HELP PLZ my Ph keeps skyrocketing and it wont stop

[Bringonthedoom]

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:

Bringonthedoom Reviewed by Bringonthedoom on 07-05-2010. HELP PLZ my Ph keeps skyrocketing and it wont stop 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: Rating: 5

[Bringonthedoom]

any help would be appreciated as its starting to kill my plants

[eastbaygordo]

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.

[Bringonthedoom]

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

[Weezard]

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

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.

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.

Aloha,
Weezard

[Bringonthedoom]

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

[eastbaygordo]

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.

[Horsemanrocks]

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?� 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

[Bringonthedoom]

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?

[eastbaygordo]

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.