Something wicked this way comes

[Mr Blah]

does anyone else get particles in the solution in the main tanks?in the last two weeks both my flower and veg float valves have clogged.the two 40 gallon barrels in my flower were just drained and they have it already 3 weeks later.i am using the water from my dehumidifier in the flower room and well water in the veg room.same problem in both.i am using jacks hydro and cal nit and am mixing jacks first then the cal .the water from dehumidifier tests to 5.4 ph and just above 0 conductivity.my well water tests to 0.6 e.c around 310ppm and ph of 7.5.i use ph down in veg to get water around 5.8.everything has been growing nice but i leave the grow for up to a week at a time and if the solution isnt getting refilled then as the level in the system goes down my ph and ec go up causing some leaf yellowing.all from the float valve clogging.has anyone used a water filter between the res and the float res?

Funny you say that about the particles. I just started noticing a few of what I call floaties on top of the water in my rez's. This is also after I have mixed. I have just chalk it up to leaving the cover off for a few days.
I do notice some unmixed Jacks on the bottom of the tank before filling it up again.

 

[McKush]

does anyone else get particles in the solution in the main tanks?in the last two weeks both my flower and veg float valves have clogged.the two 40 gallon barrels in my flower were just drained and they have it already 3 weeks later.i am using the water from my dehumidifier in the flower room and well water in the veg room.same problem in both.i am using jacks hydro and cal nit and am mixing jacks first then the cal .the water from dehumidifier tests to 5.4 ph and just above 0 conductivity.my well water tests to 0.6 e.c around 310ppm and ph of 7.5.i use ph down in veg to get water around 5.8.everything has been growing nice but i leave the grow for up to a week at a time and if the solution isnt getting refilled then as the level in the system goes down my ph and ec go up causing some leaf yellowing.all from the float valve clogging.has anyone used a water filter between the res and the float res?

Yeah, ive had it happen a few times with a 1/4 float valve and line. Dont know what the gunk is but prolly algae.. i took window screen and fishing line to make a large sock that strains the particulates out from the solution entering the bulkhead...

Havent plugged since but....

 

[datal4b]

Has anyone have any issues with pH of jacks solution after mixing? I have been mixing 6tsp of 5-12-26 (first) and 6tsp of cal nit (second) into 17 gallons of ro/di ends up around 670ppm and pH 5.2, it seems everyone's solution rises back to 5.8 after 24 hrs. mine just stays at 5.2. the most recent stock I made was 3.5 pH after 24 hrs, not sure what might cause this I'm using a brand new ro/di unit 6 stage, my pH meter is calibrated and reading properly

 

[delta9nxs]

Ever since Delta advised me to blow out the return lines with a pump I haven't had a flood since. Thanks again for the advice Delta!! PPK is so kick ass and plants are thriving, but I can't get my PH to go under 6.3. I'm using Plagron A&B and everything has been pretty stable(2.0 EC and 6.3 PH) for the last four days. Volume tank is 1.4 EC and 5.5 PH. I was inputting a lower EC into the volume tank because I never have fed 2.0 EC(coco grower) before and thought that was high. Plants are super green and there are no tip burns. Any advice on how to get my PH down?

i don't know anything about plagron but "Plants are super green and there are no tip burns."

i would not be real concerned with the 6.3 ph unless it consistently, repeatedly, goes from 6.3 to above 6.5 in a short period of time. by that i mean 24 hours. if it just kind of hangs at 6.3 and it bothers you, because it's not bothering the plants, you might consider bringing the ph down to around 5.0-5.2 in the mixing tank and see if it runs a little more acidic in the recirculating part.

in the ppk i like the recirculating part to run around 6.0-6.2 but don't obsess about it.

