28th day of 12/12 ph sinking to 4.5 -5.0

Experienced dwc grower in 5g buckets ph is sinking to below 5.0 for no reason. I mixed a new batch of nutes about 13 days ago and have basically been topping off with water ever since. I think I've read before sometimes the ph tends to go out of wack around the 4th or 5th week of flower. Also does the ph sink sometimes because I've basically had the same nutes in the bucket for 13 days. Plant looks perfect, any suggestions. Only been doing this a couple days, also noticed this with another plant with older nutes in bucket...

Do you ever drain and replace? I'm guessing not by your question. What are your TDS readings? Have you checked your roots out? Rotting or decomposing organic materials lower the pH in soil or water.

Yes ppm was also way higher than normal. Normal is about 1200 for me and it was 1500+ and plant was drinking more water than normal...I've been drain and replancing about every 15 days. Could that be the problem?? I know u should drain and replace every 10 days or so... Changed out nutes last night and ph stayed steady overnight around 5.7

bump

I learned my lesson this week with a very similiar issue that your having. I had a 6 plant bio bucket system going and unfortunately I have been quite busy the last week or two wasn't really paying close attention. (the bio buckets really require very little maintenance other than checking PPM and PH once or twice per week). Well I thought I kept having a PH issue but was so busy that I would check the PH using my blue lab it was really high so I started lowering it.

All was doing well and then I noticed a few days ago that my PH was dropping like a SOB. Once again to busy to really pay very close attention (plants were starting to show signs of stress) so I added some PH up and decided il recheck the following night. I check it again last night and find that the ph has dropped to almost 5.1 from a 5.9 the previous day and I added in 2-3 tbsp of PH up.... scratching my head I finally lift up my net pots and WALLAH root rot. I am beating myself up right now and have chopped everything and I am throwing away my entire system...

Moral to my long and drawn out story here is if you are PHing and testing your water a few times a week and your getting huge spikes downwards check for rot or other types of breakdown before its to late.

The fact that the ppm is rising and ph is dropping is because ur feeding too much. The plants draw more water than nutrients which makes the solution higher in ppm which in turn makes the ph lower. Drop ur ppm and check back, ph should be more stable

Blue brother said:

The fact that the ppm is rising and ph is dropping is because ur feeding too much. The plants draw more water than nutrients which makes the solution higher in ppm which in turn makes the ph lower. Drop ur ppm and check back, ph should be more stable

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Do this only after checking for rot

good thread. rotting roots will not take up nutes. people want to control pH with pH up and down, but understand the use of ferts first as fert amount in water is what causes pH to go up or down. I suspect people end up fighting pH because they don't understand that relationship, that they need to properly use ferts and the pH will take care of itself.

I would try mixing a fresh batch nutes and change them out every 7 days. Water warms up fast in 5 gal buckets. It's done without changing every week, but why risk it.