Water farm Ph Question?

fatface

Active Member
my ph in my watefarm keeps rising it goes from 6.0 to 6.5, and i correct it three times a day or whenever i see it needs to be lowered. the question is will the ph going from 6.0 to 6.5 hurt my plant? the last person i asked said i didnt have enough nutes in the res, but im at almost full strength. im using ionic grow. i try to keep the ph corrected all day. and yes i have rinsed the hydroton so much, that i have at used least 1000 gallons of water. and yes i have soaked it too. im using tap water that i have aged for 3 days. i live in the city so its not hard water. water ph from the tap is 7.5
 

kindprincess

Well-Known Member
do you use superthrive? st will constantly drive your ph down, might help to counter act.

most nutrient formulas buffer to 6.0 +/- a point or two. ideal ph is 5.8, so adjust appropriately.

i don't use st after week four of flower, so bear that in mind too.

kp
 

beenthere donethat

Well-Known Member
Yo.

I'm a noob at this stuff too..but a good friend of mine told me that a rise was natural as the plant eats the nutes...etc. I'm seeing the same thing....fwiw.

He also told me that "chasing" the pH wasn't a good practice. He advised me to change the water out..and to not add in a bucha pH adjuster...etc. between the changes.

As I say..I'm a noob in this area myself...so i'm just watching things closely and reading what I can on the topic. GH has some fairly decent instructions in with the system...have you read that? Seems to be fairly in-line with what my buddy told me.

anyway..we shall moddle through...

onward..through the fog...

bt dt
 

fatface

Active Member
do i put a couple of drops superthrive in the res? right now im chasing the ph
if i dont it will go up to 6.5, when i change my res the ph is wacked out that entire day, i age the water so the clorine will evaporate, if i dont the ph will rise even quicker.
 

fatface

Active Member
one drop, do you think i will help. im trying to lower the ph. and keep it there. well if it works then superthrive for life!!!!!!
 

Roseman

Elite Rolling Society
Listen to beentheredonethat!
The only plant i ever killed, (I almsot killed all 6 but only one died) and it happended from adjsuting the PH twice a day. Their systems are NOT delicate, but they can not handle that much change that often.
My suggestion is FIRST adjust your tap water. Get your water 6.0 to 6.5 and then use it. Expect it to go up and do not adjust it more than once every other day. Chasing it and trying to get it down everyday is BAD !
 

beenthere donethat

Well-Known Member
Yup.

Just talked to my buddy...the guy who told me not to chase the pH...he said he's heading over to a mutual friend of ours house tonnight to help him flush and "right" his system. Seems the runoff from the snowpack made the pH in the well rise...and this guy...not knowing any better...kept adding in pH to keep it at 6.0. Now the whole thing seems to be locked up and ther plants..while not dying...are taking a hit. The runoff has abated somewhat...and the well water seem to have dropped in pH ...so tonight he said they'll flush and refill everything twice...

and then he said he was gonna HIDE the pH down...LOL.

be careful..acid is acid. at some point it's gonna react unfavorably. You'd be better, according to my buddy...to "ride the wave"...watching it go up...waiting til it hits 7-2-7.5...then changing it all and get it back to 5.8 to start....then ride the wave again...

good luck

bt dt
 

kindprincess

Well-Known Member
rose, i'm sorry, but i disagree; sort of....

i adjust my ph daily, but only once daily. i do what i have to to get it right, then i leave it for the next day. i learned what i know about hydro from a commercial hydro farmer. this is how they do it in the big time...

but like you and others said, chasing the ph is bad. very bad. it can drive your ppms through the roof, needless to say that the plants undergo undue stress with several application of ph up/down. it's good to remember how much of each you have to use to adjust to proper levels from improper ones, because when you do, not only can you pour straight from the bottle ;) you will only have to add it once. this is the goal. most brands will have instructions with a formula. if you're good at math, you can figure out exactly how many ml you need to do the job.

i'm rambling, i'll shut up now.

kp
 

fatface

Active Member
when i first change my res, the water is crazy,it raises very quickly, but the next day,it only raises to 6.5. well tell me if this is good. i change the res, i only correct the ph once a day, in the morning. but how many times a week do you change the res, and what about toping off the res when some water evaporates? when the ph raises and it locks out some nutes, do they become unlocked when you lower the ph? sorry im still new at this.
 

potroast

Uses the Rollitup profile
It's all a matter of getting used to your water, and how it reacts with the nutes you are using. One pH adjustment per day is enough. The plant will move the pH of the solution as it uses it. I do keep the solution in the proper range, though. Because of the slow rise in pH, I set the new soup at 5.6-5.8, and then adjust it down when it rises to 6.2.

Chances are that you are not topping off like you should be. The max res level that you started with needs to be maintained by regular topping with plain water, that you've pH adjusted. Use this topoff water to keep your res pH in the proper range. If your res has climbed to 6.2, then top off with some 5.4 water, and bring the res into range.

HTH :mrgreen:
 

fatface

Active Member
i top off my res with ph corrected water everyday, i cure the water so that the clorine will evaporate. (i let the water sit in the gallon jug for 2 days with the cap off) the waterfarm has a line if the water drops below it that, it means you have to add some water to top it off. here's a question correcting my ph to 5.9 then it raises to 6.5 the next day. will this cause nute lockout? and will my plant suffer?
 

fatface

Active Member
so your saying add ph 5.5 water to my 6.5 water to bring the ph down. do i correct the water right before i top off my res,or do i wait a bit?
 

Tokecrazy

Well-Known Member
Ok how do you start up your res?Do you fill it and add the nutr and ph the mix then?Heres what I have learn from posts I have read,Per say your res is 15 gals you PH the water and let it stabilize,Then take 5 gals of it and add your nutr.Add the nutr to the 5 gals ph water and let them stablize.Add the 5 gals to the res water and let it stabilze.Check the PH.If the PH is like 5.5 to 5.9 dont adjust the ph.it will rise on its own.I have been using distilled water ph of 6.5,so when I add my nutr it drops the PH down to 5.6 to 5.9.Check the grow facts out on topping off the res.This will help you out too.Peace
 

fatface

Active Member
its a 2 gallon res, i started small because its my first hydro grow, im using a gh waterfarm, single unit. i add my nutes to ph 6.1 water,that brings it down to 5.9. then i add it to my res. should i add 5.5 water to bring my ph down from 6.5 to 5.9 insted of using ph lower, through out the day?
or could i use my lower once a day and then ,later top off my res with ph 5.5 water whenever it raises to 6.5? i have noticed some leaves are turning yellow at the bottom, i dont know if its nute def, or nute burn. hey im surprised i got it this big so far.

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