PH levels KEEP RISING....how do i stop this?

jimmy311

Well-Known Member
Best advice I can give is run your ph a tad lower with the expectation of it rising if you know its going to creep up. This creates a "swing" allowing the plant to hit the perfect range for every nutrient and mineral across the board as it swings up. Example: You set your ph to 5.2 then over the next 4-5 days it creeps up to 6.0 - 6.3 you have effectively crated the ideal ph for nutrient uptake for every basic and essential nutrient & mineral in hydroponics. Once the ph hits 6.0 - 6.3 after 4-5 days (or however long yours takes), adjust it back down to a 5.2 ph & do it all over again. Me being a visual kinda guy, I attached a chart to help anyone who might not understand why this is a useful practice in hydroponics.
View attachment 3618784
I had algea and orgains nutes in aero system
 

jimmy311

Well-Known Member
I've been chasing my pH too. Plants are only a week old & 3 days and changed the res the first time 3 days ago. I've read that you shouldn't add much pH down. But my opinion you must keep it down in the 5.5 to 6.4 range (5.8 average) so you new plants can get the nutrients they need. The vast majority of the nutrients your plant needs get locked out below and above 5.8

So you must keep the pH low otherwise your just dumping nutrients in your tub and your plants not able to even eat them.
Check for light leaks and algea etc. I had it..cleaning it today .scratching buckets a Lil with scrubby pad..sand paper or a Brillo pad will work..lightly with Brillo and don't get rough paper if u do or got rough shit be easy sand lightly..paint matte or flat black..then check line water and air..make sure u don't get light thru test with light or flash light..once u see no light thru the buckets check and wrapped lines or buy black..put together then u should be good..I was putting a shit load of pH down..noone said hey algae makes ur pH shoot up...or I would a known...so hope this helps..if u can't afford or lk me couldn't find any black shit jus do what I did..if u need any help pm me..
 

jimmy311

Well-Known Member
You know i dont have tons of expirence with hydro, 2010-2013 ebb and flo, just picked back upwith an aeroflo2 36. And seems like the ph always went up. I know today it is raising fast like drop to 5.8 and by next day its at 6.2ish i dont really hit it with down until 6.5 then back to 5.8 to wait til it gets back up.
I dont know if i ever have saw a stable ph for long. I also dont see any deficiencies with the plants. I guess there could be alge but i dont see any. I didnt complely drain my res when i changed nutes. Less than a half gallon of old nutes remain in the bottom and to much trouble getting it all.
Hard to believe the guy who uses 16gallons of nutrient and only adjusts the ph 1 time and it stays there... real hard, like almost borderline bullshit. But i cant know for sure so i wont say anything..
More root the faster the ph rises in my expirence.
Its white PVC fence post?? Paint that shit bro.. Wanna test it? Put a light inside or flash light..never leave old nutes. If so try to dilute it bro.. Doesn't hurt to dump 4-5 gallons in it to get most the BS out. U could have algea from that and light..algea loves old nutes and light.. Don't believe me.I'll show u..I been spending all damn day cleaning scrubbing bleaching(very lightly due to it leaves toxic residue. Bit imma wipe it after words with rag and h2o2.. Then dry it with rag..if I feel residue I'll get some rubbing alcohol.. It evaporates..no residue..
But shit I flushed cleaned scrubbed rinsed scrubbed washed then repeated a bunch of times... If undont wanna go thru that..get a built right system or pm me..I can build u one or show u.. U pay for shipping tho..lol anyone need help let me know..I'm not a pro but I been thru every bad situation and its only my 3rd year in hydro..lol
But hey I'm learning fn fast..lol
Never use organics in a aero sys LOL for future reference.. Lmao
I got other tips also but I'd spend all night typing it..lol.. Oh I'm still leaning u don't get it perfect in one night.. And yes if u do everything 100% correct u prolly don't need to pH. Especially if urva pro..lol
U put in ur nutes in water PhD already.. No algea or anything bad shooting pH up..and u top off lk u should I think its possible not to pH .now idk about the whole grow but if using Ro water and the right nutes that won't raise pH or have buffers in them already it will never rise unless they drink a lot and u don't top off with water lk u should.causing it to rise and picking the right nutes..etc alota varibles..
But after a few runs ul get better at it..cant wait to get everything light proof and stopped using organic nutes..so I'll post another blog..for u guys who are going thru the hell I went thru.. Let's say I'm passing the buck..passing it forward..so if I help u in any way shape or form do me the favor of helping the next person..doesn't matter if otsva old lady crossing the street.. Let's make the world a better place.. Ty and god bless..

