PH UNSTABLE

[SmoKnJo]

Seems that this ph problem is killing me,using a emily's garden with a 400 hps light,temp=80 degrees farh.Soaked medium for 48 hrs in ph balanced water,but still rises 2pts in24 hrs.I do not even have plants in system.I was trying to get ph stable b4 dropping in plants...what could be the cause? everything points to medium..did I not soiak the long enough?..This is 1st hydro grow,normally I grow in soil without problems..any help would be appreciated..thnx guys/gals

[kuri]

hmmmm, i'm not sure what that could be...... i can give you some of my opinions and you see if it feels like it may be something you might try. i personally don't like my water at 80 degrees.... wait is your room 80 or water 80? water should be between 72-75 degrees is what i think is best and room temp is fine if between 70-80 during the day.

OH! make sure that NO light is getting into your water basin! if there is ANY light getting in there, you can get an algae buildup and that can mess with your PH very easily.

[SmoKnJo]

Appreciate it Kuri, Its the water temp thats 80,using a hannah tds meter probes are in res.With regards to light getting in tank ,you are correct again...I will "Go back to drawing board" as they say..thnx

[KanMan]

Our local city water's PH will raise up after it has been ajusted. No nutrients in the water either. 80 degree water temprature is way to high. Best to keep it around 66 to 70 degrees tops.

Good Kannabis Growing!

[SmoKnJo]

[FONT=Arial]Kuri,suspect you might be on the something,I dropped water temp to 74 farh,I adjusted ph to 5.5.what I noticed is that ph slowed greatly,will monitor for a cple of days and get back with you.

[kuri]

smoknjo, cool to hear that things may be leveling off there. sounds like you got good temp and ph there. i said earlier that the rez temp is best between 72-75 which is an NFT system i have.... i like it at that temp because by the time the water makes it to the gully then i suspect the water may have dropped a degree or two before it gets to the roots... what kind of system do yoh have. ?

Kan Man said rez temp should be 66-70 which i do agree with if you have a system like bubbler/ DWC system or some system where your roots are touching your water in the rez... and that temp range is a bit safer IF you have some light leaking in somewhere where algae can start to grow and the algae does like warmer water temps. but if you have the light under control,,, then the roots like 72ish the best.

however IF your room temp is way way high, the you would want the water to be a bit cooler then 72, and if the room temp is too cool, then the water should be a bit warmer. sounds confusing so i should stop. it is just a nice science of balance that you should just be aware of but not stress over. happy growing!!!

[FUNKYRHINO]

are you using city water ?????????? if so chlorine could be the problem . Its very bad for the plants . should fill the res. with bottled= sterile water distilled i believe any deposit bottle water but do not use city water ..... some people say if u let city water sit for 24 hrs it will sterilize B.S is what i think the calcium and chlorine build up in that 24 hrs and u can visibly see it so i would stick with clean water .........i kept water at 68 room temp 75-83

[fhydro]

Hello, emily's garden uses an air pomp as my bubbler. The aquarium seller just told me that to adjust the PH of water with ph minus i have to reduce the air apport in the water. The problem is that ait in the water is the basic of that kind of hydroponic system. So i made an experiment. It seems that the ph is rising immediatly after putting the air stone in a PH 5.5 solution. And after a second balancing, it is quite stable. The experiment is to prepare water with air stone and acid, PH 5.5 or 6, and to wait until it stable, and after putting nutes in it and feed the plants.
I wonder anyway how does Que Bud who uses bubbler systems ...
Que Bud, any advice ?

[SmoKnJo]

Kuri,using a emily's garden,with a 400w hps.Think I may be getting this iss "licked" with all of the help in the forum.What I think is that the 400w lamp is to big for this room,so I changed to a 150hps.I now have water temp a 70f,still raising up but not as fast as b4.FUNKYRHINO,I was using tap water in the city,but it is horrible,now using spring water.Fhydro,I think that may be a good idea also,because I did notice that in my spare res. with no air pump ph has yet to move in 1wk as soon as I add air ph went up.So let me make sure I hear you correctly,adjust ph with air,let settle,adjust if necessary then add nutes?

[fhydro]

Hello all,
yes, smoknjo, that's it. I will make a new experiment. Put a bucket with air stone running during 12 hours. Then i adjust the PH with acid in that aerated water, then put the nutes. I hope that the air amount in the water staying the same the PH won't rise.
What is your ppm level ?
Fhydro

[Nosehit]

are you using city water ?????????? if so chlorine could be the problem . Its very bad for the plants . should fill the res. with bottled= sterile water distilled i believe any deposit bottle water but do not use city water ..... some people say if u let city water sit for 24 hrs it will sterilize B.S is what i think the calcium and chlorine build up in that 24 hrs and u can visibly see it so i would stick with clean water .........i kept water at 68 room temp 75-83

Chlorine will never build, the Cl2 residual will continue to fall until there is no residual. If your city uses free chlorine it will happen rapidly. Most cities use chloramines which is chlorine and ammonia which is more stable and and takes longer to get rid of. If you want to save the cost distilled water just go to wally world and get some shit to eliminate the Chloramines. Or you can just heat the water before you use it this also speeds up dissipation or put it outside in the sunlight that will also work. Calcium doesn't build up either it may precipitate out though.

[SmoKnJo]

fhydro,will give it a try.In the beginning I added another airstone to tank to increase oxygen,I wonder if you slow the pump what affect would that have on ph? I'm going to try to use one air stone and see what happens..kinda feels like a mad scientist..lol

[Nosehit]

fhydro,will give it a try.In the beginning I added another airstone to tank to increase oxygen,I wonder if you slow the pump what affect would that have on ph? I'm going to try to use one air stone and see what happens..kinda feels like a mad scientist..lol

It probably won't make any difference, the pH change is not a cumulative thing. after you start aeration you should be able to adjust the pH and be good for a while. It shouldn't continue to change. I think :rolleyes:

[fhydro]

Yes nosehit, you are right. So the best way to stabilize the PH before feeding the plants is to prepare water before, putting PH down, air stone with the same amount of air, let it oxygen the water, and add PH down to adjust the PH to the final value, and add nutes. But if the air stone is stopped, the PH will be is this case too acid. I tried to adjust the PH to an oxygened water and the problem is the same i have to adjust it after. Air reacts with acid in a few hours.
Fhydro

[bonker7]

stop panicking the ph will all ways change when going throw any thing just let it setel and reajust the ph it will stabel out .doing 2 mutch changes causes more hasel.stay slippery