My PPM is dropping slowly, PH has slowed alot, water level dropping slowly. My other meter was the problem, dropped off 5.5 by a bit, soaked it for 30 minutes in Hydrochloric Acid. Rinsed and soaked an hour in 6.0 calibration solution. It's clean now, and works, but too late, my new meter is here. Red is backing out of the stems, and color is pouring into the plant from the top down. Hope it starts stabilizing soon. Thanks. I'll put pics up in a few.
DWC 4 Ladies
- Thread starter Hobgoblit
- Start date
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/tags-on-product/B004G8PWAU?ie=UTF8&redirect=true
Eco Testr PH 2 by Oakton, $54.00, free shipping
Eco Testr PH 2 by Oakton, $54.00, free shipping
10 days from first leaves. PPMs (500) are slowly dropping, PH has continued to crawl up, slowing more and more, water is dropping very slowly. Gonna shoot for keeping the nutes @ 500 for now, not really sure how much they will use a day. I will adjust up as it gets to be too much. I had a huge "ahaa" moment today, all starting to really make sense. Thanks again Woodsmaneh!
woodsmaneh!
Well-Known Member
If your nu[FONT="]trients[/FONT] are at 500ppm and two days later there at 350ppm you need to up your ppm! It works like this change res set ppm at say 600ppm ph 5.5 run for 24hrs, now if you ppm rise and ph drops nutrients are to strong. If ppm drop and ph rises, nutrients are to weak. But if your ppm and ph are basically stable then you have found the right mix for your plants.
[FONT="] Then when topping off your res use pre mixed nutrents to keep it at that level, if it starts to rise or fall adjust top off nutrients as needed to bring it back to proper level. This is how I set my system up and has worked great for me.
You might want to start the drippers again and run for the next 2 weeks.
[/FONT]
[FONT="] Then when topping off your res use pre mixed nutrents to keep it at that level, if it starts to rise or fall adjust top off nutrients as needed to bring it back to proper level. This is how I set my system up and has worked great for me.
You might want to start the drippers again and run for the next 2 weeks.
[/FONT]
Keeping a log, so I'm watching the trend right now, this morning my ppms had risen a little too high, so I diluted the mix. I believe it's the new PH range that I'm in with the new meter, the other meter was off. Plants will have to go through the short shock again, hate that. PH has sped up some, PPMs slowly climbing also. Water dropping.
chunkydunkynug
Member
i just started up on RIU. but this is my two pennies. if your PPM's after two days of feeding have dropped little to none, then you probably need to drop your pH and keep the same PPMs until she begins eating.
once the pH has been found. jot it down, proceed as the grow gets heavier with more PPM's or more weight, or food, adjust the pH according to how much she is chowin down after two days.... every strain is different. i suppose i figure this is why i figure this way works best for me
i look at it this way. if we have to much stomach acid and we eat we vomit. the plant on the other hand if she doesn't have enough acid (pH down) she vomits
, yet if she has too much she chokes and could burn her insides. our body naturally finds the perfect blend, we must provide that for our little girls. again just my two cents on the matter.
So basically, I'm looking for the correct level of nutes for the stage my plants are in . When I find it, my PH will crawl through the swing @ a very slow, and stable rate. All this will happen as long as I maintain that level of nutes and keep the water topped up. As the plants grow, I will have to increase the nute strength to maintain the stability. Ahaaaaa...
Got up tonight to check my rez and found this online, I personally will be using both premix nutes and plain water everyday to maintain mine. I have a small (7) gallon rez, so not sure how long I'll go between changes, every week would be smart, but expensive in nute value. 14 days is my limit. Anyway, here's the article on reservoir maintenance, hope it helps someone...
Reservoir Maintenance
The routine task of keeping the hydroponic nutrient solution in the reservoir from becoming too strong or toxic as the water is being evaporated and the nutrients within the solution are taken up by the plants.
Simply put...
Top off daily with *half strength nutrients, alternating days topping up with plain water. Change the entire reservoir with fresh solution every ten days to two weeks. (*half the strength of your current new reservoir starting strength)
Why should you?
One problem in hydroponics solution maintenance, as water is being taken up by the plants as well as evaporating out of the solution, the concentration of nutrient salts in the solution becomes gradually stronger, sometimes to the point of certain elements becoming toxic to the plants. The TDS will always become stronger as water is taken away from the solution.
Another problem, is that hydroponically grown plants will take up what they need as they need it from the nute solution. A nutrient solution left alone will end up lacking key nutrients, with a build-up of *toxic levels of other key nutrients. *Toxic in the solution, as well as in the plants.