Ps srry for the letter..lol just tryna help my fellow growers cuz here at riu were family..
 

jimmy311

Well-Known Member
Light and old nutes(organic at that) FD me all up..
Now I'm painting buckets black.. I thought blue dosent let blue light in..was wrong..I don't know how it don't grow with the blue hydro level/sight hose they sale..hmmm..lol I heard home depot got buckets cheap? Anyone can confirm that?? Lol Lowes sucks
 

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bdt1981

Well-Known Member
Actually I'm one if those guys lol. When I refill my Res I add 30 mil of down and then check it the next morning and if needed I adjust and that's it, it stays there unless there are root issues. I change the Res's every week btw. I know when I first started I was chasing ph but was running air stones and adding a bunch of stuff, I was also running a no chilled, sterile Res. Not sure if any of this has a bearing on ph but now it does stay pretty stable. If I'm lyin I'm dyin lol.
Thst would be nice. Hats off to you, ill take your word for it but cant vouch that its true without seeing it.i may have a few slimy places on a couple sites but not many. They started on the clone machine. Pinched what i saw off Keep my res on 63f artica chiller pumped straight thru the titanimum exchanger so its not a temp issue and plants are doing crazy good. Im very ompressed with the growth and i have harvested 64 clones nearly .75 oz each on a 4x4 ebb and flo. These are going to kill the yield of the 64 back in 2012 and there is only 36. Well a few laggers in there so they probably going to get grown over. Sorry for poor quality pix from earlier today.20160305_162343738.jpg
 

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bdt1981

Well-Known Member
Thst would be nice. Hats off to you, ill take your word for it but cant vouch that its true without seeing it.i may have a few slimy places on a couple sites but not many. They started on the clone machine. Pinched what i saw off Keep my res on 63f artica chiller pumped straight thru the titanimum exchanger so its not a temp issue and plants are doing crazy good. Im very ompressed with the growth and i have harvested 64 clones nearly .75 oz each on a 4x4 ebb and flo. These are going to kill the yield of the 64 back in 2012 and there is only 36. Well a few laggers in there so they probably going to get grown over. Sorry for poor quality pix from earlier today.View attachment 3624408
Feb 23rd
 

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bdt1981

Well-Known Member
Its white PVC fence post?? Paint that shit bro.. Wanna test it? Put a light inside or flash light..never leave old nutes. If so try to dilute it bro.. Doesn't hurt to dump 4-5 gallons in it to get most the BS out. U could have algea from that and light..algea loves old nutes and light.. Don't believe me.I'll show u..I been spending all damn day cleaning scrubbing bleaching(very lightly due to it leaves toxic residue. Bit imma wipe it after words with rag and h2o2.. Then dry it with rag..if I feel residue I'll get some rubbing alcohol.. It evaporates..no residue..
But shit I flushed cleaned scrubbed rinsed scrubbed washed then repeated a bunch of times... If undont wanna go thru that..get a built right system or pm me..I can build u one or show u.. U pay for shipping tho..lol anyone need help let me know..I'm not a pro but I been thru every bad situation and its only my 3rd year in hydro..lol
But hey I'm learning fn fast..lol
Never use organics in a aero sys LOL for future reference.. Lmao
I got other tips also but I'd spend all night typing it..lol.. Oh I'm still leaning u don't get it perfect in one night.. And yes if u do everything 100% correct u prolly don't need to pH. Especially if urva pro..lol
U put in ur nutes in water PhD already.. No algea or anything bad shooting pH up..and u top off lk u should I think its possible not to pH .now idk about the whole grow but if using Ro water and the right nutes that won't raise pH or have buffers in them already it will never rise unless they drink a lot and u don't top off with water lk u should.causing it to rise and picking the right nutes..etc alota varibles..
But after a few runs ul get better at it..cant wait to get everything light proof and stopped using organic nutes..so I'll post another blog..for u guys who are going thru the hell I went thru.. Let's say I'm passing the buck..passing it forward..so if I help u in any way shape or form do me the favor of helping the next person..doesn't matter if otsva old lady crossing the street.. Let's make the world a better place.. Ty and god bless..

Ps srry for the letter..lol just tryna help my fellow growers cuz here at riu were family..
Their not actually fence posts. The rails are pretty thickish i dont think light is getting thru, possible tho. I use future harvest development, holland secret, cali magic and hygrozyme. The final product is very clean looking nutrient, i dont think ill ever change that. Organics and hydroponics to me is an oxymoron.... 5hey dont belong in the same chapter. I had a partner that thought since the hydro store owner said tea is good he wanted to use ot. Absolutely no positive anything pain in the ass to clean ur res tho
 

jimmy311

Well-Known Member
Their not actually fence posts. The rails are pretty thickish i dont think light is getting thru, possible tho. I use future harvest development, holland secret, cali magic and hygrozyme. The final product is very clean looking nutrient, i dont think ill ever change that. Organics and hydroponics to me is an oxymoron.... 5hey dont belong in the same chapter. I had a partner that thought since the hydro store owner said tea is good he wanted to use ot. Absolutely no positive anything pain in the ass to clean ur res tho
Yea MF did me lk that too!! Lmao
But I found out there is a way ..but I'm not tryna soon..
Lol
Word is..to do organics in hydro u gotta hit roots with water or a dwc or nft..but they trick is to pour ur organics nute solution slow in the media I'm guessing coco in a coco pot or similar.the bacteria and enzymes mycos will go to work..but Put a layer of coco under the coco pot first or rockwool slab whatever.. Its to soak the over flow if u water too much.. If sum drops In the water its OK. Its deluted.. But that's my understanding.. I did it all wrong...lmao
Made the tea put it in my resi and bubbled it then fed..shit I gotta say they loved it..till I got the slime and algea ( my fault my shit wasn't light proof ..hrs later I jus got done painting them..took a shower still ain't cleand an wiped them out for the last time..my plants roots are getting dry and brown even tho I been spraying with water.. Smh
Oh well if anything I'll start over...I know I'm light proofed now..I'll tell u..the only thing saving u is the chiller.. Bad shit don't lk cold water.. But take a flash light..a bright led one.. Put it in the inside when its dark..tell me if u see light..I thought the same cuz I had thick blue buckets thinkn the blue light won't go thru....shit..boy I was wrong... I'm jus tryna help u bro...if u didn't have no algea ur plants would prolly be double as the algea eats food and all the oxygen..
 

Budley Doright

Well-Known Member
View attachment 3624783
Nice mine would look a lot different but i lolliepop every other day to keep 2 sets of leaves. They went from 4 inches to some over 18. My dates are messed up on pix here is yesterday
Ya I probably should have done a bit of trimming as well but have been removing the shade leaves that are covering bud sites. This strain seems to grow some pretty big buds off the lower side branching so I don't lollipop but its only the second run and just getting to know it. They are growing an inch a day on average.
 

bdt1981

Well-Known Member
Ya I probably should have done a bit of trimming as well but have been removing the shade leaves that are covering bud sites. This strain seems to grow some pretty big buds off the lower side branching so I don't lollipop but its only the second run and just getting to know it. They are growing an inch a day on average.
How far apart and do you know why one side is bigger than the other? It is crazy how fast they gro. Mine have been 12/12 since 5he first day in the rails
 

Budley Doright

Well-Known Member
Yes I do know why, their two different pheno's that I got mixed up. Those pics are a couple of weeks old now and I cut the tops off the tall ones, lst'd them and cloned them for outdoor use, they are amazing plants re side branch growth as well. But yup, proper prior planning would have been good lol. And they should have been under 12/12 a couple of weeks ago but I'm waiting for the moms to finish to make room . They're about 14" apart and was going to keep the 4 best but they're all just perfect, didn't have the heart to kill em.
 

Budley Doright

Well-Known Member
^^^^ that's what I thought too lol. I just added a chiller and started using OregonismXL and Vitanimo with my cheap no name nutes. Seems to be making a huge difference. I replaced hydroguard with the OregonismXL because of cost.
 

bdt1981

Well-Known Member
WIN_20160306_153545.JPG WIN_20160306_153636.JPG WIN_20160306_153623.JPG WIN_20160306_153724.JPG WIN_20160306_153545.JPG WIN_20160306_153636.JPG WIN_20160306_153623.JPG WIN_20160306_153724.JPG
Yes I do know why, their two different pheno's that I got mixed up. Those pics are a couple of weeks old now and I cut the tops off the tall ones, lst'd them and cloned them for outdoor use, they are amazing plants re side branch growth as well. But yup, proper prior planning would have been good lol. And they should have been under 12/12 a couple of weeks ago but I'm waiting for the moms to finish to make room . They're about 14" apart and was going to keep the 4 best but they're all just perfect, didn't have the heart to kill em.
ya that blows. out of 36 i have 4 strains all mixed up only 2 of 1 strain and a few of another mostly white alien and grapegod. i am starting to tell the strainsapart but i could be wrong. it has happened b4. im hoping i have a worthy 1 or 2 to keep as. here is today and seems like my ph is locked at 6.4.... it has stopped there so far all day today???? i am using rockwool for cuttings, but i didnt see any alge and my ppm is isnt chaing but 10+-
 
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bdt1981

Well-Known Member
see how dark it is down that rail? im sure no light gets in as long as the net pots are pushed down snug, oops screen on laptop was at a wrong angle,lol not ad dark as i thought it looked.
 
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