PH help

Hey riu, my dwc res has been constantly going up, and is cloudy gray leaving a gray build up on my net pots. I'll lower to the right point, check it again in the morning and its over 8. This has been happening for about two weeks now. I've done two water changes, switched nutrients (to Flora Dou), and added beneficial bacteria. I added the bennies yesterday, it looks like they're innoculating but PH is still through the roof today. Help a brotha out. Let me know if you have any ideas. Ive been using dwc for a while and never had any issues.

Skunk.n'the.Trunk said:

Hey riu, my dwc res has been constantly going up, and is cloudy gray leaving a gray build up on my net pots. I'll lower to the right point, check it again in the morning and its over 8. This has been happening for about two weeks now. I've done two water changes, switched nutrients (to Flora Dou), and added beneficial bacteria. I added the bennies yesterday, it looks like they're innoculating but PH is still through the roof today. Help a brotha out. Let me know if you have any ideas. Ive been using dwc for a while and never had any issues.

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hi there is it tap water or r.o

hi there, the most likely cause of cloudy water is high level of dissolved constituents such as phosphates, silicates, or heavy metals.

its tap water. I know i have hard water but i have a water softener.....thats low on salt

I read somewhere water softner isnt good for DWC. I cant recall anything specific; semi-useless. Sorry.

High ph swings are due to a bactiria in the res im guessing your res temps are a bit high?
The gray the gray substance is a build up of useing alot of ph down!

Skunk.n'the.Trunk said:

its tap water. I know i have hard water but i have a water softener.....thats low on salt

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hi there, Boiling water for a period of time can also reduce its hardness...not too sure but water softeners will play about wid ph

hey skunk, sorry you're having these water troubles out of the blue. but, with just a little more information we might be able to point you in the right direction.

What base nutrients are using? Which beneficial bacteria did you add? What is the starting pH and EC of your water? Knowing these things will help us point you in the right direction.

im really curious about the grey stuff!!
are we talking actual grey matter or salt stains?
I went to distilled and haven't had anything NEAR the ph fluctuations i had with my tap h20.
my tap is 200ppm.
i just battled a warm res this summer, i used tall frozen water bottles. my res is deep and the extra height/weight of the ice would keep the bottle standing politely in the corner away from the contact of roots.
good luck dude, res stress sucks.

thanks for the help all. +rep. Haven't seen the results yet but im sure you hit it right on the head hellraizer. I thought my res was a bit warm also. Im using a seedling mat under my res. It gets to about 55 in my basement at night. I pulled it to half way under the res the day i posted and the temp has dropped. I was also thinking it was something biologic causing the ph hence the benies but i thought the gray color was tied to it. How do i rid the bad bacteria for good?

to answer other questions: using Gen hydro flora dou, store brand benies from my local store called Alt-garden hydrobact, starting ph of tap water is 8. add nutes and it drops to 6.5, lowered to 6. then every morning its back to 8. don't have a ec tester. they're getting full strength but are locking out nutes and i've been foliar feeding at 1/3rd strength since this started. They're pretty healthy, growing fast, little N def, but got another foliar feed today. So i'll keep an eye on it. thanks again

K wait, earlier you mentioned a water softener? and you dont have a ppm meter...
I'd invest in a ppm meter, shop around, find a good deal.
everywhere i read ppl say "softened" water is no good for hydro.
check it, like 6 posts down on the first page

https://www.rollitup.org/aerogardeners/209432-water-softener-water-hydro.html

im a lil confused about them being healthy and locking out nutes at the same time...?
still interested in this Grey stuff!

respect..... looks like i gotta get some from my neighbors hose cause the water softener covers the whole house

mRIZO said:

im a lil confused about them being healthy and locking out nutes at the same time...?
still interested in this Grey stuff!

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they're growing like crazy. yeah they may be locking out nutes from the high ph but have you ever foliar fed. I'm gonna go flush and change res right now. I'll give you an update soon. The temps have been lowered in the res for a while now and the bad bacteria seems to have subsided. They're moving into coco in three days which I bloom them in, so we'll see how this goes. Is there anything to worry about going into bloom in coco with this bad bacteria possibly hanging around?

i dont know about coco bro. sorry.
and i dont have much foliar feeding knowledge to base any statements on. I'm just curious.
p.s. distilled water is cheap as ...dirt a dollar should get ya 4 liters.

my baddies have subsided too, my new roots are pearly and THRIVING (h202 free res atm)
i have 1 spot of tight old roots that is still discolored and slightly slimy. its well above my water level though, not sure if thats bad or ok.
meh 1 day at a time

where do you get your distilled water. When i was in az i used to get my ro at any strip mall for a quarter a gallon. Now I cant find anything

i find the same thing.
there used to be water stores everywhere. now, they're few and far between.
grocery stores somtimes carry distilled water.

A quarter a gallon!! thats awesome!

is any light going into the system i was haveing that trouble you should make sure the res is lke a cave

There's prolly a little light that gets in. The top is a thick plastic but its white. I'm going to address that after these gals leave this site. Its only for veg so it should be another couple of days until I can really clean this thing out and light proof the top. Have you ever used krylon. the spray paint that bonds to anything? I was just going to use that

Im updating after a while. Ph is finally stable. It took 3 water changes and a lot of time. Its been much better for the last two weeks. I bypassed the water softener, used Flora Duo and bennies, kept the ph in check, added a humidifier and heater, and they are looking great. Very healthy and rapid growth, dark green color, and good branching after being topped. Thanks for the help err body

Theres also a valve at your water softner in the basement, its before the water enters the system (thumbs up, blaze on)