Bubbleponics NooB!

New ISSUE! I am keeping 4 gallons or so of plain PH balanced water in my res with the light on so I can get the ballast heat on my paper towel tupperware and the 5 netpots in it with the air stone going. Every few days, like every OTHER day the PH jumps way the fuck up to like aqua blue color. What could be causing the PH Spike? Is it the light, heat, air stone what? Is there a usual culprit or do I have to break my fuckin balls and check PH every single day and try to adjust it without shocking the seedlings. I have 4 that are going to be ready for the bubbler system in a few days. I dont want to fuck them up since they look good. Any info would help.

4pm. OK this is ridiculous, I teste the Ph after adjusting it down to 5.5 almost on the nose and this was only a few hours ago. It is now right back up to top end measurement. I CANNOT put my plants in this system until I find out what is causing it...12" air stone on right now with the lights on the bubbler and half full of water...nothing else is touching the water, not the net cups, rockwool or hydroton and np plants or roots...Get back at me , i have 3 days about before im fucked witht he seedlings ready for transfer

you should check you res PH atleast twice a day. it sounds like overkill but the more effort you put in, she puts out the air stone raises the PH for the first 4 or 5 days of a new res. just my .02 keep it up youll get it

and i would get a ph pen because the water color test is not very accurate. not to mention what would you do if you were colorblind??

Ok well i went apeshit and dumped in enough Ph down to bring it to like 4. Seeing if it equalizes tomorrow...if not then im going to soak the stone in PH bal water with it of and try again befoe the kids go for a dip in the pool. I took pics of the new 2 seedlings of indeterminate seed origin and the exact condition of my bubbler so anyone can see if theres an obvious issue. the little ones look great, strong and vibrant yet again. I was thinking (hoping) that the Ph situation is what was fucking my little ones up since I was assuming once every few days was enough to check it. I also bought a no filter warm mist humidifier that is bringing the RH up to a much more suitable level. So i have a definite seedling care situation that seems to work until i change the scenery and put them in the bubbleponics setup...i think it was me overwatering and using nutes as well as PH, this should be a better time around im praying. My indica dominant seeds are also on the way. Diesel strain feminized..hope I got my shit together for that joyride. ok more to come.

Jizz,

How are you keeping the rockwool wet when you have them in the rubbermaid? Also, the pics you have here of the seedlings growing, why are they not in the tub?

Texas,

When they are in the rubbermade the bubbler system splashes oxygenated water onto the rockwool keeping it moist but not saturated. When the roots drop down into the water the rest is pretty easy. MY PH HAS STABILIZED! It is the same reading (ultra low) that is was yesterday so Im going to bump it up throughout the day when I wake up.

As for the seedlings not being in said tub, I was being gentle with them under a CFL for the first week until the roots were strong enough. Actually I'm glad I did keep them out since the Ph shot up the wazoo and would have killed the little bastards anyway. I think im learning to anticipate problems before they happen now that I have a reliable starting system. I got 2 good seedlings now, 2 more which had great taproots and should peek today and another long ass taproot im soaking the rockwool for now which means a total of 5 plants which will be in the tub for the weekend and everything should be hunky from there (NOT) but i'm being hopeful. I'm completely out of weed and have no choice but to be. The little ones also are on 18-6 for now under the CFL in 35-45% humidity and they look stronger this way then starting them in the bubbler so I'm sticking with it. I just have to put them in net cups and pop them in with more PH bal. H2O. Any issues u foresee or steps I am taking that I may not need?


See pic, took these after waking up a little while ago. Those are about 3 days old and looking strong, I think i might place them in bubbler tomorrow. will check the bottoms of those cubes and see if I see anything. Also you cant rally see but all the other rock wool cubes have seed casings being puched out, 5 good plants started and the Ph in the reservoir they are going into is exactly 5.5 for now so I will check and see if it creeps up but hasnt in 24 hrs.

