Ph rises so fast i cant keep it down

I correct with down and get it to about 5.5 then it shoots to 7 or even 8 within hours

How are you testing?

Are you positive all of your equipment is calibrated and in proper working order?

Didn't condition your Rockwood or rinse your hydroton

could be your rez is to small use a 60-80 gallon rez that way the runoff doesn't effect it so fast also PH 5.7 (nutes) do a couple of 5.7 clean flushes empty rez each time and run for 2 days max keep checking runoff of substrate till PH is down

we need more info such as medium nute brand,addatives etc. then maybe someone with similar circumstances or just plain knows more than some of us others can chime in people here have saved my ass more times than i can remember i use lemon juice to drop my ph usualy holds for about 3 days before i have to re-adjust i use gh 3-part flora series nutes

ok, White Widow, fresh seeds, germinated in 12 hours. DWC, cfl to start, HID later, new growth, less than a week old second set of "spike" leaves are just starting to show. I am using an aerogarden to start them will transfer to bigger grow container . I have done this many times. I tested the reagent many times it works fine. There is no hydroton yet though s soaking now in GH SHEILD There is almost no nutrients in the tank , like a 1/8 seedling strength, probably lighter ha that Its freaky. I ph-ed down at 12:30pm today. checkedit the ph wasw 5.5. I just checked it a moment ago and it is back too almost 7

Using GH 3 part flora

P.S> thanks

What ppm or EC are your nutes in your DWC res testing at?


If the plants are feeding and removing most of the nutes from the water then this in turn will increase the pH.

Also depending upon type of down used generally they are phosphoric acids the P is usable by the plant too.

So the plants could be using the down to sustain their growth when in actuality you only need to increase your nutrient strength.


J

If there's little-to-nothing in the water, you aren't going to get a stable pH (there's no buffering).

SableZen said:

If there's little-to-nothing in the water, you aren't going to get a stable pH (there's no buffering).

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I agree, try half strength nutes maybe, I know she's a baby but she handle more food than high ph locking it all out... ?????

With very little nutrient there are no buffers...you'll need to keep adjusting it using ph down until the plant is big enough to add enough nutrient to regulate your reservior...just been through this myself but I'm growing in aero/NFT. Was an ez fix for me because apparently they can handle 700 ppms but in a DWC that would burn them

I just did a res change and jacked the nutes up to normal seedling strength got a good ph read after the mix. I may have been miss mixing making it way to weak. Ill let you in a few hours

Also more total gallons in your res is easier to regulate overall good luck

I have had good luck so far other than ph. 4 fem widow seeds all germinate, 1 1/2inches at 6 days.Gren healty and on track. W

Thanks Gandalf you old toak

KEEMUN said:

I just did a res change and jacked the nutes up to normal seedling strength got a good ph read after the mix. I may have been miss mixing making it way to weak. Ill let you in a few hours

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It varies a lot between nutrient lines. But for example, with CNS17 (coco or hydro Grow) I can get a steady pH using only 2.5mL per gallon of tap water that starts at a pH of 8.5. In the first 24 hours after mixing, adding to the res, and pH adjusting I usually only see a .1 drift back upwards in pH. You kind of just have to play around a bit with minimal amounts and trial and error... it's kind of tricky at first when they are small.

still rising quickly I suppose I will set the large DWC tank up tomorrow see if that changes things.

When I was growing in a 1 gallon Aerogarden to start seedlings, I started with half strength nutrients for the first week. Second week I flushed fully and bumped to standard feeding schedule. Even then, with the small res, pH was jumping from 5.5 to almost 7 overnight (12 hours or so). Once I started growing/starting in 3 gallon and 5 gallon res it was MUCH more manageable and maintained a lot better. I use General Hydro 3 part nutrient feeding.

Personally I'd say jump to a 3 gallon or just maintain adjusting it every 12 hours until it levels out better (once root structure starts to take off). If you maintain for a couple weeks I'd bet it levels out nicely. Keep an eye on how your plants react as well. Good luck!

Your city water will cause crazy pH re-bound like your seeing.
even though you pH down the Chlorine/Chloramine was to buffer the solution back up to pH 7.0 +
Other problem you run into is you pH down the nutrient solution you raise your PPM's
You do this to many times, getting into the Mid/Upper 2000 PPM range, and your plant starts taking a death dive.

IMO- invest in a good RO/DI system if your gonna be doing Hydro.

Good Luck on Your Grow