pH Problem

Hey guys. I am using the Stealth Hydroponics system for my first time growing. My plants are about 2 weeks old. Somehow, even though I adjust the pH to around 6.0 with the pH up/down powder, my pH always seems to rise to about 7.0. Previously, I thought that this was because the water in the tank could not absorb anymore pH down powder. Although I changed the water and added fresh nutes/ pH balanced with a minimal amount of pH up, my pH still seems to be rising to around 7.0. I have confirmed this measurement w/ both pH test strips and an electronic pH meter. Any help would be very appreciated.

healthy hydro systems ph normally rises....have to ph down it

Rising to 7.0 is not healthy, and for some reason this has happened to a lot of us that have ordered the SH system. Took me weeks to figure it out, i'm pretty much an expert on it now so i'll give ya run down, lol.

How old are the plants, are there roots yet? If so, what do they smell like... are they brownish in color?

Is there anything dead and/or decaying in the water? Be it the roots, bugs, anything else dead. If so, remove it.

What are your water/air temps? Do you use any additives and what kind of nutes?

What kind of water do you use, if it's tap what is the ppm of your water when it comes out of the tap and the pH?

If your using tap water, and you don't have a ppm/pH meter it could very well be your tap water causing problems. Buy distilled water from WalMart (76c a gallon) and see if that makes a difference.

Is your water greenish in color? Do you have any slimy material on the bottom or sides of the resevoir, if it's green then it is algae and that is your problem.

Did you SOAK your rockwool cubes and hydroton rocks in pH correct water before adding to the tank? If you did not, then the pH is unstable because of them most likely, you could take them out and soak them in pH correct water if you are not far into your grow... or just wait it out and eventually they will stabilize. Use distilled water and it won't be as bad.

Check your feeder tubes, are they the same color they were at when you got them? Are they green or brown, if so they are clogged and the tubes need to be cleaned. Put the pump in like 5 gallons of water, attach the feeder tubes add a light amount of bleach and run the pump for a couple hours your tubes should be clean. After that, run the pump w/ the tubes attached in clean water for a while and make sure all the bleach is washed out.

If none of this is the issue, do a full drain and replenish. Take your res, SCRUB it well get it sparkly clean, use some H2O2 or bleach, if you use bleach make sure you rinse it out real well before use again.

Something is amiss in your tank if your pH is rising so quickly. Try/respond to all that I said, and I we can eliminate the problem here and get your pH under control. Best a luck to ya! You will get it straight soon enough.


Also man, check out this thread. https://www.rollitup.org/dwc-bubbleponics/7897-stealth-hydro-bubbleponics-systems-1019.html

You will find lots of help here, and if you read over the past 150 or so pages you will find every answer to your pH issues you have ever dreamed of, a bunch of us went thru it, lol.

My plants are a little more than 2 weeks old. The roots look healthy, so they are whitish and not brown or red.
I completely cleaned out the tank hoping it would solve my pH problems, so there is not an abundance of dead plant material in the tank.
I'm using 1/4th strength of the provided grow/micro nutes, since the plants are just 2 weeks old. My air temp is around 70 degrees while my reservoir temp is around 75.
I use tap water, which has a ppm of around 50 and a pH of around 7. I always pre balance the pH my reservoir before I add it to the tank when I change the water too.
Algae doesn't seem to be a problem either, since there is no brown or green residue on the tubes/tank.
I think my problem is my rockwool cubes, since I neglected to soak them before I started my grow. As you can see in the third image below, I've been taking out each pot w/ the plant/rockwool cube and soaking it in 6.0 pH water for about an hour. Hopefully this stabilize my pH. I'll report on if this works or not. Thanks for all your help.

make sure you leave the tap water out for 24 hours 1st so the chlorine evaporates out of the water. buy some foil tape and cover the entire res, even though you can't see it some light gets in to that tote causing some algea, also one thing i had noticed in my grow i had flushed hydroton pellets many times, but once the grow started more red dust washed off the pellets into the res, if your tubing inside the res has a slimy feeling to it, make sure to clean everything next time you switch out the res or it will keep coming back. this is the problem i had at the beggining of my grow. also check the experation date on your ph up and down, powders tend to expire, or lose potency, i recommend liquids, the salts dissolve in the water faster.
hope this helps i will keep my eye on your post
+ rep

My tubing does feel a little slimy actually. Along with the foil tape, do you think washing out the tank with a couple grams of hydroden peroxide will do the trick?

from what ive heard about peroxide id say most definatley.

yeah that should work, clean everytime you flush

Sorry little question why is a ph of 7 bad? im a newbie is it because the roots wont take up nutrients mine have always been bout 7 on most of the plants i have healthy root growth???? cheers

7 probably is ok but i keep mine between 5.5-6.4

That's a little more fluctuation than is desirable. I use GH Bloom/Mic and a bunch of additives and my pH is fairly stable at 6.2. Whenever I water I use a solution with at least some sort of pH downer (superthrive, pH down, micro) and try to water with 5.0 solutions. One time I added a gallon of pH 3.5 water (added too much down, but decided it was ok) and the pH didn't change a wink. Yes, I waited, and measured different areas, including where I poured it.

So I put a little bit of H202 in the tank, ran it for about 10 minutes, took out the plants, and then cleaned out the tank again with some more H202. My pH seems to be increasing and stopping at around 6.75 instead of 7.1 so I guess that's an improvement. I'll try soaking the rockwool cubes another couple times too to see if that helps.

dwcattempt said:

7 probably is ok but i keep mine between 5.5-6.4

Click to expand...

no it is not
plants take up mico and macro nutrients
macro being more essential then micro but
with a 7 it locks out essential nutrients,
by the ph being so high the plant can not
absorb those certain nutrients.. ph is one of your
most important things!!

The ph in my rez likes to rise to about 6.6 on some days. However the plant it self doesn't seem to be phased by it. As long as I make little adjustments to the pH every day the plant stays happy.

do you add the powder to your res or do you mix it first?