I would definitely say this climbing PH thing is something that is a problem or potentially a problem happening to more than one person no?
It also could be that you guys are checking them frequently no? I mean I read all of Stinkb's stuff and he has said multiple times he just fills and leaves it until 3 weeks.
*Stink* have you tested the water at the end of the three weeks because maybe this problem is just normal and not a problem? Also I have seen you guys reference Aero/NFT what is NFT? it's not in the newbs vocab
I did check the PH in my Aero cloner. It was low (5.0)! I had to add PH up.
PH rising is usually a signal that something is growing in your water. Also, sometimes Hydroton will cause problems if it isn't PH'd first. We don't use any medium (right?) so it must be the funk or something else.
But didn't didn't some of you have seedlings? What were they growing in? If they are in some sort of medium then maybe that's whats causing the PH rise.
Also, your water temps need to be under 72 degrees. This is a common problem with all hydro systems. That's why you see so many water chillers on the market.
My veg room is kept at around 75 and the water temp is under 65. My flower room is kept at 85 and my water temp stays 68-72
Like I said before just use some Hygrozyme to keep the funk under control. Also make sure you clean everything very well first and start with fresh water.
I'm also wondering if there might be something in your water or somehow your water is different than mine. Dirt isn't having any PH problems using distilled water. Usually water dosen't have anything to do with PH though.
I wish I could be more help but the fact is I've never had any problems with my system. Everything runs like clockwork. (Except for pests) All I can do is try to figure out what is different from my system and assume that is the problem. Which ends up being a big Easter egg hunt.
Aero/NFT - Aero is short for Aeroponics, NFT stands for Nutrient Film Technique. My flower system is a hybrid of both.
The Aero comes from the fact that we use sprayers and a cycle timer to control the roots air time. The NFT comes from the thin film of nutrient rich water that is run over the roots. NFT has been around for awhile now. Aeroponics is still fairly new.