please help me with pH

the ph in my dwc setup keeps climbing from 5.0 to 8.0-9.0

my tap water is 8.1ph and 160 ppm

i use 2oz vinegar in 5gal water to get a ph right below 5.0

i then added 3tsp of floranova grow which put me at 5.1ph and 250ppm

i gave that to my dwc plants yesterday and in two hours the ph was 6.5 and by this morning it was 8.5

this is a pattern that's developed - i put 5.0 solution in and hours later i'm adding more vinegar to bring the ph bask down.

why is my ph climbing so fast and how do i keep it in range?

this is going to kill my babies. they're all yellowing and limp. i feel sick way deep inside.

-hatch

get pH down instead of vinegar. as it leaves the solution (evaps or gets eaten by plants) it changes the pH back up again. superthrive also works for lowering pH.

dbo24242 said:

get pH down instead of vinegar. as it leaves the solution (evaps or gets eaten by plants) it changes the pH back up again. superthrive also works for lowering pH.

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that's what i was afraid of. i figured the vinegar had to be disappearing or something.

i don't have this problem with my ice chest flood & drain setup. i keep the solution in a closed bucket so it's ph climbs pretty slowly.

i'll be heading over to the hydro shop in the next few minutes.

thanks for the quick reply!!

-hatch

i got some gh ph down and adjusted to 5.0ph. water temp is 77deg and since i've shared some water between the dwc and ice chest the ppm's went up to 340. the room temp fluctuates between 75-83.

i rechecked the dwc ph after an hour and a half and it was almost 6.5. that's a 1.0 increase in ph per hour! is that normal?

i added more ph (a bit too much) and its at 4.8 now. i'll recheck in an hour.

what can i do to stabilize my ph? gen hydro ph down didn't seem to help.

this ph shit is really fucking my plants. do they look ready to die?

agreed. when i used vinegar or baking soda to Ph up/down it causes fluctuations throughout the day. causes very slow growing plants i have 3 day old seedling that have grown as big as my 3 1/2 wk old plant that looks like 1 wk old due to trying to cheap out. you don't necessarily have to buy some crazy expensive stuff mine was $5.49 for a large bottle of Ph down.

they look bad but they should pull through. what kind of water are you using?

hotboxhatchback said:

the ph in my dwc setup keeps climbing from 5.0 to 8.0-9.0

my tap water is 8.1ph and 160 ppm

i use 2oz vinegar in 5gal water to get a ph right below 5.0

i then added 3tsp of floranova grow which put me at 5.1ph and 250ppm

i gave that to my dwc plants yesterday and in two hours the ph was 6.5 and by this morning it was 8.5

this is a pattern that's developed - i put 5.0 solution in and hours later i'm adding more vinegar to bring the ph bask down.

why is my ph climbing so fast and how do i keep it in range?

this is going to kill my babies. they're all yellowing and limp. i feel sick way deep inside.

-hatch

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Tap water? Me too. If you have chlorine in the water, use a declorinator or let it set a few hrs beforwe you use it. if you have CHLORAMINE, it will NOT eveporate and you need to get solution to remove that. You want your pH between 5.5-6.5 for hydro, 5.8 being ideal. A pH of 5.0 is way to acidic. Constantly adjusting pH will kill them as well. They look pretty bad and may not recover. Without additional info, it's hard to tell whats wrong. I'd drain and replinish. Please use pH up/down and not vinegar.

shiftythunderf*ck said:

they look bad but they should pull through. what kind of water are you using?

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thanks for the reply.

i'm using my municipal tap water right now. 8.1ph and 160ppm, flouride and pharms standard.

i'm going to start paying $.12/gal for ro water from a local pet store because there's more than just ph issues urging me to. my buddy gets it for his fish tank and says it has a low ph.

in fact, i may go get some this evening and mix up fresh solution. anything to save my girls.

You also cut your tap water with gallons of Distilled water.

HomeGrownHairy said:

You want your pH between 5.5-6.5 for hydro, 5.8 being ideal. A pH of 5.0 is way to acidic. Constantly adjusting pH will kill them as well. They look pretty bad and may not recover. Without additional info, it's hard to tell whats wrong. I'd drain and replinish. Please use pH up/down and not vinegar.

