I am very leary of rain water these day. With all the heavy metal BS thats being sprayed in our atmosphere, it’s drastically effected our nature lands ph. Barium, strontium, and aluminum are heavy metals. Those good damn planes are constantly spraying that shit where I live.
My best friend works for the Forest Service and they test the soil ph pretty regularly throughout the different wild land. The ph of our forests soil has decreased almost a full point in the past 10 years he said.
I honestly would stay away from rain h20 in the future.
Try lowering the 02 pressure in your buckets and make sure your pump is getting plenty of fresh air.
Try using RO next time. If that doesn’t change anything will we troubleshoot a couple other things.
Roots look healthy and white? Not sludgy or brown @sssportsmfg?
Ty
Ty when I try and adjust the PH perfect nutes it takes a ton of it to do anything. My PPM goes over 3300.
It seems like whatever they put in the PH perfect line makes it almost impossible to move the PH, is that what you find? I did buy what was supposed to be RO water, it was as bad as anything I have used.
Yes, I’ve noticed the same thing about it being hard to adjust the ph with AN ph perfect nutrients. It takes alot to do anything. I’ve ran into the same problem in the past. It can be so frustrating!!
I am still very much a newb but I wanna know more. First off I need to say that in my opinion DWC requires RO water and there is no other evidence that I have seen where alternatives that are used instead have advantages that outweigh their drawbacks. RO water pretty much eliminates the variables that can jack up your grow and waste your money and time. I have no idea what is in rain water besides molecules of H2O but I would never use it in my DWC systems. Tap water has Chloramine in my city so that isn’t even an option. RO Buddies on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Aquatic-Life-Changing-Deionization-Cartridge/dp/B00204CQF6/ref=sr_1_5?crid=GEOYHSZET6BA&dchild=1&keywords=ro+system&qid=1616499408&sprefix=RO+%2Caps%2C185&sr=8-5 are cheap, effective, easy to use and will allow you to get on with it. I would have included one with every stimulus check but it wasn’t up to me…
I am unfamiliar with the nutes you are using but if your PH is doing weird stuff I would check that meter and whether it holds calibration and is accurate. If it is reliable and you are having trouble getting the PH levels where you want them then I would suspect the UP/DOWN solutions or some aspect of the testing itself. If you are needing a lot of chemicals to move numbers then I would suspect there is something very wrong.
I use General Hydroponics products and am currently in 2nd week of flower/flip of my 2nd ever grow. From what I have gathered GH designed their FloraNova line to be close to neutral. I have never had to correct for more than little PH offset and my res PH stays pretty stable for the 7 days between Nute changes. As they drink I keep the levels topped off with RO water and it is sooooooo easy. The frustration is real and I really hope you get an answer. Maybe contact the manufacturer of the nutes for an explanation? Good luck and let us know how it goes.
Hi Truth…Yes I have done everything mentioned except my own RO system. I plan on getting a 30gal polyethylene food grade barrel and a RO system. I indeed do know something is drastically wrong. There has to be something in my system that is eating the PH materials out of the water that is a given. I have tried three different nutrients so far, one wouldn’t hold down and now this one won’t hold the PH on the up side. What I mean is currently it drops steadily till it gets way out of whack at 4.5 then it stops and holds but it’s killing my plants. The other nute was the opposite. I have tried both the “supposed” RO water from a “purified water station” near me. That water did the same thing, I suspect it is just filtered tap water with all the nasty minerals in it It did not test out like RO water should have. I have also tried to get my rainwater to work to no avail. It seems like it should but doesn’t. 14 ppm to start with a PH of 6.1 but it is giving me problems as well. AN Ph perfect line is supposed to hold the PH of the nutes in the acceptable range but isn’t even close to start. 3.9 to 4.3 Ph depending on if it is the purified water or the rainwater. My meters are fine I have two and they both read the same, they also are calibrated each and every time I use them, and they return to 7.0 when i put the cap back on after adjusting the PH in a nute solution. The caps hold the 7.0 Ph reference and storage solution.
Excellent suggestions all and from everyone. Again so much thanks to all trying to help. Once again I am going to give it another shot. Off to the store to buy gallons of distilled water that is my last option until I get a RO system of my own. I know the distilled water is ok as it has a 1ppm reading. I bought a jug for another purpose “steam iron and steamer” a while back. I am at this point disgusted to say the least. lol. Since I have had one form of problem or the opposite I certainly can’t blame the nutrient companies.
I’ve been watching the problems you’ve been having from a far. I use Dyna Grow, It is supposed to hold PH once it’s set. I can mix it and put it in a barrel for a week with a small pump agitating and it holds perfect. I grow in Rockwool and when the plants are small in a recirculating system my PH climbs. Not much at first but once the plants get bigger it starts climbing faster. Then when I flip them to bloom I change out all my nutrients to bloom nutrients and it holds the pH for the first couple of weeks then it starts dropping. As much as a Full point overnight. I was hoping that you would find a solution here.
