DWC noob

Hello, I am new to DWC growing and I have been having issues with my PH spiking. I started off using Foxfarm but then found out organic and DWC doesn't mix well so I went and bought Aqua flakes. But I can not get it to be stable. I am using Aqua flakes A&B. I follow the calculator add 15ml of each for week 2, 2.5 gal of water. Lower the Ph to 5.9 then the next day the PH is 8. Roots are white, Plant is growing is this normal?
I will say my water temp is 80. I am in the process of lowering it with frozen water bottles, I for some reason also had the ac vent to the room shut off so that should help (air pump is outside the tent) But I am not sure if water temp is what is casing the PH to spike.

Thanks in advance

You will need to figure out a longer term solution for your water Temps than frozen bottles, but can be done for a little while. Are you using any sterilizer? What is your source water? RO? City? Well?

I am using Well water, no sterilizer atm.
I just checked the water since I added the frozen water bottles water temp went from 80 to 77 and my ph went from 7. to 6.6. Is water temp that important for ph from your experience?
I added a picture of the roots maybe it isn't as good as I think.

What meter you using?

Drop That Sound said:

What meter you using?

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blue lab

How much your water level fluctuate in all this? Your picture shows low water. Keep at the same level and see the pH

I would use H2O2 or some chlorine ASAP. Would also test your water source for impurities and to see how hard it is. May need to invest in a RO system. I did.

gandalftheghey said:

Hello, I am new to DWC growing and I have been having issues with my PH spiking. I started off using Foxfarm but then found out organic and DWC doesn't mix well so I went and bought Aqua flakes. But I can not get it to be stable. I am using Aqua flakes A&B. I follow the calculator add 15ml of each for week 2, 2.5 gal of water. Lower the Ph to 5.9 then the next day the PH is 8. Roots are white, Plant is growing is this normal?
I will say my water temp is 80. I am in the process of lowering it with frozen water bottles, I for some reason also had the ac vent to the room shut off so that should help (air pump is outside the tent) But I am not sure if water temp is what is casing the PH to spike.

Thanks in advance

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I've used Cultured Solutions nutrients in tap water for several years. It's a fairly stable, 4 part line that provides excellent results. You may want to consider the line. You can start with quart bottles if your grow isn't too extensive.

If you can get your reservoir outside of your tent that would help with the water temp. If not, definitely open your tent up and lower the light intensity to help with the temperature of the tent. Frozen bottles really aren't the answer. Your water temp is pretty much going to equal your ambient temperature unless you use a chiller. 80 degrees is really pushing the water temp from an oxygen standpoint. You can increase o2 levels in your water by putting multiple aerating stones in each bucket. Allow one stone to be at the bottom of your root zone and the other closer to the top. I'm not saying you'll get a record harvest using this method. However, you should be able to salvage what you have.

Some final thoughts, with the higher temps your water will be more susceptible to causing root rot issues. Using something like UC Roots will help prevent that from happening. Also, if you haven't already done so, I would change out as much of the water as possible.

Cultured Solutions Premium Hydroponic Nutrients - Current Culture H2O (cch2o.com)

Hope it all works out for you

Mr. Mohaskey said:

I would use H2O2 or some chlorine ASAP. Would also test your water source for impurities and to see how hard it is. May need to invest in a RO system. I did.

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My water is .6 EC out of the tap.

race winslow said:

I've used Cultured Solutions nutrients in tap water for several years. It's a fairly stable, 4 part line that provides excellent results. You may want to consider the line. You can start with quart bottles if your grow isn't too extensive.

If you can get your reservoir outside of your tent that would help with the water temp. If not, definitely open your tent up and lower the light intensity to help with the temperature of the tent. Frozen bottles really aren't the answer. Your water temp is pretty much going to equal your ambient temperature unless you use a chiller. 80 degrees is really pushing the water temp from an oxygen standpoint. You can increase o2 levels in your water by putting multiple aerating stones in each bucket. Allow one stone to be at the bottom of your root zone and the other closer to the top. I'm not saying you'll get a record harvest using this method. However, you should be able to salvage what you have.

