RDWC - Res PH tanking after res change

smokey0418

Well-Known Member
16 days into flower I’m 1.45 ec as an example. Running botanicare nutes this is just over 50 percent of the bottles recommended dose.
 

MisterKister

Well-Known Member
EC depends on how you feed them as well like with coco where you water it so many times a day you can run your EC up to 3 but if you're in a dwc or rdwc or anything where the roots are in constant contact with your nutrient solution 2.2 is a good number
 

smokey0418

Well-Known Member
I just want to run in the sweet spot, the one everybody’s looking for were the ph and your ec stay the same and the level of water goes down daily .
 

smokey0418

Well-Known Member
Too be quite honest I can’t believe how close this balance can be, 25 ppm lol in one direction can make my tote rise in ph with a take of nutes or a drop from just the water taken.
 

smokey0418

Well-Known Member
The longer I can keep her in the zone the better, don’t need her to be missing anything while She’s puckered up.
 

J232

Well-Known Member
So do you use silica through the whole grow?
No I usually didn’t and I haven’t used often in the past regardless medium, I did this last time, it’s such small amounts, I was running about 80 gallons. Didn’t notice much difference, I didn’t notice any issues, again, 10-20 ml in a 10-15 gallon top up was enough.

Flora nova bloom puts ph below 5, I have a equal amount of water storage so what ended up doing is adding silica then FNB before I swap the res to eliminate any ph swing, literally 5-10 mins in a really wack ph range in hydro, is all it take to see damage.

I used uc roots, pool shock and peroxide, if my ph swings, I throw 20ml of 29% in a gallon of water and add it slowly to the 80 gal res, pinned my ph every time. I do this when I add back, res change or otherwise when ph drops more then .1 in 24 hours. I just went a whole flower cycle just topping up, one res change, said fuck it and went 8 weeks.

I took a lot of @rkymtnman’s advice as he’s seasoned in the water game, he has used most the products worth mentioning. Btw dude (rky) I hash binned that pre98, second time same beans and foxtailed in a hot spot this time, done with hids, a DE was a bad decision, will update my journal with a finally sometime here, got some nice smoke, lost yield and ambition this time.
 

J232

Well-Known Member
The longer I can keep her in the zone the better, don’t need her to be missing anything while She’s puckered up.
Rising ph with dropping water and sight drop in ec is a good thing, that’s what you want to see, if you want to chase a perfect, hold the ec and drop water while watching ph go up. Like mentioned, any ph movement down is more likely a root or bacteria issue, can’t always see it, trust the sterilization as a preventative, you won’t cure damaged root. If you use 29 plus % peroxide, start small, it’s not to be fucked with.
 

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
I took a lot of @rkymtnman’s advice as he’s seasoned in the water game, he has used most the products worth mentioning. Btw dude (rky) I hash binned that pre98, second time same beans and foxtailed in a hot spot this time, done with hids, a DE was a bad decision, will update my journal with a finally sometime here, got some nice smoke, lost yield and ambition this time
thanks for the shout out.
sorry about the pre98, after the cure and still in a bucket for me, she's moved up on my "like" meter. pretty damn good smoke.
 

Arkarius

Active Member
I'm only on my first grow but here's my experience.

I started with tap water that was 260ppm/500 @ ~8.2PH and I had to use a lot of PH down both initially and every day to keep things in check.

Got an RO system making 0 ppm water and started experiencing the opposite. Had to use PH UP to get the res right and then started getting even bigger drops than the rises I was getting with tap. It wasn't like an overnight crash or anything, just a consistent drop.

Picked up Armor Si as a supplement and when I make my res with the right amount I find I don't need to add any PH adjusters. I did get a bit of a drop the first 2 days after res change, but after that it stayed at 5.8 for 3-4 days. Water level and EC were dropping consistently every day as well.
 
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Lol I know i really need a chiller, I just don't want to drop the $500+ on it but I know it's inevitable. How did you insulate your buckets/bins?
I went to lowes and found a product called REFLECTIX. Its around every bucket and all pvc piping as well. The water chiller is a game changer....
 

myke

Well-Known Member
thanks for the shout out.
sorry about the pre98, after the cure and still in a bucket for me, she's moved up on my "like" meter. pretty damn good smoke.
pre 98 doesnt like too much N she ripens too fast.Mine really liked the coco where you could control N.I had her in a sip and was finished 2-3 weeks ahead.Next round very little to no topdressing for her and see.Finicky bitch.
 
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