The big day has arrived. If you look at the 2 largest seedlings clearly they are doing well so I think I am going to get them in the main system in an hour or so. Oddl enough the smaller seedling has visible root for about an inch out of the rockwool on the side. Looks pretty robust. I hope I'm not being too hasty but I think they can handle it. The other 3 will stay for the rest of the week and bulk up. The res has Ph balanced plain filtered water, no nutes till next week I would think. Light is on and the guage is in the room to make sure I have a stable temp b4 putting them in then figuring it out. Will post more for the weekend, hopefully nothing happens before then. Keep the comments coming if anything seems off. Thanks again

Thanks to the unseasonable warmth I think one of the little one cooked. See pic. The leaves are like folded under pointing down and it is sagging bigtime. The stem was really thin though from the getgo, the other plant is a trooper, wide leaves and thick stem coming in. Any idea's what may have caused this? I have 3 others going in later today though so I'm not too pissed I think some of the seeds are just weak personally...older bag seeds and all. PH is perfect, Temp was at 85 with 35% RH in the room until I blew the windows open and cooled down the apt. Is it too late to save the little one? Im keeping the fan on them and the temp lower in the upper 70's probably and the humidity up...can't think of much else to do..also the lights went on at 6am (< 2 hrs. ago)

8:15pm. I have been doing some reading on other forums and I think I know what i'm doing wrong this time. I had the 250 watt MH about 22 inches from the tote lid. Umm, 2 close for seedlings? This would explain why the larger plant is not as affected since it is a little more developed and why the smaller one just shepherds hooked down like that after looking good under the CFL. I raised the MH to about 2ft now from the tote lid which also lowered the temp down to 79-80 and the RH is still up in the 40's. I have 5 plants now, one on the way down the shitter and 4 viable little uns. Hopefully the light situation will rectify the little ones dying out on me. Can't believe I didn't check up on that ahead of time like the other details. Oh well, the feminized diesel should be here next week and I have a few weeks off from work to really keep an eye on them. I also changed the light schedule so they wont go on until about 5 mins before I walk in the door from work instead of being on while I'm not home. Hope these measures help out. The 3rd pic os of the whole big pic setup, I left the water jug in there for some scale but I think it's about right now. Comments always welcome

Wow, what a difference moving the light up made, this was the missing piece it seems. I have 3 good looking seedlings growing pretty well now. The smallest one has a whispy stem so I give it 50/50 but I have the fan on them so hope it strengthens. The largest one is bushing outward and new leaves are growing vigorously but curling under as u can see. I also found a 2nd fatal flaw in my system from a week ago. When I was putting the setup back together after cleaning I forgot to plug the light into the timer, it was in the power stip meaning the plants were getting too much light/heat as well as 24 hours of it! (smacks forehead). So, with that all solved I dont go into that room expecting a nightmare anymore, they have been predictable and stable now so I will get pics up during the week when they look alot more substantial. the 2 smaller ones are about 4-5 days behind the larger one.

Side note; I had some Sativa dominant weed this weekend, wow what a difference in the high. I couldnt stay still I was going from room to room switching from Youtube, Itunes, TV Shows on my DVR and whatever DVD i had going. Social buzz bigtime, might try to have both on hand and see what mood i'm in, i do love the couch lock high near bedtime.

And then there were 2. Well 1 and a half really. the smaller one is leaning for no reason and getting soft looking. Not over/under watering, PH is fine, RH is at 40 w temps in high 70's so it's inexplicable to me. Changed water yesterday and monitoring/raising the PH as needed 3 times a day. The light is still high enough off them to keep the temp low but the little one just doesnt want to hang in there it seems. Same as the others, I just let them go. These seeds are terrible. At this point I know what the plants need during all stages and have gotten my methods down so I think it's rotten luck/seeds as well as the learning curve. Hopefully my indica seeds arrive this week. I am off work until January 4th as of today so I have alot of time to devote to the little ones. Will start the larger plant flowering to determine sex late next weekend. Figure at about 8 inches or so and if it's a male then I don't waste as much time, if female I can always go back to vegging and cut clones. Wish me luck, comments not expected anymore at this point lol.

Adjusting pH more than .4 (four -tenths) in a 4 hour period will kill them dead! Going from 6.0 to 4.0 in one adjustment will surely stress them to death.

Well the current Ph is about 6.3
I have not changed it at that drastic a measure. Maybe about 1 full point in 3 hours. I have been on top of it since the water change. Hasnt risen over 7 or under 5.5 overall. The larget plant looks fine, roots are robust, white with little hairs on them and emerging like a banshee. no worries there. The smaller one has emerging roots but just doesnt seem to have the will to live. Oh well, got more cheap shit seeds soaking now in a shot glass of water, trying to sink some in water and see if they pop faster under heat in paper towels after 24 hrs. I also read that the aerated reservoir systems are the worst for beginners since they work so fast there's little margin for error. I gues an ebb n flow would have been a better choice. Oh well. working with it. More to come.

