ph always high

[clayboy]

I'm on my first hydro grow so please excuse my lack of knowledge. It seems like it's a daily battle with the ph level. What causes it to rise exactly?? I check it at least once a day and it's always on the high end.

thx

[oldsanclem]

Lets work backwards
The size of the tank , bigger is better, and more stable
I have used phos acid and battery acid (note alittle goes a long way real fast) also battery acid has a free atom, what ever that means.
I have a 100 gallon tank , with a mixing pump, and air stone going all the time.
Its best to premix the tank 1/2 hr before the filling sequence.
Always go slow when mixing the acid , outher wise your chasing you tail.
Not that a pot smoker has been known to chase some tail.

[Weedhound]

100 gallons! How many nice plants are you growing in that?

[hydroislife]

add in fulvic acid helps to stabilize pH. . . diamond nector by general hydro works good . . . use it at 10ml per gallon . . they say up to 30 . . but im my opinion its a waste

[doco]

Clayboy I am on my first hydro grow too and experienced the same thing. After a while ( a week or so) it should stabilize within a couple of points or so of your target...mine climbs to 6.1 or so (my target is 5.8) but for a while it was hitting 6.7 every night.

Here is what Weedhound said when I asked "why?" too:

"I was told that the process of destruction of the plant tissue itself causes ph to rise. For me, it's usually the first sign that I have done something wrong. Not only does it go up quickly, its hard to bring back down and just doesn't want to stay there until the plant stabilizes. This is not like the rising ph at the end of flowering which is normal and due to high nutrient needs."

Make sure your pH pen is calibrated and learn to trust it - you'll be fine.

[Weedhound]

Doco, I can't believe someone actually listened to me. You're a wild one my boy. :thumbsup: :jointsmile:

[clayboy]

Yeah I've noticed it's kinda stabilized now, instead of having to lower the ph 2x a day, I'm down to 1x a day and even then it's not skyrocketing on me like it was the first few days. By the way I'm using a 2 gallon active drip.

[Weedhound]

As your ppms get higher it should be easier to stablilize because there are usually buffers in the nutrients mixes to keep ph stable. Lots of nutes....more stability.. Sometimes tap water can be hard to stablize ph as well depending upon whats in it....don't know if you are using reg tap water but if it has stabilized that's neither here nor there at this point.

When I start to worry about my ph is when it starts rising very quickly without an obvious reason....as it certainly can suggest things like heat stress, overnuting etc etc and I like to find out why....hopefully before the plant crashes down around my ears. Nute burn is the most common one that raises ph like that imo.

The more you grow the more you will take notice of things that don't seem normal and be able to use that info to your advantage. Practice....

Wow, I'm still impressed about Doco... :D

[doco]

Wow, I'm still impressed about Doco... :D

LOL, that should not surprise you. I have been hanging around this site for awhile now, and I have seen a lot of misinformation spewed about. When I see or hear something that seems accurate and logical, I file it away. Your answer to my question had both attributes. :D

Sorry to jack your thread Clayboy!