Wild PH fluxuations

Originally Posted by mountaingirl2

I cannot get my PH to stay at 5.8 or even close. I used RO water and it wants to hover aroud 6.3-6.5 When I add a few drops of Ph down to about 6 gallons it plummits to 5.1 all the way from 6.3 This is totally freaking me out and pissing me off. My ppm is around 85. The Ph seems to rise as the day goes on also. It may be around 6.3 at night and then in the morning it is up to 6.8 I started a new reservoir with part tap water and part RO so I will have about 200ppm to start but I can't make enough RO with my home system at one time. I am totally new and doing stinkbud aeroponic system. The little seedlings seem to be doing OK but I know this isn't good and want to get it ot 5.8 PLEASE HELP

since they are seedlings you obviously cant add nutes.. but when you do they will help buffer your ph. how big are the babies?

They just went in the cloner on Saturday. 6 seeds popped the first day (AK47) and by the time I transplanted them, two had already shed the seed casing. 3 have a set of leaves and lots of roots. 3 are far behind but have just started with roots. I bought a new ph meter and I think that might have helped. The readings don't seem so erratic. Right now the res is at 6.1 ph so I'll see if it increases again tomorrow. That Hanna Checker ph meter is a piece of sh#t. The first one I couldn't calibrate at all. But then I read that ph isn;'t important when they are this small since they are not taking in nutes. Is this true?

I'm curently growing some bagseed, hydroponically. I've found the best way I keep mine balanced is to ONLY USE DISTILLED WATER, and change it weekly. Distilled water is usually balanced around 6 to start off. I rarely have Ph issues.
Hope I helped.

Its common to have PH fluctuations and not that big of a problem as long as you can keep the fluctuations between a desired range. 5.5 is desirable for hydro setups but it doesn't have to be bang on 5.5, a .5 variable either way would not be harmful and in actual fact is quite desirable as different nutes are taken up better at certain PH levels so have a fluctuation between a desired range will be good so a range of 5.0 to 6.0 would be fine. Probably one of the biggest variables, after you add nutes and whatever else, is change in water temprature. If the temps of the water fluctuate to much you will get massive changes in the PH, to do with the salts properly disolving in the water, keep a steady water temp to help prevent massive fluctuations in the PH. Remember PH will have a tendancy to rise the longer the water is in use as water will evaporate and be drunk by the plants at a higher rate than the plant taking up the nutrients so you will end up with a salt (Nutrient) build up in the water resulting in raised PH. Remember also that it helps to have good circulation within the resoviour to help keep it all mixed up.

my ph sits at 6.3 "hydro" and my plants love it. everyone here says 5.5/5.8 is the best ph for hydro but not so in my own opinion , ive experimented and have found 6.0-6.3 to be the best for most of my strains. also in a MJ hydro book i picked up said 6.4 was the best. your ph is allways going to rise during the light hours whilst the plants are active and then it will drop again at night. as krustofskie said u want your ph to fluctuate its a good thing lol your plant will be taking up different nutes and different strengths.

u can buy ph stabilzer at your local aquriam.or u can make your own stabilzer, just use about 1 tablespoon of baking soda for every 3 litres roughly. now this will put your ph thru the roof but if u can lower it to the desired level it will stabilze

stabilizer* < ? wow i cant spell

Originally Posted by smallclosetgrowr

stabilizer* < ? wow i cant spell

I will definitely look into ph stabilizer. I also read that in this stage, 1 week old, that since the plants don't use any nutes that the ph doesn't matter. Is this correc?.

The temps in my res were up a little, still below 75, so I added some water to my reservoir so it would stay cooler.

I did get a new ph meter that seems more accurate than the one I was using. I think I was screwing up also because I did not put the cap back on and it may have dried out between tests. That may have contributed to inaccurate readings. But now I am keeping this one wet.

Sucks being a newbie. Thanks to all for the kind support. Hopefully as I learn I can help too.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Ganja-ji