Ph issues with Lucas Formula any advice???

Man that is fucking beautiful. I too have discovered the wisdom of the less is more mantra. Not a single burnt leaf this go around. Kudos to homebrewer for helping me see the light.

Ok so what do I do just put my hydroton in 5.5 ph'd water for a few days???

Yep. You will stir it around a couple times and watch it fizz. You will have to add ph down regularly

that just seems like a waist of time!! but that my 2 cents

hellraizer30 said:

that just seems like a waist of time!! but that my 2 cents

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Really? Your going to be THAT guy?

Your right, just subject your plants to wildly swinging ph levels for two weeks. That's probably time better spent

going to what guy? lol seems to be a waist of time you think I would say that without a good amount of history with hydrotron.
all you got to do is rinse them well to remove dust and particals from it. soak it if you want, still dont change the fact that I feel
its a waist of time.

THAT guy that pisses on the only response in the whole thread that is actually in all likelihood going to solve his problem. I don't think he was trying to spark a debate about different nutrient concentrations of GH products, I do believe the dudes PH was whacked. I had the same exact problem and soaking future batches of hydroton solved the problem.

Plus its just kind of lame, no?

"here's a solution to the problem dude"
"that's a waste of time"

Anyways: here is the WHY it happens. Don't you read it though, its a waste of time.

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/hydro/msg100749279742.html

pissing on responses isnt the intention!! I just havnt seen this issue with hydrotron you speak of!! there are multible people I know that use hydrotron
and havnt had this issue. I even went as far as to inquire with them on it and there like thats why we use it instead of RW, having E arguement is lame
the fact is theres multible thing that could cause his issue. so this win all soaking thing you speak of true/false is up to him I never said not to just
I thought it was a waist of time.

Thank you both for all the help I really appreciate it.. As far as soaking the the hydroton goes hell I'll def give it a try and see if it makes a difference with my new buckets.. I just checked my ph again and it seems to be holding steady at 6.0.. I think it's just something I'm gonna have to stay on top of daily until hopfully it stabilizes...

try to get that PH to 5.8 if you can I just think that theres something else causing this PH issue or maybe it is this hydrotron causing it
never had a issue with it and ive used more of that stuff than I care to admit, but I hope the better for you, good luck

5.8 is the goal.. However 6.0 is a step up from the what I had been getting lol...

Homebrewer, a few questions if I may. I use a blue lab truncheon nute meter. With 0-8-16, I get an EC of 1.4 , 700 at the 500 side, or 980ppm at the 700 side. From all accounts from lucas, 0-8-16 should be 1400 ppm or 1260 ppm, I forget. Your thoughts? I measure very carefully, both mL of nutes and gallons of water. I understand your thinking of less is more, I had decent results with Lucas, but better results with a higher push of nutes. I did some tests of the 3 part system, making tweaks of their website feeding instructions/schedules. If you see my first post it says my nute ratios. All are between 1.8 EC and 2.0 EC, I only top off with 5.8 H2O. I tested some plants in DWC buckets up to 2.5 EC or 1250 ppm at the 500 side. No burn, no problem. Could be a hungry strain, its The Blue Bonic from Seeds of life. As far as nitrogen deficiency, I think Hellraizer may be right, or it could be magnesium def. with Lucas I would start getting yellow leaves, curling up, and drying off and yellowing, nothing else wrong, after bumping up the nutes and adding grow, this doesn't happen anymore, except during the second week off flush, which is normal.
No way my feeding schedule is universal, just wanted to know if you had any tips or info or critiques about the 3 part system.

He's right about the hydroton, its not absorbent, but the tiny holes will hold that high pH tap water you washed it with. When your nutes re-wet that hydroton, the pH will rise. The price you pay for being greener with hydroton. I don't condition as long as you do LF, but I only use 40 liters per month. no pH problems accept when I start flush(still working on that one) I do condition for two weeks when I reuse, adding a little Gnatrol, I have a few fungus gnats, so keeping there larvae down takes about two weeks. then I repeat the original process.

