yes...the ph is a problem....you need to check and adjust it several times a day to keep it normal since you didn't wash or pretreat your hydroton.

Also keep in mind that constantly adding ph down (or up) can cause it's own issues by throwing your ratios off balance.....the ph adjusters are also higher in salts so you'll have to keep changing the water and rez fairly often to keep things stable....again until your ph straightens out.

And with no pretreatment or washing....that could take awhile.

good luck.
Weedhound Reviewed by Weedhound on . First Time DWC W/ Water Farm Buckets This is my first Bucket grow ever. I have done tables before and had great results Soil ect... Then I seen the excellent results People were getting out of 4 bubbler plants with LST. So I Just purchased 2 8 pack Water Farm Bucket Systems. After 5 days I can see that I need to buy a stronger pump and more line cause I cut it all down. I'm running tap water 7.8 dropping it down to 5.8 to 6.3 W/ PH Down. I set up the system without washing the Hydrotone and balancing the PH level of it. I did Rating: 5