Serious PH fluctuating can anyone help? Using a DWC/ bubble ponics system

Hi

Ive been growing for a few years now using flood and drain and dwc and just bought a 10pot DWC system, its not recirculating though.

Problem is im getting PH and nutrients PERFECT (0.7ec, 5.8ph) in the resevoir and letting it sit overnight but when i transfer it into the buckets the ph is jumping to about 6.8 after about an hour or two does anyone know why it is doing this? by the next day the buckets are all giving different ph and ec readings and it has me confused.com big time, also plants are starting to show ph problems because of this so need help ASAP please?????????????????

Im about 4 weeks into veg, also below is pic of system im using if anyone know an easy way to convert it to recirculating i take it this would help?

thanks

Bump!
I wanna hear some expert opinions!
_funk

i was thinking maybe its the airstones but i doubt that could change the ph so high so quick!!??

How do your roots look? I let my roots start to slide and got some brown slime going. The first sign of this was my ph would spike daily like you mention.

Consistent temp, clean solution and healthy roots should keep things stable. What kind of nutes? Organics make it even more difficult for most people.

wonin said:

i was thinking maybe its the airstones but i doubt that could change the ph so high so quick!!??

Click to expand...

What about the airstones?

Try flushing the system, cleaning rez and refilling, add h2o2. Could be dead plant matter in the system somewhere. The ec changes due to individual plants taking up nutes at differing rates, you can buy a recirc kit at your local hydro shop. im sure you can diy it with some fittings from the home depot if your handy.

BendBrewer said:

How do your roots look? I let my roots start to slide and got some brown slime going. The first sign of this was my ph would spike daily like you mention.

Consistent temp, clean solution and healthy roots should keep things stable. What kind of nutes? Organics make it even more difficult for most people.

Click to expand...

im using advanced nutrients and the roots look ok bit small cuz they r still young and a few plants havent started showing roots yet. i was thinkin maybe airstones somehow wer pushin ph up but i doubt it, no airstone in resevoir yet.

imnotome i flushed it completely last nite and it did exactly the same, had to go round each individual bucket and ph down them also the ec is pretty stable so not too worried atm think recirculating is the way to go but wud be a big enough job having to put new, bigger holes in every bucket as well as hose

Getting the system hooked up and recirculating will help. Even if you do have to fight the ph a bit until things get stabilized it will make your job a lot easier dealing with one solution.

I used the Microbe Tea to fight my slime and produce massive healthy roots. It's a good preventative measure too. 4 weeks into veg, you should have real strong root structure showing. This is about 3 weeks into it and I had problems. You can't see all the roots.

BendBrewer said:

Getting the system hooked up and recirculating will help. Even if you do have to fight the ph a bit until things get stabilized it will make your job a lot easier dealing with one solution.

I used the Microbe Tea to fight my slime and produce massive healthy roots. It's a good preventative measure too. 4 weeks into veg, you should have real strong root structure showing. This is about 3 weeks into it and I had problems. You can't see all the roots.

View attachment 1637176

Click to expand...

my roots r very weak compared to that yes i did have alot of brown slime floating in the pots when i flushed it last nite but by my thinkin is thats normal its just their excrement lol. so do u reckon if i stuck that microbe tea in it would help with the ph fluctuation?? i just went round every pot today and got all their ph to 5.7 or 5.8 ec's r ranging from 6-7 took ages but hopefully they start picking up have done 3 flushes already in last week tryin to sort the problem. got a bigger extration fan in today so this should help aswell

https://www.rollitup.org/dwc-bubbleponics/361430-how-breed-your-own-beneficial.html

That is the only thing that I have run across in hydroponics that I would consider 'MAGIC'. It's cheap and easy and solved all my slime/ph problems. I wish I had a picture of my roots in flower to show you. They FILL those 5 gallon buckets.

cheers bendbrewer def sumthin i will look into someone else has told me the big swing in ph is normal for new resevoirs and should settle after about a week so hopefully its jus the new res if not beneficial bacteria wil help

That tea will help regardless. Massive roots mean big buds. Good luck to you. Feels like you're pulling your hair out at times and wonder if it is worth the effort to do DWC but once you get things ironed out it's a cake walk. Having to flush sucks time, nutes and balls.

your rite bendbrewer ive done 3 flushes in a week balls r seriously busted with this system. i was using indidual dwc buckets as well as flood n drain n got 7oz of one of the dwc n about 2/3 of the others thats y i went out n spent muny of the system was meant to be easier to manage not harder

prob gna turn it into recirculating..............

just seen ur setup ther brewer fuckin class, is ur feed line and return line the same size?? if it is then i cud prob easily turn mine into recirculating just worried about overflow etc

Yeah I built my two systems and didn't completely understand how they worked. I got the majority of the mechanics down but then had to learn how to operate it as I wen along. About killed all the clones a buddy gave me every other day it seemed. Learned you need stones in every bucket, not just the res. Learned that organics clogged my air stones. Learned that Root Powder stuff is expensive and not really that effective unless you brew it up before adding it. Ended up taking 5 weeks in veg to grow 14 inch cinder blocks of plants.

Transplanted my second round of clones last Wednesday thinking I would veg 4-5 weeks again as I am about 4 weeks from harvest. But now that I know what I am doing and got them off to a running start, I might be in trouble. They have already doubled in size in 6 days and are about 8 inches already. Whoops.

New thread idea:

"How do you make you plants grow slower?"

I top feed the buckets with 1/2" tubing and drain back to the res. with 1" tube. I use a 600+ GPH pump running about 75% flow to pump water to the feeder rings. (Maybe it's only 300+ GPH.........)

Here's a couple of better shots of the systems:

ive a 1000 litre per hour pump which should be strong enough for what ive got but problem is my return being same size as feed, return is 13mm and feed would need to be 13mm whereas urs is 1/2' feed and 1' return would the water return back to control bucket quick enough if they were same size?

Really not sure about using the same sized return. If I turn my pump up all the way, the water level in my buckets will raise. Not to the point of overflowing but the water level does rise and it falls in the res. I dial it in at about 75%. I guess you are just going to have to test it and see. If it doesn't work, it's pretty easy to change your buckets out to 3/4" fittings that would allow you to use 1" tube.

cheers brewer il giv it a go tomorow hope i dont flood the place haha