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Hi
Im growing in a couple of bubblers (waterfarms)
Im trying to maintain a ph 0f about 5.8,but to do this i have to add some ph down twice a day everyday,
Im not lazy but this just isnt practical for me,im not near the plants all the time and this is getting to be more trouble than its worth.
Is their anyway to keep the ph right without adjusting twice a day?
Im useing A.N 3 part grow,and have switched over to tap water with a starting ph of about 7.5
:rasta:
Ro water and good Ph chems will help keep it down. There are some buffers in the nutrients to help stabilize Ph but in hydroponics it's normal to check and balance it twice a day. Most don't have as much of a problem because they use larger rez so there is more of everything to keep the ph in check but in your small waterfarm there is not as much water or nutrients so there are less buffers.
So in a waterfarm it;s normal to adjust the Ph twice a day.
Welcome to hydro.
Even in our recirculating 16 bucket system which uses around 70 gallons water, we have to balance the pH everyday. If you start with 6.8-6.9 pH water like we do...its a constant battle. But on a smaller system, yeah twice a day is nothing, I could see even more. When I used to do single 20 gallon tubs, they had to be pHed 2-3 times a day.
Ive started using Advanced Nutrients pH down and its been great, keeps it for longer but more specifically... it barely takes a teaspoon to drop our 70 gallons more then 2 whole points (like from 7.0 to 5.0). When your pHing everyday, saving money anywhere you can is great. Make sure you have some pH up though cause its way way way easy to overdo it, especially on a small system. Youd use a couple drops!!
yeah, unfortunatly we have aslo had other discusions in here on the actual ph of the seperate units from the waterfarms. Sometimes the ph in the buckets can be different from the res. So watch out for that aswell. But for the most part find some ph buffers or nutes that maintain your ph. My bitonicare products used to have me phing twice daily aswell, but i started to use better ph down and it helps out alot, now i do it maybe once a day, and in my veggie room i use once every week.
I keep my Ph in check using Sulfuric Acid. Sounds crazy I know but it works like a charm. I put in about 5ml per 4 gal. I am also using the A.N. 3 part and things are going great.
Peace
after a rez change, it's not uncommon for me to adjust the pH twice a day but it tends to get more stable and under control after a few days. I use GH floranova series and supplements. A pH monitor is great to have too. I don't miss dipping into the rez to get a sample or a reading. Not at all
Well it seems its normal then,i thought it was just me having this problem,
Ill do a bit of experimenting,
and a pH monitor with a probe constantly in the rez is a definate for next time.
On my next grow i think ill just have a central rez,not have to be lifting all those buckets all over they place,ill end up droping one of the plants sooner or later.
:rasta:
when i run my drippers instead of a dwc, if i run them 24/7 the ph goes up faster then if i run it at 15 min intervals 4 times a day. Thats how i started to deal with it, but i dont even ph my water in veg to often. the more plants eat the more unstable your ph becomes, i think thats becoming a rule of thumb.
Sulfuric acid isnt too uncommon.
I have been running waterfarms for a while and have had good success. But when I upgraded to more modules and did recirculation ph was way worse. Res and modules were different all the time. Finally just broke it down and doing all the modules separately. Real pita too.
using a larger res. really helps
check Ph once daily at the same time each day helps,near the middle of the light cycle
setting up a 55 gal nuit barrel where the mix can set and stablize for several days befor using is the biggest help
we are building an auto dosing system for Ph
will post more on this as it happens