Clay Pebbles

I'm using the 4big pot Wilma system with18ltr pots , first time I've ever used this system and so far I'm impressed but I wasn't expecting the constant checking and fixings ph all day lol. Here's a pic of my ladies at the start and also a pic of them now at 7 and a half wks into flower.

There was a time in here where questions were answered , yeah everyone is busy doing wot they do and I'm not here to start a thread war but would be great to hear some opinions on experiences of ph fluctuations whilst using clay pebbles.

Did the fluctuations stop after a while?
how drastic we're they?
Did u think it was due or dwn to cheap pebbles.?
Are u best paying decent money and getting decent pebbles.?
what sorted the fluctuations?

Any answers on this question is a help bcoz there may be other farmers out there that needs advice on this problem.
Thanx

Hey bro and sorry that no one answered your question!
Yes the clay pebbles will raise your pH until they're pHed down!
That is they have a higher pH which will raise that of the nutrient water if it runs through the clay pebbles. To combat this problem, soak the pebbles before use in a very low pH water. The pH WILL go up. Make sure it stays around where you want your nutrient soln to be (ie 5. then you're ready to use them. If you don't (like me because I didn't have time) you'll keep adding pH down until it finally stabilize (god knows when that is)
I hope this helps. Feel free to ask me anything you want. I can't promise to know the answer. But I do promise to do my best helping!

https://www.rollitup.org/index.php?threads/841773/

clay pebbles ph neutral........end of story.......these cheap ones are nasty but they still are ph neutral. by nasty i mean they leave dust no matter how many washes. i`m running those cheap ones as we speak, with zero ph fluctuation.
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=clay pebbles ph neutral
so the problem has to be else where. you don`t have to wash them in anything more than tap water, they need no special treatment.

The ones I use are hydrocorn by general hydroponics. I have pH fluctuations (slightly rising to 6.2 no higher) and clay dust in my res

https://www.rollitup.org/index.php?threads/841773/

Have to agree somewhat with Seedho. I've not run into any issue with the hydroton pebbles messing with my PH. I just rinse them prior to use and if I'm really bored I might even sterilize them. Usually its just a quick wash then into the netpot. Can you give us a better run down on your setup? What nutes? Temps in res? Are you using bennies? Etc.
Maybe we can get a better idea of what is going on and find some reasons for your pH issue.


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DrCannaPath said:

The ones I use are hydrocorn by general hydroponics. I have pH fluctuations (slightly rising to 6.2 no higher) and clay dust in my res

https://www.rollitup.org/index.php?threads/841773/

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are you sure what you have is not a normal ph drift from the nutes?
all of theclay puts off dust it nature of the beast, the plantit brand(very dark colored)just puts off more than any other i`ve used.
most the cheap clay that they are selling on ebay is from bigger bags of plantit brand. go to the search link i provided and read some of the bag labels doesn`t really matter which manufacturer. ph neutral means it has no effect on ph and ph doesn`t effect them.

I found that cheap pebbles do cause more of a fluctuation than a top quality one, with less dust. In my case when I change water that is when I get more of a fluctuation , as it take the res a while to stabilize. I am pretty much used to a daily adjustment of PH, that is just the way it goes it seems. The type/manufacturer of the nutes play a big part in PH also, where I use only nutes designed for hydro, such a Techniflora or Advanced. If you find that you are going through a lot of PH up/down, I use GH powder which goes a LOT further than the liquid product, especially if you have a big res. Merry Holidays

SeedHo said:

are you sure what you have is not a normal ph drift from the nutes?
all of theclay puts off dust it nature of the beast, the plantit brand(very dark colored)just puts off more than any other i`ve used.
most the cheap clay that they are selling on ebay is from bigger bags of plantit brand. go to the search link i provided and read some of the bag labels doesn`t really matter which manufacturer. ph neutral means it has no effect on ph and ph doesn`t effect them.

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I agree with you. Theoretically speaking, the neutral pebbles shouldn't alter the pH of the nutes solution that drips through them (waterfarms by GH). However, I've had my pH rise from day one with this system (the previous one was a diy DWC). I also did read many posts confirming my experience. It maybe coincidental, nonetheless!
Also, I do understand that pH fluctuation is more drastic when using ro water with low nutes ppm (my case). However, my pH seems to rise daily to around 6.1 even when the ppm is hardly changing. Could it be the buffering capacity of the nutes at such a low ppm?! Maybe.....


https://www.rollitup.org/index.php?threads/841773/

"Could it be the buffering capacity of the nutes at such a low ppm?! Maybe....."
that would be my guess.

I am getting frustrated by the same issue.
Currently running 2 buckets DWC. I set my PH in the morning at 5.5 , and at the end of day is above 7.
I only have 2 L of water in 10 L buckets and the seedlings which are 2 weeks old, don't have the roots out of the pot yet, so they can't drift the PH THAT MUCH .
in the bucket I only have airstones and no water pump. so basically the vapors from my airstones bubbling are misting the bottom of the pot .
there are only ...literally....maybe about 20 clay pebbles that get wet (moist - from the bottom of the pot) . could only those drift my PH up that much ? personally , don't believe that either

The PPM of those 2L of water , with less than half strength solution of Advanced Nutrients, is around 500.

