Looks like a CalMag issue . . .

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
I'm at 1.0 EC. Where would you go with the EC from here?
i'm lazy. your media is just hydroton, right? i'd maybe think about running some plain water thru all the media once or twice first before you give them nutes. give it a quick media flush.

but 1ec "should" be fine i would think. keep an eye on your new growth most of all and monitor how much water they start drinking.
 

HydroDawg421

Well-Known Member
i'm lazy. your media is just hydroton, right? i'd maybe think about running some plain water thru all the media once or twice first before you give them nutes. give it a quick media flush.

but 1ec "should" be fine i would think. keep an eye on your new growth most of all and monitor how much water they start drinking.

I did. I ran the pump for 30-mins with just fresh pH'd water this morning and gave everything a good flush.
 

HydroDawg421

Well-Known Member
Latest development -

I did a reservoir change late yesterday afternoon and set the EC at 1.1 with a pH of 5.8. When I went to bed last night at 11pm-ish . . . it was holding steady.

This morning at 0700hrs the EC was 1.1 but the pH was 5.5. My reservoir temps NEVER exceed 65 degrees so I'm guessing it's not an issue within the reservoir. I added 2 cups of hypochlorous acid and immediately started the pump to flush through the pots/roots.

If in fact there's a possible issue with the roots what can I do immediately to address that I can buy locally? Should I use some bleach? Try to find food-grade H2O2?

Just a few minutes ago, I placed the sump pump (pic below) that I use in 1 gallon of Clorox bleach mixed in 2-3 gallons of hot water and ran it for several minutes. I did this to eliminate this as a source. The bleach in the bucket didn't have any discoloration or particles/materials in it. So I'm pretty sure this wasn't the issue.

I guess the last thing to do is to pull one of these plants out of the hydroton and look at the roots. Which I'm super hesitant to do. I think I'll follow Wastei's recommendation to use bleach before I pull a plant!

Here's what I've done so far to troubleshoot:

  • removed the airstone
  • turned off CO2 in the room
  • Fresh nutes solution with an EC lowered from 2.4 to 1.1
  • raised the lights from 12" to 18"
  • disinfected the sump pump with Clorox bleach

Thoughts anyone?

pump.jpg
 
Last edited:

MannyPacs

Well-Known Member
Like others have said your roots could be fried because of overfeeding. Keep the EC a little lower and foliar feed while the roots come back. Do u have any soluble seaweed?
 

Wastei

Well-Known Member
Latest development -

I did a reservoir change late yesterday afternoon and set the EC at 1.1 with a pH of 5.8. When I went to bed last night at 11pm-ish . . . it was holding steady.

This morning at 0700hrs the EC was 1.1 but the pH was 5.5. My reservoir temps NEVER exceed 65 degrees so I'm guessing it's not an issue within the reservoir. I added 2 cups of hypochlorous acid and immediately started the pump to flush through the pots/roots.

If in fact there's a possible issue with the roots what can I do immediately to address that I can buy locally? Should I use some bleach? Try to find food-grade H2O2?

Thoughts anyone?
Bleach is more effective than H2O2 as a sterilizing agent. Peroxide is stronger oxidizer yes but it also has shorter residual effect compared to bleach.

If pH is lowering it's probably root rot related. Run 3ppm residual chlorine, adding every third day.
Calculate dosage with this.
 

HydroDawg421

Well-Known Member
Bleach is more effective than H2O2 as a sterilizing agent. Peroxide is stronger oxidizer yes but it also has shorter residual effect compared to bleach.

If pH is lowering it's probably root rot related. Run 3ppm residual chlorine, adding every third day.
Calculate dosage with this.
Using the calculator that you provided I've added 3.5Ml to about 13 gallons of nutrient solution. The EC is 1.0 and the pH is 6.0.

Thanks for your help! I appreciate you!!!


Screen Shot 2023-04-14 at 8.59.05 AM.png
 

curious2garden

Well-Known Mod
Staff member
Your pH drop of .3 on a fresh res when it should have risen says something about microbial presence. I'd clean everything in your res with chlorine or a quaternary ammonium compound (rinse well).

I don't know your EC's conversion and I'd have to run up to my grow and check my pen's conversion k but it's 500 or 700 and I'm usually running 700-1100 PPM.

I would keep the CO2 off unless you bump your leaf temps over 85 say 90ish. You want your leaves to be around 85ish regularly for LED. I'm thinking light burn with 12" away LED. I scorched mine when I transitioned LOL
 
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