PH/EC Problems in NFT System

R

reallycoolguy

Active Member
Hey guys,
first of all I want to say that english isn't my native so I am sorry for any grammatical mistakes and spelling mistakes.

So I was growing in earth and rockwool for six years now and just recently moved to substrateless hydroponics (NFT).
I had some problems regarding my DO level which I got all fixed. Now I got some PH/EC problems.

My tap water has 0.8EC (I dont know the PPM because I dont understand the different scales and stuff, here in europe most of us the EC/us/cm) so it is pretty hard to begin with. I can't mix my nutes properly because of my hard tapwater. I add 1/4 of the required nutes and I already are at 1.4EC :(.
Will a reverse osmosis system be the solution? I could just mix 50/50 tapwater with RO-water and then I should be fine right? Are there any other solutions?

PH Problem:

My PH keeps dropping rapidly. I think it is because of my f*d up EC. I read that if the EC is to high/low the PH drops. Is that correct? What other possibilities are there?

I hope someone can help me, because if I dont fix this my plants will die soon :(
 
macsnax

macsnax

Well-Known Member
reallycoolguy said:
Hey guys,
first of all I want to say that english isn't my native so I am sorry for any grammatical mistakes and spelling mistakes.

So I was growing in earth and rockwool for six years now and just recently moved to substrateless hydroponics (NFT).
I had some problems regarding my DO level which I got all fixed. Now I got some PH/EC problems.

My tap water has 0.8EC (I dont know the PPM because I dont understand the different scales and stuff, here in europe most of us the EC/us/cm) so it is pretty hard to begin with. I can't mix my nutes properly because of my hard tapwater. I add 1/4 of the required nutes and I already are at 1.4EC :(.
Will a reverse osmosis system be the solution? I could just mix 50/50 tapwater with RO-water and then I should be fine right? Are there any other solutions?

PH Problem:

My PH keeps dropping rapidly. I think it is because of my f*d up EC. I read that if the EC is to high/low the PH drops. Is that correct? What other possibilities are there?

I hope someone can help me, because if I dont fix this my plants will die soon :(
Click to expand...
It's your tap water, ro will make your pH much more stable.
 
macsnax

macsnax

Well-Known Member
reallycoolguy said:
Do I have to add any additive for carbonate hardness? I only add GHE Flora Series, CalMag, Enzymes and some fulvic/humic acids.
Thank you for the fast reply :) @macsnax
Click to expand...
No you don't. Just watch for calcium and magnesium deficiencies. When your base water doesn't have it (RO) you need to add a little more than if you were working with tap water, especially if you're growing under LED's.
 
Renfro

Renfro

Well-Known Member
I would get an RO filter.

If thats not an option, you should use the Flora Hard Water Micro, it has less calcium.
 
Renfro

Renfro

Well-Known Member
If you use RO water then you will want to add 5mL per gallon of calimagic (thats my preferred calmag as it has less nitrogen).
 
R

reallycoolguy

Active Member
So I used 50:50 tapwater/Ro water and still have the same problem. Even worse then before. I dont know what is going on. Should I go full RO water? I heard that the GHE nutrients are the problem.

My plants are slowly dying i am really worried :(
 
Cx2H

Cx2H

Well-Known Member
Do you have massive amounts of bubbles in your system (DO).

I would have to throttle down the bubbles or my pH hit low 5. Finally I took the air out and left a mixing water pumping the res per a Canna reps advice. System was stable after that.

Just my experience it may not apply to this. :-)
 
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