Questions on Nutrient Strength and PH stability

Hey people. So I'm 5 weeks into flowering. The buds are coming in nicely but I'm having trouble keeeping the PH balanced in the rockwool. About every 3 hours or so the PH drops significantly and I have to continually increase it all day long.

The top of my plants are starting to look burned? on the tips. I'm sure it could very easily be the PH but it also leads me to a nutrient question. Everywhere I read it says to use somewhere between 30% and 50% strength. However, I'm also reading that your PPM should be somewhere around 1200 for flowering.

I am using the GH 3 part system with (micro, bloom and grow). Following the suggestions on the back I put in 3 parts Bloom, 2 parts micro and 1 part grow. But when I use a 50% mix, the PPM is only at 750.

Any comments on nutrient strength?
Any comments on stabilizing PH?

is rockwool your actual grow medium ?
i've read it's really unstable as far as ph . i just use it in starter cube form and put it in hydroton once nicly rooted . my ph only jumps once usually like 12-24 hrs. after a full nute change . i tend to start out at 5.2 now because i'm a lazy high-on and i know it usually jumps a full point =1.0 in that amount of time so it ends up at like5.9 - 6.2 or so .
peace
crispi

p/s
nutes at 750 that far along shouldn't lead to nute burn , atleast w/ most strains . i'm just getting flowers and am up at about 900 ppm. already . try a lil cal-mag in w/ your g/h 3 part . i use the g/h 321/123 recipe also and now add a tsp. per gal. of cal-mag
peace

Thanks and yes I'm using rockwool as the primary growing medium. So far I haven't had any proplems, excecpt for the PH in balance. I also forgot to mention that I am also adding in the Cal-Mag. This far into flowering will 750ppm be enough. That's at 50% strength but the number feels really low.

what strain are you growing ?
1/2 of my garden is fussy ass blueberry and they're puttin up w/ 900 ppm easy . i usually don't like going much over 1200 ppm . atleast so far . 3-4 hydro grows under my belt . i'm still learning lil bits n peaces tho . look at bluebears thread on waterfarms / bubblers for help also . so far bluebear , weedhound , and a cpl. others have been the voices behind my questions answers . got lotsa experience w/ my head in the dirt =like 15 yrs. worth , but i'm hooked on hydro now . way way fast , n relatively easy .
peace
crispi

Xcrispy how are you mixing the 3 part? The micro always needs to be mixed in first for some reason, I think that they even state this on there sight or else some changes can take place in the nutes. RW as a medium is not what I like for the fact of the PH fluxes.
If you are mixing the 3 part the way I said then I would back the nutes up to about 500 for about 4 or 5 days and if they still are thriving and don't show any new burns then I would go up from there. Depending on res temps and weather or not you have used any other nutes throughout the grow, I can't remember if you were using the Battani then you may have a different bacterial inviron ment in your water that has changed the bacterial system around some and it is amplifying the efficiency of your 3 part so you may be actually be getting about 1400 PPM from your 700 PPM mix and if this is the case it will also throw off the PH. Your PH may even stabilize once you take down the PPM if what I am saying has any baring.
Adieu your cuz Blue
PS. I have a plant right now that is so burnt that you would think that I had been torturing it a little, but it is fattening up so much that I am just letting her ride it out, because I would have to mix a separate batch of nutes for her, and at this point she is producing more than her sister so what can you do...

hey Blue ,
i'm using gen. hydro flora . their recipe 321 / 123 . mixing micro. 1st - grow 2nd - bloom 3rd . then adding 1 tsp. of cal-mag per gallon . we have pretty decednt water here only 70-80 ppm . so i haven't been to worried about r/o water etc.

ph hasn't flux. since we got it all recirculating . just the usual ph rise in the first 12-24 hrs . then re-adjust once n were good .

i been using flora kleen now n then too .
last grow was a leaning exp. whenever they got ugly i'd flush the hell outa em w/ F/K -n- start low w/ ppm n wrk my way back up till i find their happy spot . kinda like you had just described .

didn't have a good p/h pen last go round either , fishtank 2 drops deal was a pita so p/h wasn't watched as closely as this time . got a good milwakee for 22.00 on ebay .

i found g/h flora series in 6 gal. jugs for real cheap too w/ free shipping .lol like 210lbs . they sure screwed themselves on that one . hydro empire .com

i don't like all the wet -n- ph horror stories w/ R/W as a medium , i even pre-soak my starter cubes overnight in p/h adj. water due to stories i've read on here . i found a local source for hydroton for cheap -n- got 5 -50lb. bags for 100.00 .