I tend to believe that low PPM / nutes concentration and some temps fluctuation, could drift my PH ....... maybe ???

the airstones could influence the PH as well.....I assume. I observed that when I turn them off, the PH is stable. once they start aerating my water, all kinds of stuff from water evaporates and that could bring the ph up as well ....... I believe

Hi 29Menace,
I have experimented with clay pebbles as a replacement for coco. I observed some fluctuations a few times during the veg. The PH went from 5.7 to 7,3 in 2-3 days. I guess that coco helps stabilizing the PH but I can´t really say that the clay pebbles has anything to do with the opposite. After the incident I soaked a handful of pebbles in PH adjusted water for 24 hours and the PH did not change. I checked the PH at 20 degrees Celsius and without air-stone in the water. I can´t explain why I had this PH fluctuation.

Perhaps false readings because of air bubbles? Or perhaps PH stabilizer in the nutrient? I agree with Seedho and others - Clay pebbles are ph neutral.

there is nothing in the pellets to give off any ph change. they will how ever hold any and most evaporated residue from nutrients such as salt and iron and others that will make your ph do crazy things. I boil my pellets before using them and I always re-fill my buckets without pouring over the pellets.. your just pouring evaporated nutes back in your res.. the white stuff left behind is salt so just think about all the other nutes that evaporate when air bubbles are constantly going.. plants eat what they want to eat.. when in vegg they want more nitrogen and flower they want more phosphorus.. so the nutes being depleted by the plant will make the ph rise n lower .. if it stays at a neutral slot like 5.5 in hydro the plant will evenly intake all its required nutes and deplete the res at an even base.. when the ph is off the plant will only intake what it can at those ph levels so in turn the ph goes hay wire until it is corrected and the plant can drink all the nutrients at an even rate. but that's just an opinion so do as you wish..

i was having problems w/ ph rise, using gh maxi series and nova series..ph would be at 5.7 and overnight rise to 6.3.. i dont know why, however i started adding mad farmers, nutrient up take solution(N.U.T.S.) to my nutrients and now my ph remains at 5.5-5.7 for up to a week...i also use mad farmers get down to lower ph..but rarely use it now..

bass1014 most of my pebble are like 13-14 years old and i have never boiled them. there are times that i will bleach them, but for the most part i dry them, sift them by shaking them thru a net pot(get the root and junk out) and soak them in tap water with some shaking or stirring and off they go again. i have never had any adverse effects from my pebbles.

TheChemist77 said:

i was having problems w/ ph rise, using gh maxi series and nova series..ph would be at 5.7 and overnight rise to 6.3.. i dont know why, however i started adding mad farmers, nutrient up take solution(N.U.T.S.) to my nutrients and now my ph remains at 5.5-5.7 for up to a week...i also use mad farmers get down to lower ph..but rarely use it now..

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i just switched mid stream to maxibloom, i feel it is rock solid with ph. i use a res and a control bucket, i haven`t chk`ed the controller because i haven`t had a need too. i chk the res once or twice a week, there is no change from where i set the ph.

I haven't had issues with clay pebbles. They are inert and shouldn't cause PH fluctuations.

I use the Plant It! brand.

SeedHo said:

bass1014 most of my pebble are like 13-14 years old and i have never boiled them. there are times that i will bleach them, but for the most part i dry them, sift them by shaking them thru a net pot(get the root and junk out) and soak them in tap water with some shaking or stirring and off they go again. i have never had any adverse effects from my pebbles.


i just switched mid stream to maxibloom, i feel it is rock solid with ph. i use a res and a control bucket, i haven`t chk`ed the controller because i haven`t had a need too. i chk the res once or twice a week, there is no change from where i set the ph.

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love the maxi series! in my old side by side tests maxi always came out on top of other nuts, exept for the nova and 3 part GH, pruducts all work great..in my tests, the maxi koolbloom, powder last 2 weeks did improve the swelling and ripening of buds, wile the liquid koolbloom gave no proven results

TheChemist77 said:

love the maxi series! in my old side by side tests maxi always came out on top of other nuts, exept for the nova and 3 part GH, pruducts all work great..in my tests, the maxi koolbloom, powder last 2 weeks did improve the swelling and ripening of buds, wile the liquid koolbloom gave no proven results

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i have one plant that is coming out of the flower room next week and after that i`m going to add koolbloom to the mix. i just wanted to run my whole flower room out with just the maxi to see what it does. the nova does seem to be the best of the bunch, but its hard to beat the simplicity of the maxi for my needs. i started a seedling with full dose of the maxibloom from the time it showed its first set of leaves and it has shown nothing but good results. i keep looking at that n.u.t.s but i have yet to try it.
have you been using lucus formula on the maxi..

SeedHo said:

i have one plant that is coming out of the flower room next week and after that i`m going to add koolbloom to the mix. i just wanted to run my whole flower room out with just the maxi to see what it does. the nova does seem to be the best of the bunch, but its hard to beat the simplicity of the maxi for my needs. i started a seedling with full dose of the maxibloom from the time it showed its first set of leaves and it has shown nothing but good results. i keep looking at that n.u.t.s but i have yet to try it.
have you been using lucus formula on the maxi..

Click to expand...

whats the lucus formula?? as far as the mad farmer n.u.t.s., it woks good to stabilize ph and also helps plants utilize the maxi nutes more eficiently, ive also used diamond nector insted of nuts if i cant get the nuts at the time, the mad farmer had better results but not a huge diference so mad farmers nuts and gh's diamond nectar can be used either or w/ out any big diferences