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the ph in my tank keeps skyrocketing for some reason. im using a 50 l tank with hydroton as a medium. im using filtered tap water. i keep having to add ph down every two hours to keep it around 6.0 on ph but it will rocket back up to 7.0 if i dont pay close attention. any ideas on how i can fix this or lower my ph to a stable level and keep it there?:wtf:
any help would be appreciated as its starting to kill my plants
How fast does the change occur?
Is there anything else in the tank and what is the tank made of?
Are you adding anything to it including nutes?
Does the water drain back into the tank after watering your ladies?
Here is what I found when I googled "hydroton ph rising problems":
Rising PH Problems? - GreenPassion.org - Dedicated to Medicinal Cannabis Cultivation and Education
I hear it all the time...........the grower, sets up his tank, carefully adds the appropiate PPM of nutrients to the solution, PH's the system, and adjusts the PH as necessary.
Than the shit hits the fan, within a few hours of setting up the tank, the PH rises dramatically, maybe up to a PH of 8. The grower has no idea why either, they go crazy adjusting the PH again, and still it rises again. You gotta wonder, what gives, right?
I'll tell you what gives.....it's the rock wool!
You HAVE to prepare the rock wool, prior to using it.
Rock wool must be bathed in an acid solution before being used to bring itâ??s normally high pH down. This is done by soaking it in a nitric or phosphoric acid solution with a pH of 4.0 for a day or so. You must still continue measuring and adjusting the pH of your solution to keep the pH at the root system around 5.5 after you put it to use, but it should be much easier. The pH of your solution is rising because as it circulates through the system, the high pH of the rock wool is bringing it up little by little. You also need to make sure that your nutrient solution is properly aerated and the ppm is stable as the interaction of all these factors can affect the pH in your system.
The easiest answer is to use PH'd water:
Everybody should soak the rockwool in no lower than pH 5 water the day before use. This is done to dissolve the lime. The lime will make the pH value raise a full point.
Immediately before use; you flush the rockwool with your nutrient solution. When you flush, you also flush out the dissolved lime.
From this point onwards rockwool does not change the pH in any way. Exception: If you condition your rockwool with a pH lower that 5, you may also damage the fiber itself. As an example: If you use pH 4 water for conditioning, the pH the day after will be 7. The lower pH you use the higher it jumps. Once the fibers are damaged it might take quite a while before the pH stabilizes. So never go below pH 5 with rockwool.
within two hours easily. the tank is just a sterilized rubbermaid bin. yeah im using Advanced nutirents mix of Grow,Micro, and bloom. and ive got it pulling water up from the res in four tubes, one to each lady, they water through the hydroton then drip back into the reservoir. this is my first set up so if im doing it wrong let me know lol
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bringonthedoom
What EBG said. Just substitute Hydrotron wherever he says rock wool.
Othewise, his advice is sound enough.:)
H'tron needs to be heavily pre-rinsed.
If you see any "orange dust" at all, keep rinsing.
Then you need to acid condition it for quite a while, then rinse again.
At least that is what the h'tron makers advise.
I did all of that and then some.
The PH just kept creeping up regardless.:mad:
Way too much work fo' dis lazy guy.
I quit using rockwool and hydrotron.
Now I use coco coir.:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:.
Stand alone, and as a root holder for DWC.
Wanna buy 45 pounds of Hydrotron?;)
Cheap! to a good home.:D
Aloha,
Weezard
thats what i did, i washed those little cubes good in a bleach wash then rinsed it off with a coupld gallons of filtered tap water
Next time pretreat the medium in the low PH solution for 24 hours and then you should be ok. Good job keep on top of the PH though and good luck with it.
You're fortunate someone like Weezard added hs input, I defer to the Weezard, do whatever he says.
True the rockwool may need to be conditioned, but itâ??s a very small part of the whole. The problem lies in the hydroton that is no where close to neutral.
Do your own search here on â??conditioning hydrotonâ?ť here on this site and youâ??ll begin to see what I mean
Do your own experimentâ?¦put hydroton in practically any Ph water and watch the Ph rise. I soaked hydroton for weeksâ?¦continually refreshing the water and the ph continued to rise. The Ph of the hydroton must be adjusted first.
Personally I gave upâ?¦.I gave the hydroton awayâ?¦.went to lava rock. One of my better decisions.
Good luck Bringon
HMR
so should i scrap the hydroton and go with the coco pots? also i currently have the seedling rooting in a small thing similar to the coco pots that i know for a fact is ph neutral. could i just remove the hydroton and let the plant thrive in the current rooting thing?