:-0 Oh haha, few hours later...found out a little nugget. There was a crack in my air line right at the connection to the air stone so no small oxygen bubbles were forming from the stone. Just a teady stream of large ass bubbles coming out of the crack not really doing much! I clipped the bad piece off and rehooked, works better than ever now. Lol. i am CURSED! Gotta keep jotting shit down to check every day. Thought that may be helpful. moved the small plant to a more bubbly spot now to see if underwatering and under oxygenated water was the culrpit...still looks good, may make a comeback. The larger one also still looks great and standing tall, roots look beefy and searching out water bigtime. Hope its female...really hope its a girl

Well overnight and for some of the morning light the plants both look fine. The one that was lagging down looks a little firmer with the water level increased and the air stone fixed. Ph is still 6.3 and just waiting now. I noticed the leaves on the larger plants are curly at the ends except for the bottom 2 fan leaves. Weird looking but healthy and the stem is thickening up nicely. Pics tomorrow or later maybe if I get bored and they look perkier

Roseman said:

Adjusting pH more than .4 (four -tenths) in a 4 hour period will kill them dead! Going from 6.0 to 4.0 in one adjustment will surely stress them to death.

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well my friend, i initially set my ph to 5.3 and let it rise to no more than 6.1, once it gets there i put it back down to about 5.5 and it end up rising to 5.8 and hovering there for a couple days...my plants are still alive

maybe im misunderstanding you, but thats more that .4...also 4.0 is really low, who would go that loW? 5.0 is too low, but from what i hear flowering PH is supposed to be lower than veggin ph, have you heard anything about thiS??

At this point I'm simply sticking with giving the plants what they need. My PH has leveled off about 6.0. 5.5-6.5 is the best range from what I've seen so I stick with it. The smaler plant seems to have bounced back for the time being. I think it was not getting enough spray from the dead air stone and such. Looks more stout now and the larget one...keeps getting larger but I dont like the leaf growth. PLUS My feminized Diesel strain arrived today. Not sure what to do with it though since I have 2 so far ahead. will wait for them to reveal sex and then go with the fem or whatever. Will post pix soon.

2 plants still growing pretty well now. I changed the water, got the Ph adjusted and stable and now I think they need nutes in greater concentration than I gave them. I only mixed in one gallon of water nuted with the rest plain. The stems and original 2 leaves are slightly yellowing as u can see. Nitrogen def.? The light level seems to be fine and the RH is also good. Just staying the course and I popped a few more seeds just for shits and giggles. Maybe I can add a few more strong ones to the party and flower them early with the larget ones. So, any comments on the yellowing welcome but I think it's ok. The new growth is coming in green and its still growing smaller leaves at nodes. Im optomistic about both of them especially since the smaller one came back so strong from its near death exp. More to come.

Here's the twins, still going strong. The smaller one seems to be really moving beter with a stronger root structure and better foliage. I am not sure what my Nute concentration is but it is really light. The leaves and new growth seem to be yellowish but then start synthesizing better and green up. Guess thats normal, I take a pic every day and see the progress. As you can see I used a few deli cups wgich I cut down to make mini domes for the 2 new seedlings which have been in there 2 days now with no issues. keeps the RH up for them higher and blox some of the harsh HID light for now. One of them already has an emerged root. 3 days old! So, nothing much else to report, seems like my thread is dead so I may discontinue it. Going away for 2 days this weekend, should be fine I wont change anyhing till I get back but mostly I just refill the humid and check Ph twice a day and dont worry about them anymore. Questions/Comments welcome...but before you say anything I know i need a combo PH/TDS meter...it's in the works. Happy Holidays to everyone.

Merry Christmas JizzMaster0,

Jizzmaster0 said:

So, nothing much else to report, seems like my thread is dead so I may discontinue it.

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Dont do that! We are very interested in your success!

So the plants are growing fine but are comin in pale now. I am pissed that I have 2 small ones in early development along with a 3 week old plant. Now the nutritional needs are different I think. I am going to change nutes today to make sure they have nitrogen which is why the yellowish new growth is also slow growing I would imagine. In addition I have leaf edges curling up see photo. Not sure if it is a heat or water issue. I have the water level lower than marked for adult plants w roots but not low enough for the seedling mark and the heat isnt going over 80 w the lights on. Humidity hovering at 35-45 w the light 2ft. off the tops. Any ideas would greatly be appreciated, leaving town for 2 days this weekend, dont want to come home to dead plants! Hope someone gets back at me quick...

if you are about to leave town, dont change the nutes!