5 gallon nute question

M

M Pep

New Member
Hey all,

I use a 5 gallon bucket to mix nutes in, and am currently using just a wooden cooking spoon to mix them up. Anyone have or know of any cheap pumps that i can set in the bottom to mix them up/aerate the water. Thanks :)
 
hbbum

hbbum

Well-Known Member
Just get an air pump with a couple air stones if you want. I bubble my mix up to 24 hours when I have time.
 
nomofatum

nomofatum

Well-Known Member
M Pep said:
Hey all,

I use a 5 gallon bucket to mix nutes in, and am currently using just a wooden cooking spoon to mix them up. Anyone have or know of any cheap pumps that i can set in the bottom to mix them up/aerate the water. Thanks :)
Click to expand...
hbbum said:
Just get an air pump with a couple air stones if you want. I bubble my mix up to 24 hours when I have time.
Click to expand...
I don't think there will be a difference between running for 5 minutes and running for 24 hours, but you got the obvious answer. I thought he was being a smart ass, the end of his question made the answer plainly obvious. This is definitely some advanced shit here.
 
hbbum

hbbum

Well-Known Member
The reason I shoot for 24 hours (don't always get there because of time constraints) is that the ph tends to drift up for the first few hours after I add nutrients. It was more of an issue for me when doing 1/4 or 1/4 strength nutrients, at full strength I don't need to adjust PH, it comes out just about perfect without adjustments.

**edit When I bubble them, I don't ph adjust until after they have sat bubbling for however long I leave them.
 
nomofatum

nomofatum

Well-Known Member
hbbum said:
The reason I shoot for 24 hours (don't always get there because of time constraints) is that the ph tends to drift up for the first few hours after I add nutrients. It was more of an issue for me when doing 1/4 or 1/4 strength nutrients, at full strength I don't need to adjust PH, it comes out just about perfect without adjustments.

**edit When I bubble them, I don't ph adjust until after they have sat bubbling for however long I leave them.
Click to expand...
I clicked the link in your signature, I see where you got that advice.


hydroMD said:
Im gonna give you a piece of hydro advice that is invaluable!!!

Always bubble fresh nute mixes in an external res for 24 hours. An airstone and pump will keep nutes fresh until PH has settled.

Most nutrients react with ions in the water and creep up until they balance themselves out. Never add ph adjust until this process is done. I know if i bubbke for 48 hours, my nute setup creeps .3 on the third day, so after 48 hours i adjust .3 lower than targeted ph and add to system. After that its a solid 6.0 until the plant downs it.

You will see far better results changing nutes this way. 2 days of ph flux per watering can kose you up to 2 weeks of optimum growth brotha
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I'm not a PH locker, I don't think it's best for a plant to be stuck at a PH forever. We forget that sometimes the plant is trying to change the PH of the res so it can get something, especially when the PH goes down. I like to see my plant slowly drift back and forth through the different nutrient's optimal ranges. AKA, let it float around between 5.2 and 6.5, but make sure in the end if you average out the PH, it's back at your 5.5-6.0 optimal range. Plants can buffer nutrients, so if you give them all they can eat of different nutrients each day, they get happy. Each week my res takes one slow trip from 5.0 to 6.5 or vice versa.
 
hbbum

hbbum

Well-Known Member
Yeah, but when doing a small amount of nutes, my drift was over a full point. I still get a bit of drift just from the plants eating and drinking at different rates, just from the ppm drops.
 
DemonTrich

DemonTrich

Well-Known Member
when I mix my nutes or water solution (10-15 gallons at a time), I have a 3rd empty bucket I dump/pour into. I dump it 4x total from bucket to bucket for each bucket of water/nutes. everything is well mixed this way and have been using this method for 4+ years. my ph is always between 6.3 and 6.6 every time.
 
Uncle Ben

Uncle Ben

Well-Known Member
M Pep said:
Hey all,

I use a 5 gallon bucket to mix nutes in, and am currently using just a wooden cooking spoon to mix them up. Anyone have or know of any cheap pumps that i can set in the bottom to mix them up/aerate the water. Thanks :)
Click to expand...
Paint mixer on a cordless drill. That's what I use to mix up pesticides/fungicides/fertilizer/surfactants when I do a large commercial ag spray.
 
hydroMD

hydroMD

Well-Known Member
nomofatum said:
I clicked the link in your signature, I see where you got that advice.




I'm not a PH locker, I don't think it's best for a plant to be stuck at a PH forever. We forget that sometimes the plant is trying to change the PH of the res so it can get something, especially when the PH goes down. I like to see my plant slowly drift back and forth through the different nutrient's optimal ranges. AKA, let it float around between 5.2 and 6.5, but make sure in the end if you average out the PH, it's back at your 5.5-6.0 optimal range. Plants can buffer nutrients, so if you give them all they can eat of different nutrients each day, they get happy. Each week my res takes one slow trip from 5.0 to 6.5 or vice versa.
Click to expand...
Nutes will change drastically due to temperature change and ion flux.

Allowing a sloppy ph baseline on the notion it is beneficial is absurd. If you havent dialed in your strain it might help ya see what it likes, but im here to tell you that it's best to find what ph your plant responds best week to week with feedings.

The plant itself does little to "change the ph" of the medium. Its the microbiology taking place as well as ionic reaction between hard metals.
 
hydroMD

hydroMD

Well-Known Member
nomofatum said:
I clicked the link in your signature, I see where you got that advice.

nomofatum said:
I clicked the link in your signature, I see where you got that advice.




I'm not a PH locker, I don't think it's best for a plant to be stuck at a PH forever. We forget that sometimes the plant is trying to change the PH of the res so it can get something, especially when the PH goes down. I like to see my plant slowly drift back and forth through the different nutrient's optimal ranges. AKA, let it float around between 5.2 and 6.5, but make sure in the end if you average out the PH, it's back at your 5.5-6.0 optimal range. Plants can buffer nutrients, so if you give them all they can eat of different nutrients each day, they get happy. Each week my res takes one slow trip from 5.0 to 6.5 or vice versa.
Click to expand...




I'm not a PH locker, I don't think it's best for a plant to be stuck at a PH forever. We forget that sometimes the plant is trying to change the PH of the res so it can get something, especially when the PH goes down. I like to see my plant slowly drift back and forth through the different nutrient's optimal ranges. AKA, let it float around between 5.2 and 6.5, but make sure in the end if you average out the PH, it's back at your 5.5-6.0 optimal range. Plants can buffer nutrients, so if you give them all they can eat of different nutrients each day, they get happy. Each week my res takes one slow trip from 5.0 to 6.5 or vice versa.
Click to expand...
Also, if we are talking DWC a drop in ph can sometimes mean unhealthy roots. Enzymes will help with that. Id say this is the case much more often than the plant itself lowering the ph of the medium.

Generally a healthy root zone will increase slowly as the acidity in the water is diluted through microbiology processes. If your acidity level is going up that means the ecosystem is failing
 
hydroMD

hydroMD

Well-Known Member
nomofatum said:
I don't think there will be a difference between running for 5 minutes and running for 24 hours, but you got the obvious answer. I thought he was being a smart ass, the end of his question made the answer plainly obvious. This is definitely some advanced shit here.
Click to expand...
Do a little reading Into this subject. It does matter. It matters a lot.

Not just for ph stability, but temperature as well. if your running cold water when you mix nutes, the PH will swing as the water temp acclimated to ambient temperature
 
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