PH Dropping quickly?

Mister E In answer to milkjugs...check water ph before, and a day after put into jugs...you tell us...Is the ph different?

I don't know what would cause the rez to read 5.8, and then 3.6 in tray???

keep us updated Mr E!!

Ok I'll try to update.

The PH of the plain RO water is 6.0 all around. So I'd say my containers are clean and neutral and not affecting PH since I fill them all week long at various times, then into the fridge until needed.

My PH since the res change has stayed at 5.8 since I adjusted it up after adding nutrients.

Since then, I've decided most of my new issues (stiff feeling, downward curving new growth, burned tips) were due to too strong nutrients. My plants may be too young for such a strong (1400+ppm) mixture. So I dipped a clean bucket in and removed about 2 gallons, and replaced with 2 gallons of plain RO water. PPM is now at 1110.

I also took a closer peek inside my grow tub and I decided some of the curl could have been due to "overwatering" maybe? I raised up my growtub another inch and a half or so.. Allowing me to keep the same capacity, just a bit lower water level.

The new growth seems more consistent now, and is not curling down. The branch growth is still very good, one decided to be a triple noded branch. Fine by me, lol.

I *still* have the issue of brown spots (yellowish in the center with a distinct darker brown/rusty border). Spots begin near tips and work their way inwards towards the stem basically. A few leaves have crisped right up. Mid level large fan leaves.

Incidently, if I started again today I'd leave only 1 plant per 10 gallon tub. There's simply not enough room between the plants unless you train them away from each other immediately. Clearly, 5 gallon buckets are the way to go with DWC unless you're going to be training your plants with a firm hand.

I have a much harder time keeping pH consistent with RO water then with water out of the tap. With 18-20 gallon bubblers, I have to adjust pH down every day. The larger the reservoir, the less it needs to be pHed. This is one of the reasons I went with a large recirculating dwc settup. Complicated to setup, theoretically easy to maintain.

PS. Having grown 2 to 4 plants per 20 gallon containers I will never put more then 2 per 20 gallon container and I will train them away from eachother. DWC has explosive growth. I was given a 4 plant 20 gallon bubbler and it was a dissaster, even after flowering immediatly from clone.

Yeah, I also made a recirculating system. Water pump in the res, 1/4" line to the grow tub streaming water 24 hours. It's the only way to be sure everything stays moving.

Mine is just miniature compared to yours. 18 gallon res, 10 gallon grow, 10 gallons total water. 1 airstone in the res, and 1 airstone beneath each plant.

RO water has no PH buffers, so it takes only tiny drops to adjust up/down, but it potentially fluctuates more up/down by the same token. Think so anyway.

Well, after 6 days my PH is back to dropping about a 10th of a point per day. Adjust to 5.8 in the morning, and down to 5.7 by evening. I guess it's my system telling me that it wants to be fully changed every week.

in water culture-------best solution I've found is to elimanate mediums. Yes Virginia ------it ain"t needed. Just another varabile to deal with.

I start at 5.2 and let it drift upward to 6.2-------look at the charts for macro/micro consumption of elements and it makes $ and cents to me.

This is the hbydro board board????????

Alaric

Yes, I'm using a hydro setup. I started the seeds in rapid rooters and placed them in clean hydroton. I use RO water and GH 3 part, some CalMag+ and my PH doesnt rise, it falls.
Since I started using RO water, I've only hd to use the PH Up. Never the Down.

That is odd to me Mr E, I do the RR thing too, then into higromite and I can honestly say I've never had to use the ph up unless I've used too much ph down. Wish I knew what to tell you.....

I'm....... magic! Thats it! ;)

I'm not too concerned I guess. Maybe at the next change in a few days, I'll pull out my water pump and tubing and run it in a weak bleach solution in case I have some funk in there. Res. doesnt smell bad, but it's not too much trouble I guess.

I'm also changing my MH to my HPS this weekend and going to flower (digital ballast makes it easy as a bulb change). If I dont, they're going to be taller than me when they finish, and I can't deal with that. They're still nice and bushy and have been showing pre-flowers for a while now. So I think it's time, come what may.

Also going to order the vaportek 4000 instead of a noisy carbon scrubber setup and we'll see how that goes.