pH in hydroponics (auto-drip coco)???

[nalani]

I recently got my plants a hydroponic system, but keeping the pH level in it at 5.5 - 6.0 is really difficult. The water with nutrients in it is at about 6.8, and then we add "GHE pH down" which lowers it to 5.5 - 6.0. But after a few hours its back to 6.5.
Could the problem be that the plants are eating up the nutrients and leaving the pH closer to clean water pH? :P
And should i just leave the pH at 6.5 ?


Oh btw, plants are just about 10cm tall, growing a bit slow compared to what i'm reading on this chat, but they look healthy.

nalani Reviewed by nalani on 10-26-2008. pH in hydroponics (auto-drip coco)??? I recently got my plants a hydroponic system, but keeping the pH level in it at 5.5 - 6.0 is really difficult. The water with nutrients in it is at about 6.8, and then we add "GHE pH down" which lowers it to 5.5 - 6.0. But after a few hours its back to 6.5. Could the problem be that the plants are eating up the nutrients and leaving the pH closer to clean water pH? :P And should i just leave the pH at 6.5 ? Oh btw, plants are just about 10cm tall, growing a bit slow compared to what i'm Rating: 5

[polishpollack]

Don't try to fight the pH too much. You'll never win. What you're using to lower it loses strength after a while. Why people think they need to be in the 5's I'll never understand. As long as the plant looks good, don't worry. Just consider using a higher PPM as the plant grows, if necessary.

[Help_Needed]

Don't try to fight the pH too much. You'll never win. What you're using to lower it loses strength after a while. Why people think they need to be in the 5's I'll never understand. As long as the plant looks good, don't worry. Just consider using a higher PPM as the plant grows, if necessary.

Please, please, please, ignore this advice. I'm sorry, Polish, but you couldn't be more wrong.

Having correct pH in a hydro system is CRITICAL to keeping your plants healthy. You need to figure out what's buffering your pH (making it so hard to get it to go down). What type of water and nutes are you using? What's your TDS/PPM at right now? What's the grow medium? How does your reservoir smell? How do your roots look?

Hmmmm....think that about covers the key questions, at least what I can think of for now.

[nalani]

Well i'm just using the regular icelandic tap water and i'm using GHE flora series nutes.
I've got no idea what you mean by TDS/PPM though :S I'm growing in Coco and me reservoir smells no diffrent then the day i got it :P I am afraid to check how the roots look cus i havent let them stay in the coco long enough for them to get some good hold i think.

[Wobster]

He he he... its a good thing you disabled your rep polishpollack. I dont know if you can get negative rep but you'd be down there if you could judging by that post and another I've seen.

TDS/PPM - Total dissolved solids/parts per million.

This is the amount of other things in your water apart from the water itself. Sodium, Calcium, Magnesium etc. A TDS meter is a vital piece of equipment if you are growing in hydro. Without it, success is going to be near impossible.

[stinkyattic]

Nalani, you have a coco starter medium and going into hydro?
Check that your nutrients are designed for HYDRO and not soil, because quality soil nutrients are designed to buffer at pH 6.7 or so, which is correct for dirt.
If your plnats are living in a coco medium for a long time, use a coco nute or add some calmag to your hydro nute.
A PPM/TDS/EC meter is definitely important for running hydro! It will make your life SO mcuh easier. I used to run without one and it was not as easy as with one- you have to change the res more often because you don't knwo your nute strength adn have to do a lot more math, lol!
I am also becoming concerned with a couple pieces of 'information' from one poster. pH is an important concept to understand if you want to play in the water!

[nalani]

I got 2 charts with the nutrient solution, one for soil and one for hydroponics, so i'm following the one for hydro ofc.

[Weedhound]

I agree......what horrible advice on ignoring ph and I always love it when people like that pass their WONDERFUL info so freely.

Now who does that remind me of Stinky?

Nalani, can't help you as I don't play with coco but good luck with your growing and sorry for the threadjack.

[stinkyattic]

lol... '.:karma:.0.o'?
All right Nalani let's get your system explained- is it a pure coco system? What TYPE of hydroponics is it?

The correct style of hydroponics that involves Coco is a hand-watered or drip to waste. Recirc can work, but can also be difficult to maintain. What is your style?

Tell us a bit about your watering schedule, what the criteria you used to set that schedule are? Does your coco ever dry out fully, or does it stay quite wet all the time?

What brand of coco is it? I see long fibres and that is good. Did you rinse it before putting in plants, or did the package state that it had been pre-rinsed?

Have you ever flushed it out well with clean water?

I very VERY strongly recommend either going to a coco-speicific nutrient system such as Canna Coco, or adding CalMag to your nutes. I'd lean towards the coco nute because it solves not just the Ca scavenging issue, but also buffers your medium correctly.

Edit- I still have yet to be convinced that you actually have a problem there, lol! The plants don';t look sick!

[nalani]

Well i don't think there is a problem, but my bf is being a bit paranoid so we just want to be sure. Also, better to get everything right so it won't become a problem.

And to answer your questions;


I don't quite understand the question about style of the hydro :wtf:

Theres no watering schedule. The pump is on all day and all night so the coco never dryes out.
The coco just came in a black bag, that you could even use as a flowerpot (the store had one where they had just watered the coco, put the plant in and volla! a plastic bag plant pot!) so i doubt it should have been rinsed. We only watered it a bit to fit it in our pots.
The nutrients we are using are probably the best ones we can get in little Iceland. GHE flora series, which has a chart for hydroponics, and it says " Application chart; Aeroponics, Coconut fibre, Grorox, Rockwool."


Thanks a lot for the help so far :jointsmile: