PH Dropping Ridicolously

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Moojuiceyy

Member
Hello everyone I have come from many a successful grow in coco to hydro. My environment is pretty much perfect pretty experienced in that side got res temps at 20 degrees in a 50 litre heavy duty black tub also made light leak protectors for the netpot. I have a 800lph pump pushing 2 airstones DWC setup using cx hydroponics A and B started at .8 ec and 175 ppm water after cal mag was growing awesome with ph staying bang on 6 for a couple weeks started topping for mainlining recovered super quick until this last week ph started dropping crazy so I tried changing the res roots look perfect and white after the change water went in at 6 and dropped to 5 overnight. I dont have ph up tried changing it again an didnt adjust the ph down so went in about 7.5 and was straight back down to 6 one night then 5 the next. I tried not supplementing cal mag so starting with 100 ppm tap water had no luck after a few more res changes I added the calmag back and with no ph down it went up to 8 ph lol then I added ph down to 6.5 and it started dropping again... im lost haha
 
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Tib420

Well-Known Member
Your suppose to go RO water > Cal-mag >Silicate > Part A > part B > then you ph down at the end.
 
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Tib420

Well-Known Member
Also if your topping off your rez with plain water than could affect your ph. If your in hydro you want a ph of 5.5-6.2 is fine
 
Bernie420

Bernie420

Well-Known Member
Tib420 said:
Your suppose to go RO water > Cal-mag >Silicate > Part A > part B > then you ph down at the end.
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I go r/o silica part A part B the rest of my stuff cal/mag..cal mag doesnt have to be last for me its just how i typed it here....but silica A then B then everything else.
 
Bernie420

Bernie420

Well-Known Member
Moojuiceyy said:
Hello everyone I have come from many a successful grow in coco to hydro. My environment is pretty much perfect pretty experienced in that side got res temps at 20 degrees in a 50 litre heavy duty black tub also made light leak protectors for the netpot. I have a 800lph pump pushing 2 airstones DWC setup using cx hydroponics A and B started at .8 ec and 175 ppm water after cal mag was growing awesome with ph staying bang on 6 for a couple weeks started topping for mainlining recovered super quick until this last week ph started dropping crazy so I tried changing the res roots look perfect and white after the change water went in at 6 and dropped to 5 overnight. I dont have ph up tried changing it again an didnt adjust the ph down so went in about 7.5 and was straight back down to 6 one night then 5 the next. I tried not supplementing cal mag so starting with 100 ppm tap water had no luck after a few more res changes I added the calmag back and with no ph down it went up to 8 ph lol then I added ph down to 6.5 and it started dropping again... im lost haha
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Get the ph drops to check the ph when you have weird swings. its more accurate than a meter, consistant, meters are just more convenient. You dont state what you use to measure ph so idk. If you have a ph probe when was the last time you calibrated it. ........... Maybe the ph probe went tits up?
 
Renfro

Renfro

Well-Known Member
Air stones are known for causing the pH to drop and that is a very large pump for two stones. I bet that makes plenty of heat too.

Air stones can cause the pH to plummet due to the co2 reacting and creating carbonic acid. If you have such a large pump on a small volume of nutrients that would explain the rapid drop. You may wish to do some experimenting to see if thats your cause.

I prefer flooming and waterfalls for DO.
 
Renfro

Renfro

Well-Known Member
Another thing that causes pH to drop is a significant culture of beneficial bacteria. They excrete organic acids.
 
Logan Burke

Logan Burke

Well-Known Member
Having PH up is simply a must for any hydro grower...you may not need it often, but sooner or later, you will need it. 800 litres per hour is also not a very big air pump...that's only 200gph, and 3 gallons of air per minute...I use a 110 litre per minute for my 4 plant setup and they can still easily handle more without any kind of violent or root harming turbulation. With 3 gallons of air per minute going through a res of over 10 gallons of water, well, that's just not very much...this will also make it take it take longer for your nutrients and ph adjusters to get nice and evenly dispersed, and for the ph to settle down.
 
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Renfro

Renfro

Well-Known Member
70's natureboy said:
When I need PH up I just use Protekt (SI)
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Thats a very good way to get the pH up, Potassium Silicate. The silicate is more useful and the PPM overhead is low. If using a lot then it's probably good to quantify the potassium numbers in your feed. Raw potassium silicate, at 1 gram per gallon, would provide 65.2 PPM of Silicon and 70 PPM of potassium. (Elemental PPM)
 
M

Moojuiceyy

Member
Bernie420 said:
Get the ph drops to check the ph when you have weird swings. its more accurate than a meter, consistant, meters are just more convenient. You dont state what you use to measure ph so idk. If you have a ph probe when was the last time you calibrated it. ........... Maybe the ph probe went tits up?
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I have drops and a meter and the difference in color with the drops is extreme
 
M

Moojuiceyy

Member
Logan Burke said:
Having PH up is simply a must for any hydro grower...you may not need it often, but sooner or later, you will need it. 800 litres per hour is also not a very big air pump...that's only 200gph, and 3 gallons of air per minute...I use a 110 litre per minute for my 4 plant setup and they can still easily handle more without any kind of violent or root harming turbulation. With 3 gallons of air per minute going through a res of over 10 gallons of water, well, that's just not very much...this will also make it take it take longer for your nutrients and ph adjusters to get nice and evenly dispersed, and for the ph to settle down.
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yeah I got the max I could afford and I wouldnt want one any bigger/louder than this it looks like it bubbles nicely though. I do gently mix my nutrients in aswell
 
M

Moojuiceyy

Member
Logan Burke said:
Having PH up is simply a must for any hydro grower...you may not need it often, but sooner or later, you will need it. 800 litres per hour is also not a very big air pump...that's only 200gph, and 3 gallons of air per minute...I use a 110 litre per minute for my 4 plant setup and they can still easily handle more without any kind of violent or root harming turbulation. With 3 gallons of air per minute going through a res of over 10 gallons of water, well, that's just not very much...this will also make it take it take longer for your nutrients and ph adjusters to get nice and evenly dispersed, and for the ph to settle down.
Click to expand...
yes I unfortunately cant get at the moment as im on lockdown here blah lol
 
M

Moojuiceyy

Member
problem sorted anyway I added more calmag and A an B to ec 1.4 without phing was at roughly 6.5 and it lushed up and prayed straight away ph is sitting in range after the night so thats saying something
 
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