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let me know what info would help you diagnose and i'll post it. here's my grow journal:https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/199829-1st-time-grow-hydroponics.html

i'm about to go get ro water to drain and refill.

using gen hydro ph down now, vinegar is back in the kitchen.

i also need to lower my water temp. i've been putting blue ice in the tubs but i'll start making trays of ph'ed ice cubes once i have ro water.

StreetRider said:

You also cut your tap water with gallons of Distilled water.

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distilled water was like over a buck a gallon at the grocery store.

ro water is $.12/gal at my pet shop.

Wow, fair enough. I never checked into it. See you learn something new everyday.

RO test out real close to 0ppm correct? I run a small home distiller that just barely covers my needs if I run it full time.

the ro water from the pet store was a waste of time and it was actually about 25 cents/gal. 7.7ph and 195ppm says they need to do some maintenance on their ro system. i'll continue looking for a cheap enough supply of good water.

as for the ph, i think things are settling down. using 8.1 water to rinse all my hydroton and then using vinegar to try to correct, re-correct and inevitably over-correct seems to be what fucked things up.

the dwc setup has fresh solution again. i made it with a ph of 5.5 and it rose to 5.7 by the time i finished cleaning up and retested. 260ppm after nutes and i also added some b1 hoping it'll help with shock. i'll be checking ph religiously now and waiting breathlessly to see if my girls make it, needless to say.

the pics i posted are the worst plants. the one that looks like a sure gonner is in a soil blend now and i put my one extra grape clone in it's spot. my buddy gave me shit saying dirt grown weed is weak but i don't agree. he did concede that a gimped plant in soil is better than a dead one in water though...

tell your buddy that hes wrong. the main reason people use hydro is because you can be so much more precise with the root environment. cannabis is never in hydroponic in nature. why would your friend think the natural way bud grows is weak? most connoisseurs say that the strains they have smoked that were both hydro grown and soil grown say the soil, if done properly, outdoes its hydro counterpart hands down. dont get me wrong. i am constructing a dwc right now, and i plan on mostly growing hydroponically. but soil grown herb is in no way shape or form 'weak'.

bongrips420 said:

tell your buddy that hes wrong. the main reason people use hydro is because you can be so much more precise with the root environment. cannabis is never in hydroponic in nature. why would your friend think the natural way bud grows is weak? most connoisseurs say that the strains they have smoked that were both hydro grown and soil grown say the soil, if done properly, outdoes its hydro counterpart hands down. dont get me wrong. i am constructing a dwc right now, and i plan on mostly growing hydroponically. but soil grown herb is in no way shape or form 'weak'.

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exactly, dude!!

i think he knows that but won't admit it cuz he's all about aero.

5.2-5.3ph

270ppm

70-75F water temp

high 70's w/ lights on

low 70's w/ lights off

flushed w/ florakleen and it really helped to stabilize the ph in both the dwc and the ice chest. definitely was all the untreated tap water in my hydroton causing the issues.
all the girls except one look like they're already getting better.

the one is outside in soil now. the mostly overcast warm weather seems to be doing it well.

thanks for the help everyone!

-hatch

i'm trying to post pics but the window to upload them keeps freezing my pc. is there another way? i didn't want to try offsite hosts.

is this just the effects of high ph or is it more?

maybe they're just not reviving as well as i expected...

the ones in the ice chest look like i might have overwatered and/or overfertilized.

i keep my ph at 5.5 and only let it get just over 6.2 now.

my water had 190ppm before nutes, 250 after. ends up around 300ppm after sitting in the tubs for a bit. i fed them 3mL floranova grow for each 5 gal of water. i know that's not much at all but the dwc plants don't have roots visible through the net pots yet and the ice chest plants look a bit burnt so i'm afraid of feeding them more.

any replies appreciated.

-hatch

I think you should just get some distilled water, $.75 gallon, and start over with your nutrients. Slowly adjust your pH, and check it after a few hours.

I pay .25 per gallon for RO water and I also have a rainwater catch tank. Most of the time that you use tap water ou are getting xamount of chlorine per gallon. Chlorine is a killer! Get yourself some 5 gallon water jugs and fill them at RO dispensers. If you live near a mountain stream or river or lake form a bucket brigade - anything but tap water! The chlorine content varies daily as the water companies inject it into the tanks.