I have stuff coming to switch over to drain to waste. The nutrients will always be fresh will never have roots in them until they hit the plant. This will cure all of my pH problems. I think I have a pretty good idea how to make this happen economically, maybe even for less than a recirculating system. Anyways I’ll keep watching and see if you guys come up with something.
Hi @happilyretired I just returned from the store, where I bought 15 gal of distilled water. The producer has a website with a QOW report. (quality of water) I looked up the last report from the producer that made this water I bought. PPM is listed as 1 my reading is 0.9 close enough. The water report listed the PH as 6.1, my meter read 6.1. SO everything should be good to add nutes. Yes I know PH will fluctuate as the nutrients get used by the plants it should and that would be normal, but that is not what is happening with mine. Currently …this morning I checked on the PH it was 4.3 at 8am. I had adjusted it with Bloom city PH up to 6.9 and watched it lower to 6.1 within 10 minutes. It settled in there for at least 10 minutes so I buttoned everything up and went to bed. It went from 6.1 to 4.3 in 10 hours actually I don’t know for sure when it hit 4.3, sometime within 10 hours. I had to dump two quarts with a total of 30ml of full strength Bloom City PH up in to get it back up to 6.1. I go a little past optimal because I know it won’t take but minutes to go back down again. I am nursing it until tomorrow when I take the entire system apart again completely clean the buckets stones and lines and recharge it. This time with distilled water and nutes Ph’ed to 5.5. Keeping my fingers crossed… until tomorrow lol…
@truthhound couple of questions if you have the time…do you PH your RO water to 7 before you add your nutrients?
And when you top off you don’t add nutes only water? From what I gather even RO water will drop off 7 as soon as it is exposed to the carbon dioxide in the air.
This distilled water I have has zero anything in it according to the report. They say their process is microfilter, then RO then distilled all three.
And last question is this, do you buffer your water with PH up and down a little of each or just put your nutes in and PH it to 5.5?
My RO filter system provides me with water that has essentially NO (Zero, nada, zip) dissolved solids that my meter can reliably detect. The “RO Buddie” deionizes the water in the last step and my “Liquid Blank Canvas” has a PH to start with at around 6.00 +/- 0.05. I DO NOT adjust the PH to 7.0 before adding nutes. I ignore the PH and the EC/PPM for now at this point as it will swing wildly and I hate to waste my time chasing numbers. I make all of the water I will need for the week on Sunday evening after I am done with the Reservoir change and I keep it in a large BRUTE trash can (I also have a second large BRUTE can full of water with airstones for emergencies that stays in the laundry room). I rigged a submersible water pump into an awesome transfer pump using PVC as a basic structure that makes all of this laughably easy. I put an aquarium heater on the bottom, put the transfer pump and hose in, drop in an airstone, and just leave it for the night. I pull out the pump in the morning and replace it with a 1 quart plastic cup that I use to top off the buckets as the day goes by. By Sunday morning they have made their way through the storage container almost to the 11 gallon mark I made with a marker when I started. I wake up early, drop the pump and hose in the tank to stir it up, make coffee and turn on some music, then I sit at a folding table with my nutes and meter and I mix my nutes. I take my time…I get high as fuck and ease into my peaceful weekly ritual. I add 1 thing at a time and I am in no hurry…15 minutes or so with each component step.
If you set a bucket of that water in front of me the first thing I would do is drop my meter in it. I am a “trust but verify” kind of guy when it comes to my Kush. I have spent entirely too much time, energy, and money to leave my grow to chance. The RO Buddy and a high quality meter have eliminated ALL of my concerns.
Once everything is mixed and TEMP has been confirmed to be in the correct range it is only then that I address the PH. Once everything has been stirring and bubbling for a while and is all mixed and stable I will sit and SLOWLY adjust the PH to 5.90-5.95ish. Then I let it sit and grab some chow because a man’s gotta eat. An hour later if the meter shows everything is good then I commit and don’t look back. The transfer goes very quickly with the pump and I put the meter away. I have designed my system to take into account multiple possible errors at any given time so instead of sitting around and trouble shooting nutrient deficiencies and trying to correct them with an eyedropper and chemicals that can hump my grow…NOPE. In a couple of hours I can repeat the process and do so 3 more times before I deplete my RO reserve and have to make more.
This is how I do it and it is by no means even remotely correct. I do hope this was helpful and if there is anything more I can do for you please let me know. Life is a little more stable so I should be around more.