The only way around these problems for the average hydroponic grower, is to practice sound reservoir topping off procedures. The most widely accepted maintenance method, involves daily topping off and routine reservoir solution replacement. IE: Topping off the reservoir daily with a nutrient solution which is half of the current new reservoir strength, alternating days by topping off with plain water and finally, changing the entire res solution at least every two weeks.
Changing the reservoir solution every two weeks, will give the plants a fresh and well balanced nute mix, which has not been altered by the plants nutrient uptake.
*Many scientific studies have been performed, which demonstrate these facts by GCMS testing of the nutrient solution contents and the nutrient salts contained within the actual plant tissues, as the plants "take-up" the specific nutrients in the solution.
Metaphorically speaking...
Plants will take up excessive levels of some nutrients, leaving the solution lacking in certain key nutrients. Just like a puppy would make him/her self sick if it were allowed to feed from a bottomless food bowl, plants grown hydroponically can harm themselves with nutrient deficiencies, lockouts and overdoses, if allowed to continue feeding without some control over whats available in the "food bowl".
Reservoir Maintenance
The routine task of keeping the hydroponic nutrient solution in the reservoir from becoming too strong or toxic as the water is being evaporated and the nutrients within the solution are taken up by the plants.
Simply put...
Top off daily with *half strength nutrients, alternating days topping up with plain water. Change the entire reservoir with fresh solution every ten days to two weeks. (*half the strength of your current new reservoir starting strength)
Why should you?
One problem in hydroponics solution maintenance, as water is being taken up by the plants as well as evaporating out of the solution, the concentration of nutrient salts in the solution becomes gradually stronger, sometimes to the point of certain elements becoming toxic to the plants. The TDS will always become stronger as water is taken away from the solution.
Another problem, is that hydroponically grown plants will take up what they need as they need it from the nute solution. A nutrient solution left alone will end up lacking key nutrients, with a build-up of *toxic levels of other key nutrients. *Toxic in the solution, as well as in the plants.
The only way around these problems for the average hydroponic grower, is to practice sound reservoir topping off procedures. The most widely accepted maintenance method, involves daily topping off and routine reservoir solution replacement. IE: Topping off the reservoir daily with a nutrient solution which is half of the current new reservoir strength, alternating days by topping off with plain water and finally, changing the entire res solution at least every two weeks.
Changing the reservoir solution every two weeks, will give the plants a fresh and well balanced nute mix, which has not been altered by the plants nutrient uptake.
*Many scientific studies have been performed, which demonstrate these facts by GCMS testing of the nutrient solution contents and the nutrient salts contained within the actual plant tissues, as the plants "take-up" the specific nutrients in the solution.
Metaphorically speaking...
Plants will take up excessive levels of some nutrients, leaving the solution lacking in certain key nutrients. Just like a puppy would make him/her self sick if it were allowed to feed from a bottomless food bowl, plants grown hydroponically can harm themselves with nutrient deficiencies, lockouts and overdoses, if allowed to continue feeding without some control over whats available in the "food bowl".
My problem turned out to be bad hydroton, and I say this with confidence after soaking the media in a vinegar/water solution till the rise stopped. My buddy brought me some used hydroton one day a year or so ago and it some how got mixed in with mine. Who knows what he dumped through it...Anyhow, this rapid PH swing developed and gave me fits, 5.6 to 6.1 in about 4 hours. All this while trying to learn hydro. I even gave up a couple of times frustrated. Blamed everything. Then came across this article...https://www.rollitup.org/hydroponics-aeroponics/446482-crazy-ph-swings-read.html#post5948799...so I tryed it and it actually worked, took about 2 days, went from 3.2 to 3.8 and stopped. Took a butt load of water to rinse out the vinegar smell, but it's clean now. Meanwhile, I built a current culture system, and have a new group started, in the above mentioned hydroton. So I guess we shall see...The swing is crawling...5.5 @ 9:00pm, just now hitting 5.7 and it's 10:00am...much easier to manage, maybe now I can move on to the learning part again...
ULMResearch
Active Member
I've found that when I use my tapwater and pH it down, the alkalinity of it will naturally cause the pH to rise. My tap is shit though. 400ppm and 8.4pH. I pH it down to 5.6 or so and the next day it's up to 6.0 just sitting in a sealed container. Likely this is due to the pH down reacting with and becoming neutralized by the higher pH ions in the water.
I'm using tap also, PPM's @ 035, PH @ 7.0, seriously considering a R/O system.