Finally got a steady ph!!! I haven't adjusted the ph in the Blue Mystic bucket in two days and it's still sitting at 5.8 ... I also went ahead and pre soaked my hydroton in 5.5 ph'd water for a couple days but when I checked the ph in the water on day two it was still the same as when I put it into soak (5.5)... So I don't think it was the hydroton that caused my ph problems..

pitbull420 said:

Finally got a steady ph!!! I haven't adjusted the ph in the Blue Mystic bucket in two days and it's still sitting at 5.8 ... I also went ahead and pre soaked my hydroton in 5.5 ph'd water for a couple days but when I checked the ph in the water on day two it was still the same as when I put it into soak (5.5)... So I don't think it was the hydroton that caused my ph problems..

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I dont believe it was either but thats great you got it stable should be smooth sailing with ph 5.8

hellraizer30 said:

I dont believe it was either but thats great you got it stable should be smooth sailing with ph 5.8

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Hopfully (lol) and thanks again for all the help..

pitbull420 said:

Finally got a steady ph!!! I haven't adjusted the ph in the Blue Mystic bucket in two days and it's still sitting at 5.8 ... I also went ahead and pre soaked my hydroton in 5.5 ph'd water for a couple days but when I checked the ph in the water on day two it was still the same as when I put it into soak (5.5)... So I don't think it was the hydroton that caused my ph problems..

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I would also put aside a bucket of your ph'd 5.8 water and check it for fluctuation when you check your reservoir pH. If the plain water is fluctuating, its your culprit. I have trouble keeping my water stable from time to time.

Rick Ratlin said:

Homebrewer, a few questions if I may. I use a blue lab truncheon nute meter. With 0-8-16, I get an EC of 1.4 , 700 at the 500 side, or 980ppm at the 700 side.
From all accounts from lucas, 0-8-16 should be 1400 ppm or 1260 ppm, I forget. Your thoughts?

Click to expand...

By my calculations in my excel spreadsheets, that 0-8-16 ratio equals 1240ppm (.7 conversion) or around 1.8 EC.

I measure very carefully, both mL of nutes and gallons of water. I understand your thinking of less is more, I had decent results with Lucas, but better results with a higher push of nutes. I did some tests of the 3 part system, making tweaks of their website feeding instructions/schedules. If you see my first post it says my nute ratios. All are between 1.8 EC and 2.0 EC, I only top off with 5.8 H2O. I tested some plants in DWC buckets up to 2.5 EC or 1250 ppm at the 500 side. No burn, no problem. Could be a hungry strain, its The Blue Bonic from Seeds of life. As far as nitrogen deficiency, I think Hellraizer may be right, or it could be magnesium def. with Lucas I would start getting yellow leaves, curling up, and drying off and yellowing, nothing else wrong, after bumping up the nutes and adding grow, this doesn't happen anymore, except during the second week off flush, which is normal.
No way my feeding schedule is universal, just wanted to know if you had any tips or info or critiques about the 3 part system.

Click to expand...

The grow only has an NPK rating of 2-1-6, not exactly the nitrogen powerhouse. If you added it and kept plants healthy, more power to you. In regards to your feeding levels, do what works best for you, your environment and your plants. I can tell you this much, I would never, ever, ever, feed at those levels, ever. My experience and tests have shown me that if you put food in your res in modest concentrations, the plants will be able to pick and choose what they need to pull up. As long as you're not underfeeding certain elements or locking out others by overfeeding or feeding in bad ratios, you're going to get great results. There is more to this than 'just do what you think works best' but I feel like everyone needs to live and learn.

Ok here's another stupid question lol.. Is it normal for my ppm to be rising over time?? I just bought my TDS meter and am using it for the first time on this grow but I was under the impression the ppm would go down with time not rise.. The ppm started off at 840 and now 3 or 4 days later has risen to 864.. Please tell my this is normal and I'm just an idiot lol...

yes it is as the water is taken the nutes consentrate and it will raise