@Tygrow78 Sorry my brother I didn’t mean to hijack your thread. You have a beautiful garden! I hope all is well with you and that you are enjoying the beginning of Spring. Good to see you!
Your all good @truthhound! Glad to see you back around! Haven’t chatted for a while my friend. Did you get your vaccine???
Me. Hell NO!
Our health system didn’t require us to get the jab. I would say only about 50% of my coworkers in our Emergency Department got the vaccine.
I’ve been constantly exposed for over a year now, and yet to get sick. I don’t even where N95s anymore except when doing cpr.
First an absolutely FANTASTIC answer. You may be new, but you have the hydro down and I still do not.
I use the HM digital meter it reads down to the hundreds of a ph. 7.14 or anything anywhere in the range of the PH meter. It is very accurate, and repeatable. I keep it in 7.0 reference solution and it always returns to 7.0 when I put the cap back on. I can literally watch the water tick down a hundredth of a ph at a time when my system gets whack.
And I didn’t leave anything to chance…I opened a jug of the water poured it out into a glass container and PH’ed it. It was exactly as stated on the report. I also put my EC/PPM meter in it and it read 0.09 so 9 one hundredths of a PPM. Good enough lol. The report on the water was 0 for everything else under the sun. Bacteria, toxins, heavy metals etc.
I am in process of getting a big blue 30 gal polyethylene barrel food grade. And a RO system. Once I have that and with this little 14 gal system I have that will give me two complete water changes. And if I need more I can just swap it out for a 50 gal. You can find them all over town, about 15 bucks each. They use them in the food industry but due to regulations they cannot be reused, so they sell them for rain barrels etc. They are about a 1/4" thick polyethylene.
And just like you I put the nutes in let them sit, then come back and PH them a little at a time, a little less then where I want it to be and then come back and check and do a small final if necessary. I am hoping that with the next water change and this good RO water it will hold PH like it should. I will also be cleaning out the entire system with H2O3 and drying it, quick rinse with neutral water and hopefully that will end my baby sitting lol
Thanks for all your help it is very much appreciated !!!
I hope that solves your problem @sssportsmfg. I know how frustrating it can be. I had a few issues my first time with dwc also. It was frustrating and I cursed hydro a few times but pushed on. Also I ph with AN ph up and down. You might want to try that in the future for your adjustments. I feel it works better to hold your ph where you want it.
If you talk with anyone from A.N. they also will tell you that the ph perfect technology isn’t guaranteed if you use other brands of nutrients. Thats why I’ve only ever run their lineup. I’m sure its a marketing thing too. But I don’t have ph issues. Especially since I Xd the Nirvana from my lineup. It was dropping my ph and I would have to adjust it.
When I clone I only use clonex solution and Voodoo Juice phd to 6.0. Works great every time. When I drop them in buckets I switch to my AN lineup.
Keep us informed my friend!
I got all these amazing genetics from my friend Paul over at DC Seed Exchange. He’s the man! He’s helped me secure my original genetics to cross for my high thcv breeding project.
I’ll take clones from these plants tomorrow and immediately put them under an 8on/16off light cycle to sex each one.
I’m going to number each lid, but I’m also going to pick out my 3 male and 3 female plants ahead of time. I’ve followed their growth patterns and to me I think I already know their sex. We’ll see if I’m right…
So you mix up their nutes in RO water and then put it into your system without any PH adjustment? I have done trial after trial with ALL of their different PH perfect lines and with RO water, they are not even close to 5.5 PH.or up to 6.5 PH. All of the tests I have done was ONLY their PH perfect line and RO water only, no additives of any kind either AN or anyone else. Evey test I did they ran between 3.8 and 4.23 PH with starting RO water of 7.0. I haven’t tried AN’s PH up and down. I use Bloom city. I’m baffled.
This grow I have made minimal ph adjustments @sssportsmfg. When I mix up my Bloom nutes my ph comes in right around 5.6. I let it run in my system and watch it rise to 6.2 in 24 hrs. After it drops back down to 5.5 I start adjusting my ph up with diluted A.N. ph up.
I mix 6ml of solution to 500ml RO.
My ph constantly drifts down in bloom but never below 5.5 this grow. Since cutting out my B52 and Nirvana.
Now with my Connoisseur Grow nutes it’s opposite. I’m using ph down to stay around 5.9-6.1. I didn’t have my insulating wrap on my buckets in my new tent till today. My h20 temps kept rising to 72-74f and my ph goes right up with it. But never above 6.4. If I keep my h20 temps around 67-68f it doesn’t drift up. It will hold it’s ph.
I always have to adjust my ph every day or 2 to keep it where I want it. Between 5.7-6.1.
The technology is far from perfect for dwc.