 

[delta9nxs]

does anyone else get particles in the solution in the main tanks?in the last two weeks both my flower and veg float valves have clogged.the two 40 gallon barrels in my flower were just drained and they have it already 3 weeks later.i am using the water from my dehumidifier in the flower room and well water in the veg room.same problem in both.i am using jacks hydro and cal nit and am mixing jacks first then the cal .the water from dehumidifier tests to 5.4 ph and just above 0 conductivity.my well water tests to 0.6 e.c around 310ppm and ph of 7.5.i use ph down in veg to get water around 5.8.everything has been growing nice but i leave the grow for up to a week at a time and if the solution isnt getting refilled then as the level in the system goes down my ph and ec go up causing some leaf yellowing.all from the float valve clogging.has anyone used a water filter between the res and the float res?

it is not normal for precipitate to form in the volume/mixing tanks.

i have read your post several times and am having trouble understanding what is happening there.

so you are feeding dehuey water only to your flowering plants and 310 ppm well water only to your vegging plants? yet still getting the same problem?

 

[delta9nxs]

Funny you say that about the particles. I just started noticing a few of what I call floaties on top of the water in my rez's. This is also after I have mixed. I have just chalk it up to leaving the cover off for a few days.
I do notice some unmixed Jacks on the bottom of the tank before filling it up again.

this is surface precipitation caused by the protein layer on the surface of the solution. unless it is really heavy it has no effect on your plants.

it can be stopped by an airstone or by increasing the volummetric turnover rate by pulsing more frequently.

in the past i and several others have toyed with the idea of several drain holes in the plant container in addition to the tailpiece that drain directly onto the surface of the solution below each plant, thereby breaking the surface tension there.

in my current system i have, from time to time, gotten a little surface precip in the pump containers only. my main reservoirs and plant reservoirs which do not have pumps have none leading me to believe that possibly the magnetic field given off by the pump is causing some of it.

usually a slight increase in turnover rate will stop it.

 

[delta9nxs]

Has anyone have any issues with pH of jacks solution after mixing? I have been mixing 6tsp of 5-12-26 (first) and 6tsp of cal nit (second) into 17 gallons of ro/di ends up around 670ppm and pH 5.2, it seems everyone's solution rises back to 5.8 after 24 hrs. mine just stays at 5.2. the most recent stock I made was 3.5 pH after 24 hrs, not sure what might cause this I'm using a brand new ro/di unit 6 stage, my pH meter is calibrated and reading properly

hey, buddy! i looked at your thread and you have multiple issues. first, you are in dwc and you have root rot. when organic matter decomposes it becomes more acidic. this will drive ph down.

it has been a long time since i have operated a dwc system so i don't feel qualified to recommend a remedy except to get out of dwc and into ppk.

 

[gmanwho]

this is surface precipitation caused by the protein layer on the surface of the solution. unless it is really heavy it has no effect on your plants.

it can be stopped by an airstone or by increasing the volummetric turnover rate by pulsing more frequently.

in the past i and several others have toyed with the idea of several drain holes in the plant container in addition to the tailpiece that drain directly onto the surface of the solution below each plant, thereby breaking the surface tension there.

in my current system i have, from time to time, gotten a little surface precip in the pump containers only. my main reservoirs and plant reservoirs which do not have pumps have none leading me to believe that possibly the magnetic field given off by the pump is causing some of it.

usually a slight increase in turnover rate will stop it.

i remember reading somewhere awhile ago there was talk of the magnets in the pumps maybe doing something to the iron in nute solutions. an or changing the positive or negative ion direction of the elements??..... something like that. having troubles remembering. i dont think it ended up being an issue that was noticed... but in theory the magnets did change things.

 

[datal4b]

hey, buddy! i looked at your thread and you have multiple issues. first, you are in dwc and you have root rot. when organic matter decomposes it becomes more acidic. this will drive ph down.

it has been a long time since i have operated a dwc system so i don't feel qualified to recommend a remedy except to get out of dwc and into ppk.

that would explain it except this is in a mixing tank before it ever goes into any plant container

 

[420ish]

it is not normal for precipitate to form in the volume/mixing tanks.

i have read your post several times and am having trouble understanding what is happening there.

so you are feeding dehuey water only to your flowering plants and 310 ppm well water only to your vegging plants? yet still getting the same problem?

yes that is what i am doing.the dehum does enough water to replensih all the water in the flower room only.i use my well water for veg only.i use about 40 to 60 gallons in flower and around 20 to 30 in veg a week.
i have 6 plants vegging perpetual and 6 plants flowering perpetual.the dehuey does both rooms.i exchange air between the rooms so i only have 1 dehuey and 1 mini split.i have 2 6 inch fans one going each way with light proof baffles on them.

