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the PH Swing
- Thread starter billbob
- Start date
Gotta give a little more info.
May I make a wild guess though?
I'm looking into my crystal ball. I see a brand spankin' new hydroponic system with NEW hydroton straight outta the bag. I see that you did not pre-soak the hydroton or rinse it off very well. I also see that the system has been running for less than 5 days.
Anyway...
What's the REAL setup? what sort of system?
May I make a wild guess though?
I'm looking into my crystal ball. I see a brand spankin' new hydroponic system with NEW hydroton straight outta the bag. I see that you did not pre-soak the hydroton or rinse it off very well. I also see that the system has been running for less than 5 days.
Anyway...
What's the REAL setup? what sort of system?
billbob
Member
lol... thanks for the quick reply. I like your crystal ball, but we need to get it warmed up.
Hydroton is very old, but have this problem with new hydroton as well. Rock is washed very well. Usually is gets presoaked a bit in the buckets with a few fill and drains before plants are transferred. But it is not presoaked before hitting the buckets.
multi-flow system - 2 gallon buckets
But this issue is not just the first few days. It can be weeks later. Ph constantly needs adjusting. Every day, multiple times. using gh 1 part nutes.
Hydroton is very old, but have this problem with new hydroton as well. Rock is washed very well. Usually is gets presoaked a bit in the buckets with a few fill and drains before plants are transferred. But it is not presoaked before hitting the buckets.
multi-flow system - 2 gallon buckets
But this issue is not just the first few days. It can be weeks later. Ph constantly needs adjusting. Every day, multiple times. using gh 1 part nutes.
I've had the problem most acutely with the new hydroton, before it has seen a few solid days of running and adjusting a fert solution through it.
I can't say how exactly you should fix yours, but I found that it stabilized after a week of running fert solution over it (containerized vertical NFT over clay... eh, you can only imagine! lol). I also switched to Canna Aqua 2-part, which is well buffered for hydro applications.
I think to avoid this in the future I'm going to pre-soak the hydroton in water that is adjusted to pH 5.8, with an air stone in the soak bin to simulate the conditions that the medium will see in use, and just keep adjusting the pH in the soak bin until it stabilizes, before adding it to my system.
I wonder how your water hardness is affecting the pH here. CaCO3 will certainly bring your pH up over time. Have you considered a move to a RO system?
I can't say how exactly you should fix yours, but I found that it stabilized after a week of running fert solution over it (containerized vertical NFT over clay... eh, you can only imagine! lol). I also switched to Canna Aqua 2-part, which is well buffered for hydro applications.
I think to avoid this in the future I'm going to pre-soak the hydroton in water that is adjusted to pH 5.8, with an air stone in the soak bin to simulate the conditions that the medium will see in use, and just keep adjusting the pH in the soak bin until it stabilizes, before adding it to my system.
I wonder how your water hardness is affecting the pH here. CaCO3 will certainly bring your pH up over time. Have you considered a move to a RO system?
Dude ph adjustment in hydro is completely normal. When plants take out nutrients depending on what kind of water you use the ph will go up.
That is why people use RO water; they have a much more stable ph setup and are able to completely control what goes into the plants. BUt cal-mag suppliments are a must when using RO and distilled water.
Stinky has some good advice as well; hydroton can cause ph to raise it takes a long time for it to finally not cause ph swing; I read this in a few threads and asked about this with a few peeps who use hydroton a lot.
also 200 ppms tap water is very hard water; like stinky said you should invest in a RO system.
Hard water also causes issues with nutrients to be absorbed right; so your best bet if you hate to adjust ph so much; RO system is your answer. pH will still need to be adjusted a bit; but will not go crazy on you up and down like your tap water grow is going now.
Much less maintaince with RO water.
That is why people use RO water; they have a much more stable ph setup and are able to completely control what goes into the plants. BUt cal-mag suppliments are a must when using RO and distilled water.
Stinky has some good advice as well; hydroton can cause ph to raise it takes a long time for it to finally not cause ph swing; I read this in a few threads and asked about this with a few peeps who use hydroton a lot.
also 200 ppms tap water is very hard water; like stinky said you should invest in a RO system.
Hard water also causes issues with nutrients to be absorbed right; so your best bet if you hate to adjust ph so much; RO system is your answer. pH will still need to be adjusted a bit; but will not go crazy on you up and down like your tap water grow is going now.
Much less maintaince with RO water.
