New Member First Grow- Help plz?

Hi,
Great forum!! i have lurked here for serval weeks while setting up my closet- lots of priceless info to be found.
Heres the setup:
400w Hortuilux Super HPS with cooltube ducted outside using 400ish CFM fan (top left of 1st pic)
GH Micro,flora,bloom,cal-mag, hydrozyme
Drip irrigation in Grodan 4" rockwool
Great bagseed started in 1" cubes
5 gal tank with ro water.

So heres the first issue:

I just added 4" cubes yesterday after soaking in 5.5 ph water for 1 hr.
and picked up some hydrozyme after reading great things about it.

Now the PH is out of control..

Its reading 7+, and if I leave tested water in the tube, it turns blue ( like 8+)

Heres a couple of entries from grow log:

7/1/08 Started germinated seedlings in RW today 5.5 water only.

7/7/08 1PM: Added 4" cubed to area, planted seedlings.

7/7/08 2AM: ph 6.2 203 ppm(25 was Ph dn) grow,bloom,micro,cal-mag
added 25 ml hydrozyme =175ppm total minus PH adjust
Medium PH=6.5
Added .5ml Ph dn - new PH-5.5, 206 ppm
drip 15 min, medium PH 6.0-6.2ish , tank@ 191ppm

7/8/08 11pm: PH 6.5, 198 ppm.. meduim PH 7+!!

Flushed meduim with 5 gal 5.5 PH RO water
changed tank
5 gal RO water, .5 ml PH dn 007ppm am currently dripping for a few hrs to try to further flush.

So is it the hygrozyme raising PH? Any help would be much appreciated
\x0D

OK, so i have been dripping 5.5 Ro water for 3 hrs.. New tank PH is 6.5,38 ppm. What now? Should I let it run overnight .. will this hurt the seedlings?
Thanks for any help..

\x0D

anyone? please?

I am curious, what are you using to ph the ro water and why did you only soak the rockwool for an hour?? the plants seems to look alright. VV

hey VV thanks for the response, I used GH PH down for lowering PH,
and according to grodan directions, only 30 min of soak was needed , followed by flushing with 3x volume of 5.5 RO water.
Should i have let them sit overnight?
Best Regards,
\x0D

\x0D said:

hey VV thanks for the response, I used GH PH down for lowering PH,
and according to grodan directions, only 30 min of soak was needed , followed by flushing with 3x volume of 5.5 RO water.
Should i have let them sit overnight?
Best Regards,
\x0D

Click to expand...

The best source for finding out how to use rockwool cubes is Al B Fucts cloning thread. Its easy too put too much water in rockwool they should be damp not 'wet'. What are you using to measure the ph? VV

I am using a GH PH test kit- it came with PH up, dn and drops.
A dig PH meter is on my list for the hydro store- Eyeballing colors and trying to guess in .1 increments isnt cutting it amymore.. oh well.
I will use these up , then grab a meter.

The kids are all still alive and kicking, so far so good..

I ran the drip for 3 hrs last night just trying to get the high PH water cycled out of the cubes. I think it may have worked, as the tank PH was 6.5 when i tested it ( started at 5.5 RO water only, no nutes, additives, etc.)

Do you think I should take the cubes out and give them a good shake?( and give myself tennis elbow..lol)
I am on my way to read the al b.fuct cloning thing now.
Thanks again for the direction!
\x0D

yeah, the drops are impossible to use once you have run the system with anything in it, you need a meter that tells you the ph. The health of your plants suggests that your ph is fine, your method of finding what it is, is the problem. I went for over a year without a ph meter and I am using RO, ph of about 3, ppm of 300 or less. In my opinion the ppm is more important than the ph if you are using ro water and rockwool. Your plants health bears this out. VV

Your rockwool should be soaked for 24 hours,then rinsed before use...It will raise phtil you soak it....Changing your water might be a good idea too