 

[delta9nxs]

that would explain it except this is in a mixing tank before it ever goes into any plant container

sorry, i thought it was happening in the plant containers for some reason. have you tried mixing your tap water and ro water together?

if not you might try mixing them to about 80-100 ppm to get some buffering effect.

 

[datal4b]

sorry, i thought it was happening in the plant containers for some reason. have you tried mixing your tap water and ro water together?

if not you might try mixing them to about 80-100 ppm to get some buffering effect.

I will try this out thanks

 

[datal4b]

I am going to switch to the ppk method though nex. I have read through all your threads, I wanted to try out the jacks before hand seeing that's what you guys all use. Overall I have gotten it to work pretty well even in crappy bubble buckets.

anyways thanks for the tip!

 

[delta9nxs]

you will find the ppk method boring compared to dwc. highly redundant and reliable. it's quite difficult to kill a plant in one of these.

we recently had two episodes where individual pumps were left unplugged after a move or transplant.

once in the veg room on a 6 week old 4' diameter plant. it went 5 days growing just fine before we discovered that the pump wasn't even firing.

the plant is in flower right now.

the other plant was just moved into flower and also left unplugged. 4 days. it's finishing now.

 

[datal4b]

that is comforting to hear. last week had a pretty nasty storm roll through lost power for about 6 hrs, no air the whole time. they made it, barely i suppose... all the while thinking if only ppk... really stoked to build it out. been doing dwc/rdwc for about 5 years with a mile long list of issues along the way. never pulled down any of the numbers you folks are. i know that the dissolved o2 in h2o vs. atmospheric o2 has some real merit to it.

 

[delta9nxs]

that is comforting to hear. last week had a pretty nasty storm roll through lost power for about 6 hrs, no air the whole time. they made it, barely i suppose... all the while thinking if only ppk... really stoked to build it out. been doing dwc/rdwc for about 5 years with a mile long list of issues along the way. never pulled down any of the numbers you folks are. i know that the dissolved o2 in h2o vs. atmospheric o2 has some real merit to it.

in two vessels of equal size at sea level, one filled with air and one filled with water, the one filled with air will have 23,300 times more free oxygen molecules than are possible in the one filled with water .

 

[datal4b]

that's a hell of a lot more!

 

[delta9nxs]

in vessels of equal size at sea level the air will have 23,300 times more free oxygen molecules than are possible in a body of water .

Well, i see i royally screwed up trying to put a coherent sentence together here!

So, in two vessels of equal size, at sea level, one filled with ambient air and the other filled with water, the one filled with air will have 23,300 times more free oxygen molecules than the one filled with water.

That's better!

 

[Desert Hydro]

Hey D9! been a while since i was on the ppk train. i had great success with the previous versions. i was in a big hurry to get a crop going on this run so i just set up pots of rockwool and drippers. just installed blumats into them the other day to see if they will work or not. been getting the itch to switch back to PPKs and now that stuff is about to come down i am gonna have the perfect opportunity to switch back. too many issues with salt buildup and burns in rockwool. a former partner has all my PPK shit and is bringing me my stuff tonight. i think i have about a dozen plant sites already built. im gonna redo the bottoms with the new buckets/pump style and just keep my old top section/tailpiece setups.

i know the general thought is that the DE lights cant be run with 8' ceilings but i think im gonna try it out and install super spreaders under the bulbs to kill the hotspots. the plants will be scrogged just like yours and kept low as possible. worst case i can dim the fixtures to 750 or so. worst case i could do vert bare bulb since i have 20 1k ballasts sitting in storage lol. i may just buy one DE to test a flat vs vert yield and go from there. here's where im sitting right now. gonna start building soon hopefully.

the res in the pic wont be used. switching over to the new style! hopefully i can modify those tailpieces to work well enough and accept the grate fitting.

 

[Desert Hydro]

one more question....if i have to switch to vert bare bulb could you suggest a proper layout?
i had previously done the 4 plant 5 light setup. can i just expand off that outward?

i have about 18x24 to flower in and that will still leave me walkways on the edges