ph rising. help please.

P

PotStoner

Member
hi all,
i started germinating ak-47 seeds, about 4 days ago.
they all popped in about 36 hours.
2 days ago i transplanted them into RR, and into my cloner (aero).

my question is, i keep adjusting my ph to 5.8, but it seems to like to rise. around 6.4-6.8.
i have changed my res once, and it still continues to rise. any ideas?
ppm is about 250.
 
laserbrn

laserbrn

Well-Known Member
PotStoner said:
hi all,
i started germinating ak-47 seeds, about 4 days ago.
they all popped in about 36 hours.
2 days ago i transplanted them into RR, and into my cloner (aero).

my question is, i keep adjusting my ph to 5.8, but it seems to like to rise. around 6.4-6.8.
i have changed my res once, and it still continues to rise. any ideas?
ppm is about 250.
Click to expand...
What kind of water are you using? I have this problem when I use water that start out at a really high ph, like 8.0+. No amount of ph down is going to HOLD down the ph of the water. It'll lower it and it can be used to control it, but it will always rise back up.

Are you using hydroton or another medium that you rinsed/soaked first? Did you rinse/soak with PH 5.5 water for 24 hours first? If not it's full of ph 8.0 water or whatever you used and it'll take a lot more than you think to get it to stay down.

And last but not least (certainly not) how big is your reservoir? Larger reservoir = more stability. Smaller res' raise in ph much quicker than larger ones.

Final note: The PH down game is just part of hydroponics. It's really just a matter of how severe it is. I've had large reservoirs that would only rise maybe .2 over the course of 3-4 days. I've had whole grows (like the one I'm doing now) where it rises that much per day. I just have to adjust my ph more often. I don't like it, but it's the nature of a 20 gallon reservoir. I shoulda used a 40, but this is easier to work with in a smaller space.
 
P

PotStoner

Member
laserbrn said:
What kind of water are you using? I have this problem when I use water that start out at a really high ph, like 8.0+. No amount of ph down is going to HOLD down the ph of the water. It'll lower it and it can be used to control it, but it will always rise back up.

Are you using hydroton or another medium that you rinsed/soaked first? Did you rinse/soak with PH 5.5 water for 24 hours first? If not it's full of ph 8.0 water or whatever you used and it'll take a lot more than you think to get it to stay down.

And last but not least (certainly not) how big is your reservoir? Larger reservoir = more stability. Smaller res' raise in ph much quicker than larger ones.

Final note: The PH down game is just part of hydroponics. It's really just a matter of how severe it is. I've had large reservoirs that would only rise maybe .2 over the course of 3-4 days. I've had whole grows (like the one I'm doing now) where it rises that much per day. I just have to adjust my ph more often. I don't like it, but it's the nature of a 20 gallon reservoir. I shoulda used a 40, but this is easier to work with in a smaller space.
Click to expand...
Thank you for such a detailed reply laserbrn, much thanks.
the water i'm using is tap water (i'm in the process of getting my R/O filter). The ppm of the water is around 200, ph is about 7 (so im guessing the water is pretty clean?) i'm doing aero, and i put the cracked seeds right into the RR cubes, into 2" net pots, and into my cloner. I ph'ed the water first of course. my res is about a 15 gal res.
 
laserbrn

laserbrn

Well-Known Member
PotStoner said:
Thank you for such a detailed reply laserbrn, much thanks.
the water i'm using is tap water (i'm in the process of getting my R/O filter). The ppm of the water is around 200, ph is about 7 (so im guessing the water is pretty clean?) i'm doing aero, and i put the cracked seeds right into the RR cubes, into 2" net pots, and into my cloner. I ph'ed the water first of course. my res is about a 15 gal res.
Click to expand...
Yeah, those small reservoir's it's really just the nature of the beast. You just want to keep it between 5.5 and 6.5 so I adjust it down to about 5.5 and then wait until it gets to 6.5 to adjust it again. The less adjustments the better. Don't try to keep it at exactly 6.2 and be adding ph up and down back and forth and adding more than necessary to the reservoir.
 
P

PotStoner

Member
laserbrn said:
Yeah, those small reservoir's it's really just the nature of the beast. You just want to keep it between 5.5 and 6.5 so I adjust it down to about 5.5 and then wait until it gets to 6.5 to adjust it again. The less adjustments the better. Don't try to keep it at exactly 6.2 and be adding ph up and down back and forth and adding more than necessary to the reservoir.
Click to expand...
ok, will do.
thanks again for the help. :joint:
 
R

Resin225

Active Member
your water is actually kinda high in ppm. The problem you will have is that the ppm in the tap water is unknown. Some of the unknowns will block ph adjusters, limiting their ability to hold or move the ph up or down. Try mixing your tap water with some distilled. That may help keep it stable. Like roseman says don't ride the ph roller coaster. I have a 6 gal dwc grow that had problems until I added some cal mag and nutes, however I grow in str8 distilled water, that has its own issues. Good luck
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top