Some final thoughts, with the higher temps your water will be more susceptible to causing root rot issues. Using something like UC Roots will help prevent that from happening. Also, if you haven't already done so, I would change out as much of the water as possible.

Cultured Solutions Premium Hydroponic Nutrients - Current Culture H2O (cch2o.com)

Hope it all works out for you

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gandalftheghey said:

My water is .6 EC out of the tap.

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The water was just mixed and changed out today got it to 5.8 then it started to go back to 7 after a couple of hours. I am probably just going to chuck it and start over, been trying to stabilize the ph for over a week now doesn't seem worth the hassel.

I would test the PH with drops first. How does it look above the root zone? Lockout/defs? Could be the meter itself that is giving spiked readings, from the ATC going out of whack, or your battery getting weak, needing calibrated, etc.. Plus, using frozen bottles doesn't help the readings either, and might throw it off with the cold spots depending on when you check. Like, if your checking when its 80, then throw the frozen bottle in, and then coming back a few hours later like you say, and its 10+ degrees cooler, yes that could possibly give you different readings..

I started DWC with aqua flakes and it was a great nutrient btw. Stable, easy to use. Not sure if its changed since back then. I don't use my well water though, and the tap water I bring in has its own buffers.

Also, aeration will change the ph too. You could just aerate a plain bucket of the same nutrient water with no plant and probably see the same thing happen (in a few hours right?), indicating its not the plant itself.

gandalftheghey said:

The water was just mixed and changed out today got it to 5.8 then it started to go back to 7 after a couple of hours. I am probably just going to chuck it and start over, been trying to stabilize the ph for over a week now doesn't seem worth the hassel.

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A rise after 24 hours is common. The higher EC content of your tap water the larger increase in pH you will see after off gassing. So pH it down again and see where it goes after that. My reservoir is up about .3 after its' 24 hours initial off gassing and surprisingly over the course of a week (length of time my res is in use) is another .3. You may need to use RO water if it takes your water outside of your useful parameters.

I ran NFT rails so this applies to hydro, rails, buckets, coco. Although coco can take a little more variation.

Excellent info ^

per previous recommendations try getting a larger container, the 27 gallon yellow lid totes from HDX are inexpensive and would give your plants a lot more solution to keep the ph more stable. get a spare one to aerate your water for 24 hrs and mix nutrients, let em sit and check PH again after a few hours, compare against the girls. husky trash cans are unobtrustive and make great mixing tanks with lids.


Mine drifts a bit, comes out real low with RO and nutes at first, then drifts up a tad. Swings of +-1 I'd think are too large though.

I have been growing DWC for years and I have always dealt with ph going up 24 hours after feeding them. When I mix my new solution I set it at 5.8 ph. The next day when I check the ph it is usually is around 6.5. At that point I lower back to 5.8 and it stays there for rest of the week unitl the next feeding.

I have recently been backing off on how much nutrients I have been using in my DWC and I'm still dealing with my ph going up after feeding.

Hope this helps.

I have hydroguard and a RO system coming in tomorrow. Is this the right way to have the water filled? I read somewhere about not wanting to have roots completely submereged because it will "drown".


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I keep the water level showing a few inches off the roots. And up in that area I splash some benies. Having the roots completly submerged except for a few inches is the plan. You need air pump bubblers

What are you using to lower the ph? I tried using some citric based ph down left over from a recirculating setup last time. Had the same issue until switching to a phosphoric acid based product. But I don’t even need that mostly now, just keep the ec correct and they swing in the correct ph range.

gandalftheghey said:

I have hydroguard and a RO system coming in tomorrow. Is this the right way to have the water filled? I read somewhere about not wanting to have roots completely submereged because it will "drown".


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They'll grow ok with the roots submerged. However, keeping water levels about 4-6 inches below the bottom of your pots will help the roots grow and seek out more water. The bigger the root mass, the bigger and fuller the plant. If you're going to run HydroGuard, you may want to consider Botonicare 3 Part Pro Blend. Pure Blend® Pro – Botanicare
It'll give you excellent results. I've found mixing different lines in hydro can result in inconsistent yields. Also, definitely run air stones with higher temps.