2 plants in a bubbleponics setup. I have 2 360 degree misters with a 60 gph pump running and 4 airstones for the bubbles. plants were growing great then i changed the water and some red spots appeared with a little bit of leaf curling. its only happening to the bigger of the two plants and only to the old growth. new growth looks healthy but is turning light green like it needs fert. I'm using distilled water from the grocery store and an sensi grow a + b and growtek cal max. i put 1 tsp of a 1 tsp of b and a half tsp of calmax in 3 gallons of water. it happened once before when i was mixing 1 tsp of each per gallon so i started mixing 1 tsp to 3 gal and it went away for awhile. i was thinking nute burn but it doesn't make sense to me that the bigger plant is getting it and the little plant is healthy. i would think the little plant being smaller would be worse. the roots are healthy and white and no algae seems to be forming in the tub. i change the water every Sunday and try to keep things as clean as possible. any ideas? ph problem maybe? currently dont have any tds meters or ph test kit due to lack of funds so im just kinda wingin it. also i thought hydro grew much faster than soil but i have a few in soil that are actually out growing the dwc's. i use 2 parts of growers secret and 1 part fox farm ocean forest with an sensi grow , calmax, and great white mychorrizae. am thinking of just potting the 2 in soil cuz hydro seems to be much more maitnence but i really wanted to see a hydro vs soil. can some one help me save my hydro babies!? i know i could fix probles just by buying the proper test kits and meters but things have been goin real smooth up until a few days ago. will try to post some pics..
Bubbleponics help
- Thread starter lluciano7
- Start date
wiseguy316
Well-Known Member
if you don't have a ph meter and can't get one for a while transplant them into dirt before you kill them.
wiseguy316
Well-Known Member
aquarium kits will work in a pinch but if ya ad to do that all thime it's a pain in the butt. You will probably need ph down, use 1/4 tsp of vinegar at a time til it gets ya to the color you need. If you need up use baking soda lil goes a long ways. That should get ya by til ya get some up and down. I have never needed up. I just add tap water if i need up. Aquarium ph up and down shouldn't hurt your plants. I have even used the spa stuff in a pinch.
Banditt
Well-Known Member
The liquid ph testers suck if your nutes change the color of the water. Your ph needs to be adjusted after adding nutes. The ph test kit assumes you are testing clear water. I wouldn't bother. Get some paper test strips if you are strapped for cash. Waaaay better then the liquid tester.
wiseguy316
Well-Known Member
I haven't seen paper strips that go below 7
Banditt
Well-Known Member
lol? Your not looking then. Because almost all of them do. Google ph test strips then go to the shopping tab. Almost every one of them in the results tests the necessary range.
Banditt
Well-Known Member
Are you mixing up full strength yet? I'm guessing not. Mix up a full strength batch and make sure and then see if it has not changed the color of your water. I don't use AN stuff but I am pretty sure there nutes are not clear...
wiseguy316
Well-Known Member
On the test strips, the only ones I have even seen are for hot tubs and pools & mine dont go below 7. No i haven't looked very hard I have plenty of meters..lol
i found strips at petsmart. theyre 5 in 1 test strips they look like they will work. thanks for all the responses. whats the cheapes way to measure your ppm so you know how strong to mix ferts. anyone use sensi grow? ive been going 1 tsp a 1 tsp b and 1 half tsp grow tek cal max in 3 gallons of water. is this too strong? im thinkin of diluting it down because it corrected the prob before. i had this prob like a few weeks ago but it was only on 1 or 2 leaves so i changed water and diluted it way down and it helped. plants grew good for a week or two, this time i changed water and it came back on like 6 or 7 of the big fan leaves. plant looks like it needs nitrogen.
pwizzle
Well-Known Member
Yeah you definitely need to check your PH.
I don't have any hydro stores around here so I got one of the liquid ones.
It's a wide range aquarium ph tester and ranges from 5 to 9.
My nutes (miracle grow) do change the color of the water, but doesn't effect
the reading of PH.
Even though my water is greenish from nutes, you can't tell with only 5mL of water.
The drops are dyes that react to PH levels, the dye is a lot stronger than the slight tint
of the water I would think.
I've heard the paper strips aren't as accurate as the drops.
In your situation though, anything to help get a ballpark figure is strongly encouraged.
I don't have any hydro stores around here so I got one of the liquid ones.
It's a wide range aquarium ph tester and ranges from 5 to 9.
My nutes (miracle grow) do change the color of the water, but doesn't effect
the reading of PH.
Even though my water is greenish from nutes, you can't tell with only 5mL of water.
The drops are dyes that react to PH levels, the dye is a lot stronger than the slight tint
of the water I would think.
I've heard the paper strips aren't as accurate as the drops.
In your situation though, anything to help get a ballpark figure is strongly encouraged.
heres some pics. kinda hard to see but they arent too bad looking. starting to effect more and more leaves tho. last pic is a pic of the mother the cuts came off at 57 days. i mixed my seeds up but it either has to be white satin, blue mystic, or pure power plant. guessing blue mystic cuz it has a blue haze over it.
i have a pump with 8 outlest and theres 4 airstones but doesnt seem like very much bubbles. i think my pump is shot too. i had 8 airstones in there and even looked like less bubbles but i know out of my 8 outlets only 7 are working one isnt blowing any air. odd becuase pump has hardly ever been used but i think its burned up or something. working for now though
so i got a ph test kit. only one i could find at the moment was the liquid drop kind wich is kinda hard to read. the strips were just too spendy for now tho at 30 bux vs 6.99.
judging by the color my res water tested about 6.5 - 6.8 maybe 7. it just went by color and yellow was 5 green was 6 and darker green is 7 it was a green color that was a little darker than 6 but not quite as dark as 7. the water i use (just distilled ro water from grocery store) was real yellow right at 5 i think. i read 5.5 - 5.8 is the number u want so i put in just some plain ro water for tonight to flush it a little then sometime within the next day or two ill get some ph down and try to adjust it to the 5.5 - 5.8 range.
judging by the color my res water tested about 6.5 - 6.8 maybe 7. it just went by color and yellow was 5 green was 6 and darker green is 7 it was a green color that was a little darker than 6 but not quite as dark as 7. the water i use (just distilled ro water from grocery store) was real yellow right at 5 i think. i read 5.5 - 5.8 is the number u want so i put in just some plain ro water for tonight to flush it a little then sometime within the next day or two ill get some ph down and try to adjust it to the 5.5 - 5.8 range.
SnOoPXIV
Active Member
If you need a cheap ph meter get the liquid ph meter test but the only problem is gunna betesting the ph that way takes forever and pissed me off so i just went and got a $80
waterproof ph meter best thing i ever did