wish my balls were big enuf to post some pics. but they're not . lol
peace
your cuz
crispi

hey Blue ,
i'm using gen. hydro flora . their recipe 321 / 123 . mixing micro. 1st - grow 2nd - bloom 3rd . then adding 1 tsp. of cal-mag per gallon . we have pretty decednt water here only 70-80 ppm . so i haven't been to worried about r/o water etc.

ph hasn't flux. since we got it all recirculating . just the usual ph rise in the first 12-24 hrs . then re-adjust once n were good . :)

i been using flora kleen now n then too .
last grow was a leaning exp. whenever they got ugly i'd flush the hell outa em w/ F/K -n- start low w/ ppm n wrk my way back up till i find their happy spot . kinda like you had just described .

didn't have a good p/h pen last go round either , fishtank 2 drops deal was a pita so p/h wasn't watched as closely as this time . got a good milwakee for 22.00 on ebay .

i found g/h flora series in 6 gal. jugs for real cheap too w/ free shipping .lol like 210lbs . they sure screwed themselves on that one . hydro empire .com :dance:

i don't like all the wet -n- ph horror stories w/ R/W as a medium , i even pre-soak my starter cubes overnight in p/h adj. water due to stories i've read on here . i found a local source for hydroton for cheap -n- got 5 -50lb. bags for 100.00 .

wish my balls were big enuf to post some pics. but they're not . lol :(
peace
your cuz
crispi :thumbsup:

Xcrispi, I miss read the first post, the thread starter and thought that you started it. My bad. Well, I am glad that your grow is getting tuned in and I can't believe you got that pen/meater for that cheep, that is just a steell.
I am curious, what state are you in? Because I was wondering if your state go's by plant numbers for guidelines? It just seems like you could have less work in the way of all of those buckets if you had a different set up with maybe a little more plants, but if this suits you then I will keep my trap shut.
Adieu your cuz Blue

hey Blue ,
before my trip to hell n back it wasn't uncommon to find 100 2 gal. pots here doing sog , but in dirt . so 6 or 8 in water is kinda easy , on the effort part and my peace of mind .

12 plants or less -n- i'm cool , sorta ? norml claims = $20,000.00 and or 5 years . lol . cry personal , -n- booo hooo i hurt. i'm way tore up bro . only 4 cities in my state are med legal and i'm in 1 of em . but if you piss the city off = the county , state or feds. are probably gonna be comin . anymore than 12 now here -n- look out . huge huge jailtime -n- monster fines. manufacture w/ intent to distribute , god knows what ?

no havin to keep your trap shut man . i invite the feedback , i'm not too old to learn a lil .
maybe orangeman can give ya'll the gro report after the first of the year , were only like 30 min. apart . we'll see .
peace
crispi
the p/h pen deal = fuk yeah . they wanted like 90.00 local . :thumbsup:

sorry for past dbl. post . i'm a high on n not catch it quick enuf to remove .
bad bad bad bad bad
crispi

I happen to be thrilled with the recirculating thing--my drippers haven't been so clean since the plants were seedlings and the plants are going nuts with semi-fresh nutes every day. I can already see my russian thing is much more frosty than the last batch and the last batch was nothing to sneeze at!! Yee Hee!

recirculating systems using rockwool allows rockwool to build up toxic levels of certain nutrients. That is why Porfessional commercial growers drip to waste. If you apply fresah nutrient solution...It is said that it will control the toxidity levels of the rockwool, because with the fresh solution the nutrient levels are balanced.

I prefer to use hydroton in drip systems, due to the inert nature of the expanded clay.

I only use rockwool for cloning or seed starting, and the blocks do well in dwc, because you are not washing nutes over/thru the rockwool causing the ph to fluctuate. So unless you are dripping to waste; you should look into changing your medium. later gotta go

If you don't know what drip to waist means, it means that the solution/nutes leav the system to another ress or drain after coming in contact with the plant/rockW and do not recerculate back threw the system, the drippers are providing fresh nutes/water with every feeding. So basicly to avoid the PH flux you can do drip to waist or place rooted clones in hydro rocks with just the roots only. Another way to do it is have a small bubble cloner that uses the smallest net pots and once roots start coming threw just place the whole net pot into a larger one and surround with hydro rocks. Not all people face serious probs with the RW, but many do and just deal with it in drip set ups.
Adieu

hey guys;) good thread; i'm learning...

could someone maybe post a link to a diy, or a begginer's guide or something?

darling bear, crispi, you've got mail...

love, kp

Thanks guys. Yeah I'm on the drippers and Rockwool. Never thought of running off to waste. That's a really good idea. I'll try that.

now one thing. the commercial guys I know. water for like 45 seconds, every 5 minutes, and they are using micro drip lines, in dutch hydro buckets, or leach trays. a smaller pump will save nutrients...there are some obstacles to converting to drip to waste. think/read about it, later.