It's algae...you got green shit on your rockwool cubes and/or hydroton? It raises your PH.I use a Bubbleponics system and after I do a res change I notice my Ph goes up for the first 2 days or so then stabilizes. I have a 12 inch air stone in a 10 gal tub. I dont use a PPM meter or EC meter but it has something to do with the nute changes when the plants eat and when you add more. then the air stone prob affects it.
Yeah algea feeds on all the C02 in your water and thus it raises the PH. Not a huge deal, but it can be if you let it go too long.Yeah I clean my res every 7 days and i feel ya on the algae. I cover my cups with white dixie cup paper bowls I cut then slice like a thin pie wedge for the stem. Does a good job of keeping light out, doesnt get soggy since it's lined w wax, and costs pennies. I think I should also cover my res lid w foil or poly too for extra dark.
PPM goes up when you have too much nutrient OR too much evaporation. @ the ideal ppm the ppm will stay and not fluctuate or just slightly drop.would the algae explain why the PPM goes up?
Some of the nute company's add an organic acid to make a chelated calcium in their products. What it does is makes it much easier for the plants to uptake the calcium. Another thing it does is temporarily lower the PH on the initial mix. They say you should not add PH up because The PH will rise naturally as the plants take up the chelated calcium in one or two days. Personally I Do the mix, then let it sit for two days with an air stone until the PH comes back up to usually 7.5. Then I'll add PH down to get it to my preferred 5.8.hey dude im in the same boat. i did a res change last night with RO water, added my nutes, ph levels were at about 4.8 at that time and ppms were 800, then i let it sit for an hour before swapping tubs, checked the ph and ppm again ph-4.8 (so i added some of my homemade ph up (baking soda and RO water), brought it to 5.8. ppms were 850 now
then this morning checked again and sure enough my ph was 6.8 and now i got it at 5.9. i think also, since im using hydroton, it changesthe ph levels too even though it waspre soaked and crap.
all i can say is keep adjusting, the more your plants eat the more of a ph change you will get, im pretty sure anyways haha.
good luck
So if I didnt prep the rockwool properly what can I do about it now? Will it come around at some point by itself?I Think the original posters problem was not compleatly flushing the rockwool cubes before soaking in the 5.5 solution.
Don't worry about it, just keep using PH down...So if I didnt prep the rockwool properly what can I do about it now? Will it come around at some point by itself?