We used Coco in class at Oaksterdam and that is what they officially recommend too. Since you are still in seedling stage it isn't too late to switch.
Good luck.
Yep they are correct about the upward drifting Ph with both Hydroton and Rockwool, but it can be kept to a minimum of work with a good washing and two long soaks followed by a rinse.
This why I installed an automatic Ph and EC controller, way over kill but I have things to do:rastasmoke: besides constant Ph adjusting.
Aloha weezard
Daddy
Sounds like a peat pot.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bringonthedoom
They are actually a li'l acidic, but that's a good thing in hydro, no?
I chased the 'tron around for a while.
Even followed directions. :)
Tried soaking the 'tron for a week in PH 5.0 using phosphoric acid as a PH down.
Still crept on me.:mad:
Seems not all hydrotron is created equal, yah?
Tried a lot of things, settled on coco.
You can jus' toss it inna net-pot and once it's moist it will not "shed" more than a few specks of coco.
But if you use "spitters" or sprayers, filter the water pump inlet to avoid clogs.
It will not chew-up the impeller like the rock dust will, but it can plug small holes
Disclaimer:
Not all coco is created equal either.:(
The Botanicare that comes in 5k blocks works very well for me.
I also use the small blocks of G.H. coco-tek.
Both are salt-free and have plenty of large fibre.:cool:
Suggest you read-up on coco. It is a superior medium.:thumbsup:
Aloha,
Weezard
ok so i pulled the hydroton out and replaced with with that peat thingy and the ph isnt really climbing as fast i gotta wait a while and see if it chills out. i got the pebbles sitting in another jug to see if it explains the ph increase. my ladies have started to droop, could the stress from this turn them hermy? also i used pretty much all my ph down on this issue, is there a household alternative to ph down that i could use for the moment or should i just suck it up and find some money lol
i know you think ph down is your solution but really the solution is to not use it. For now you must, but I hear that stuff builds up after a while and causes all sorts of issues. RO water, store filtered water or a medium that doesn't cause ph issues would be good alternatives to constantly chancing of ph issues.
Ways around the ph..use lemon juice or muriatic acid or buy the ph down in powder form and add your own water. I just bought a 35lb box for 16 bucks. I know that had to be a misprint which is why I wasnt going to let that deal go, but ordinarily it's still a better price then the liquid form.
Continue to screw around like this and hermies will be your fate. Whether or not this time caused one to develop time will tell. The plants will be stressed from this last ordeal but should pick back up tomorrow or the next day. If they continue to decline then something else has gone wrong. They should not be looking worse, but better as time goes by until they have fully recovered over the next two days. They will start back up where they left off.
I did I did!
"Ways around the ph..use lemon juice or muriatic acid or buy the ph down in powder form and add your own water. I just bought a 35lb box for 16 bucks. I know that had to be a misprint which is why I wasnt going to let that deal go, but ordinarily it's still a better price then the liquid form."
Holy Mackerel!
BOTD- Please disregard that advice!
Agricultural PH down is Phosphoric acid.
Ask for it by name and it's dirt cheap.
(Actually not all that expensive as a product either)
PDT - You overpaid for the bisulphite.:(
'bout 4 times what it costs as a generic.
It's for swimming pools and spas.
Quite unsuitable for horticulture.
Suggest you buy a spa.:D
HCL is also unsuitable.
And lemon juice is variable in it's PH so titration is problematic.
Giving advice that is not rock-solid is no favor, my friend.:)
Someone might take it.;)
Aloha,
Weezard
Good for you Weezard " Giving advice that is not rock-solid is no favor, my friend. Someone might take it "
No moves without all the facts !
Zeffer
alright i changed out the hydroton and the ph problem almost instantly ceased lol i threw that shit out. my ladies are about seven inches tall now and looking beautiful. thank you so much for the help. also where would i ask for phosphoric acid by name? still a newbie so please forgive me.
PH-down - Google Search
It's cheap and plentiful.
e-bay.
Hydro store,
Nursery,
Garden center,
Aquarium store.
Cdot's advertisers.
Jus' type what ya want into google's search box
Do the same thing for PH-up.
(Or any question you may have about anything.)
Pretty soon, you'll be an "oldbie"
Den you can help out da new newbies.:jointsmile:
Tip:
No help dem too much, makes 'em lazy.
An' spoon-feeding is a never-ending, thankless job.:(
Couple fishin' lessons is all most folks need.:thumbsup:
Aloha,
Weezard