affect your ph, I don't know if it gases off or what but air will cause ph it to rise.

 

[Scientific]

Well air injected into your res will affect your ph, I don't know if it gases off or what but air will cause ph it to rise.

One more variable to consider for Hydro Grow 2.0!

 

[Suntana]

You can just put a small pump running in your res to keep it moving. Works great!

 

[Scientific]

You can just put a small pump running in your res to keep it moving. Works great!

I had an air stone to start, but figured the root mass was pretty effectively blocking any circulation that it was providing so I did add a small circulating pump.

The roots not only blocked the bubble flow but got into the main solution circulation/top feed pump as well.

 

[Suntana]

Beautiful root mass at that!

 

[Scientific]

Beautiful root mass at that!

Thanks. Gotta love hydroponics!

 

[Suntana]

Thanks. Gotta love hydroponics!

I use to grow hydro, started in the mid 90's loved the speed of growth. Never dwc, but recirculating flood tables. I'm in coco now only because I found hydro to much to manage, I ended up with MS in 2005 and do most of the work on my hands and knees, flood tables don't work for that lol. You have to get creative when you have limited mobility. Wife thinks I should give it up HA! Not gonna happen.
Cheers!

 

[Scientific]

I use to grow hydro, started in the mid 90's loved the speed of growth. Never dwc, but recirculating flood tables. I'm in coco now only because I found hydro to much to manage, I ended up with MS in 2005 and do most of the work on my hands and knees, flood tables don't work for that lol. You have to get creative when you have limited mobility. Wife thinks I should give it up HA! Not gonna happen.
Cheers!

Ya gotta have a hobby!

Hydro does require a lot of fussing and fooling around. A priority for next time is a hydro setup that doesn't require me to get down on my hands and knees or quite so much water handling.

I have my first coco grow going out on the deck now. It's fun working in medium that is neither one thing nor the other.

Happy growing!

 

[gr0w]

I had an air stone to start, but figured the root mass was pretty effectively blocking any circulation that it was providing so I did add a small circulating pump.
The roots not only blocked the bubble flow but got into the main solution circulation/top feed pump as well.

you put a submersible pump into the reservoir rather than air stone once you got them into flower?

 

[Scientific]

you put a submersible pump into the reservoir rather than air stone once you got them into flower?

I had a small, boxy, flat reservoir and a huge root mass. I knew from experience with aquariums that really good circulation helps to keep things healthy and that poor circulation (as in clogged with roots) was asking for trouble. My reservoir was also warmer than it should have been. So yeah, I eventually had one small pump sending water up to they hydroton (which you don't really need once the roots hit the water) and another small pump swirling the water in the res. The air stone was right under the pot so pretty tangled up in roots.

I think for good root health the ideal would be a big, room temp, deep reservoir with lots of circulation (and no light of course).