Struggling to Keep My Ph Down

Hey everyone, I transplanted my first clone into my deep water cooler yesterday morning. I used 800 PPM of Ionic grow nutrients which I got for free at my hydro shop along with some pH down to get down to 5.5 pH. That evening when I checked the pH it was at 7.5. I did a res change and brought the pH down to 5.0. Tonight I checked the res and it was around 8.0 pH! It is a single 6.5 gallon cooler with 4 airstones and a 40w commercial air pump. I scrubbed the cooler with some dish liquid and water and the temps are staying under 70. Any advice on why I can't keep the pH down? Thanks!

P.S. My connected RDWC coolers are almost done and I made a bubble cloner with a mini cloner

it is common when u add nutes for ph to rise in a lot of instances, not all but many. i am unfamilar with DWC growing, but maybe with my reply (bump) u get more answers. I wouldn't freak out if the ph rose temporarily as a result of u adding nutes, as long as it stabilized within 24 hrs. have u been checking to see if the correspondance between ur ph rising & adding nutes exists?

It's my understanding that PH rising in dwc is normal. It means your plant is uptaking your nutes.
As your plant gets developed enough to use higher concentrations of nutes.
Your ph should stabilize better if your nutes has ph buffers.

Ionic nutes do have pH buffers as I understand. Also, I know the pH will rise, but I had a full 2 point rise in under 24 hours. This is definitely not normal. I don't want to do a res change every day. Which nutes have the best buffers?

I check my ph twice a day.....about every 12 hours, also I aim a little higher ph ( around 6.0 6.2 ). First few weeks I had to add ph down each check than I flushed my bucket and slowly raised my ppm's and it seemed to stop the sudden flux in ph like your having. Also I use GH 3 part system

Using tap water? - this contains a lot of chalk often and will keep teasing you for a long time before being steady. Every time you get the ph right more chalk will disolve and rise ph-value.
Maybe that's your problem? - if so get some rain water and you'll see miracles.

I usually use tap water, but for this transplant I used RO water, so that should be the problem.

I don't know anything about those nutes or their buffering capabilities, so I'm going straight to basics.
The first thing I suggest is to make a gallon of solution, just like you were going to use it, test it and then drop an airstone in it and let it sit for 24 hours, then check your pH again. If your pH drops without the plants taking in any feed, then there's a buffering problem in the solution itself. You should know what your nutrients do independently from the plants use of them.

Did you add Cal/Mag?

I didn't add Cal/Mag. I will add some next res change. I will also probably switch to dynagrow. I'll give what you suggested a shot. Thanks for the tips. How do you usually clean your coolers in between grows? Also wondering how long it should take my roots to get through my 6" netpot after transplant?

I had this problem using hard water nutes,changed to soft water and its stabalised.
PH will go up while they eat but not that drastic,I have 2/8 oxy pots that are still doing it,the water stinks so im guessing there is a problem with roots.

iFreeSki420 said:

I didn't add Cal/Mag. I will add some next res change. I will also probably switch to dynagrow. I'll give what you suggested a shot. Thanks for the tips. How do you usually clean your coolers in between grows? Also wondering how long it should take my roots to get through my 6" netpot after transplant?

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When you run water through an RO membrane you strip ALL the minerals out, making it soft water, which in itself has no buffering capability. Cal/Mag adds calcium which is a big buffering agent. I know that my GH nutes drop like a stone without Cal/Mag, so that's *probably* your problem.

The root question is one of those " it depends" things, it's going to take as long as it takes. Genetics, light, blah, blah, you know the drill.

I just rinse my coolers and wipe them out. I've never had root problems or slime and I keep a non-microbial reservoir.

if you switch to dyna-gro BUY PRO-TEKT. you will never see ph problems again. I run a recirculating aeroponics now. But at the beginning of my grow i had a small DWC to make my clones bigger(check my sig). Ive RARELY touched my ph after my initial filling although i check every other day for any change.
Also make sure you always top off your bucket with fresh Ph'd water(as your plants will drink equal amounts nuts vs water) otherwise your Tds + ph could be different.

if you are using hydroton if you didnt wash/ph the rocks before filling your setup that will cause a constant ph leech from the rocks (consider flushing water through the top to wash the rocks completely(with ph'd water))
dyna-gro has a mag-pro for R/O water

PS post pics so we can help more.