Rapid pH shift

NanoGadget

NanoGadget

Well-Known Member
Hey all,
I transfered my seedling to my WaterFarm yesterday. Started with RO and a very, very light feed (solution is sitting at 135ppm). Water temps are sitting at 67. I pH'd the solution to 5.6 or so. Within a few hours it has risen to 6.4 or so. This rapid pH swing has continued like this ever since. The only things I can think of (as I know this little ass seedling isn't feeding fast enough to cause a drift like this) is the fact that I've noticed a little sediment from the hydroton in the water. I thought I'd rinsed it pretty well, but apparently I could've rinsed more. From what I've heard hydroton is pH neutral. I don't know whether to take that to mean that it tends to sit at 7 or that it doesn't affect pH at all... but it's all I can think of. Any ideas? I'm stumped.
 
NanoGadget

NanoGadget

Well-Known Member
As of this morning it's still swingin pretty hard. Was at 5.6 when I adjusted it for the last time before I went to bed at midnight or so and when I checked it at 9 am it was sitting at 6.4
 
NanoGadget

NanoGadget

Well-Known Member
I should have thought of that! I did notice it was hard to even measure the pH of the RO when I tested it before I added the nutes. Thanks a lot. I'm hesitant to up the EC much at this point as she is pretty young still, but maybe I'll up it a bit in a week or so. In the meantime, should I let it drift or keep adjusting it a couple times a day?
 
rkymtnman

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
NanoGadget said:
I should have thought of that! I did notice it was hard to even measure the pH of the RO when I tested it before I added the nutes. Thanks a lot. I'm hesitant to up the EC much at this point as she is pretty young still, but maybe I'll up it a bit in a week or so. In the meantime, should I let it drift or keep adjusting it a couple times a day?
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keep your EC low. less is more with nutes most of the time.

you should only adjust 2x a day. set at 5.5 and let it go to 6.1 then re-adjust
 
NanoGadget

NanoGadget

Well-Known Member
rkymtnman said:
keep your EC low. less is more with nutes most of the time.

you should only adjust 2x a day. set at 5.5 and let it go to 6.1 then re-adjust
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Will do. Thanks a ton! I have a number of grows under my belt, but this is my first attempt at hydro so I feel like I'm starting over. Lol
 
rkymtnman

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
i started with hydro but i know what you mean. soon enough, this will all be second nature. pH is super important and keep your nutes low is my 2 suggestions.
 
rkymtnman

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
NanoGadget said:
If it remains unstable when I up my EC I will definitely look into something like this. Much appreciated!
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it won't be too stable since your roots are always in the res with the waterfarm, you will still get the pH swing. it should be less sever than now though.

that's why i went away from dwc and to drain to waste. pH is stable all the time
 
NanoGadget

NanoGadget

Well-Known Member
rkymtnman said:
it won't be too stable since your roots are always in the res with the waterfarm, you will still get the pH swing. it should be less sever than now though.

that's why i went away from dwc and to drain to waste. pH is stable all the time
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Do you find the RDWC style of the waterfarm to be more stable in terms of pH than standard DWC or are they pretty much the same? Thanks again for all the feedback!
 
rkymtnman

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
NanoGadget said:
Do you find the RDWC style of the waterfarm to be more stable in terms of pH than standard DWC or are they pretty much the same? Thanks again for all the feedback!
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i started with dwc single buckets. then built my own rdwc. rdwc is a bit more forgiving just because of the larger volume of water involved. but pH swings are almost unavoidable. and if you get some root rot going on, it gets even worse.

i went to hempy buckets. drain to waste on an automated timer. i've been out of town for up to 2 weeks with no issues. hard to do that with dwc/rdwc. but i did lose the growth rate of the dwc. got to weigh your priorities. i broke the chains to my buckets and haven't looked back. lol.
 
NanoGadget

NanoGadget

Well-Known Member
It's definitely something I'll think about in the future, but right now I'm dealing with a small space (3x3x6) and I wanted to try hydro in the simplest way I could make work. One bucket and one plant seemed to me to be the easy route with the space I have
 
rkymtnman

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
NanoGadget said:
It's definitely something I'll think about in the future, but right now I'm dealing with a small space (3x3x6) and I wanted to try hydro in the simplest way I could make work. One bucket and one plant seemed to me to be the easy route with the space I have
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i'm only 3x4x8 so just 3 or 4 plants for me. you might try different forms of hydro but i'd never go to dirt after seeing what hydro can do. that's what nice about hempy: hydro with soil simpliicity
 
NanoGadget

NanoGadget

Well-Known Member
rkymtnman said:
i'm only 3x4x8 so just 3 or 4 plants for me. you might try different forms of hydro but i'd never go to dirt after seeing what hydro can do. that's what nice about hempy: hydro with soil simpliicity
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I'll definitely hit you up for tips and tricks if I go that route on my next run.:bigjoint:
 
rkymtnman

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
NanoGadget said:
I'll definitely hit you up for tips and tricks if I go that route on my next run.:bigjoint:
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like i said, depends on grower. rdwc was fun challenging and very rewarding but i had to give up being home for pretty much 65 days in a row to deal with it.
now i give up some yield and speed but have the freedom to get away

hit me up anytime. i did dwc/rdwc for years so i've probably seen everything and had to deal with it!
 
NanoGadget

NanoGadget

Well-Known Member
rkymtnman said:
like i said, depends on grower. rdwc was fun challenging and very rewarding but i had to give up being home for pretty much 65 days in a row to deal with it.
now i give up some yield and speed but have the freedom to get away

hit me up anytime. i did dwc/rdwc for years so i've probably seen everything and had to deal with it!
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Thanks very much! I'll hit you up with questions for sure.
806KING said:
Your right I had the same issue in a waterfarm also
When I upped the nutes the ph got more stable
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Good to get some more positive news! I'm thinking it'll be another 2 weeks before I up my feeding significantly, but it's nice to know I won't be battling this issue the whole grow!
 
Budley Doright

Budley Doright

Well-Known Member
Wow kinda like my well water as it stays amazingly stable but it took me awhile to figure it out and some different nutes. I add 35 ml per 100 l to get it to 5.6 (85%) and some nutrient lines were allowing it to rise. I know shit about using RO water but does calmag act as a buffer?
 
NanoGadget

NanoGadget

Well-Known Member
Budley Doright said:
Wow kinda like my well water as it stays amazingly stable but it took me awhile to figure it out and some different nutes. I add 35 ml per 100 l to get it to 5.6 (85%) and some nutrient lines were allowing it to rise. I know shit about using RO water but does calmag act as a buffer?
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So far it seems to be. Between adding a little calmag, upping my nutrient strength and a good bucket cleaning/res change it seems to have stabilized quite a bit.
 
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