I know that each nutrient has a pH range at which it is best absorbed and hydro is supposed to be 5.5-6.5 pH, so should I be pH'ing my DWC down to 5.5 and let it ride up to 6.3 or so before dosing down? I have a continual pH/EC/temp controller hooked up to a peristaltic pump with pH down so I can set it to add pH down when it hits a certain pH.
Should Ph remain mostly constant?
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Boatguy
Well-Known Member
I tried to keep mine between 5.8 and 6.2. Most of the time it stuck around 6.
The ph tended to swing more for me on the first few days after a res change and got more stable after that
rkymtnman
Well-Known Member
yes
futurebanjo
Well-Known Member
What they said above, but also consider when you add more nutes it will lower PH too (as well as raising EC), so you don't really wanna be adding a specific PH down product unless PH is still way too high after a fresh feeding.
I'm not sure how this new high tech stuff works, but if possible, it might be sensible to just tell it to add PH down if it drops below say 5.5 for example and only let it bring PH up to say 5.6, as your PH will drift upward naturaly anyway as you'll be adding plain water inbetween 'feed doses' as the plant drinks but you'll not want EC to get too high.
Although, thinking about it, I might be talking crap, as if this automated system controls EC too, I guess you set a specific target PH and target EC value, and it does the rest?
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rkymtnman
Well-Known Member
my pH goes up when i top off my res with nutes. usually about 0.5 points or so
futurebanjo
Well-Known Member
Yeah I guess it depends on your personal environment, from what I've learned, keeping the whole shebang within 'accepatable range' is they key thing, as opposed to try to keep X at value Y, And A at value B.
Although If you have total control over all variables at all times, that poses its own questions as to whats 'ideal', or the 'golden ratio'. I suspect It will change over time, in the same way we switch from veg feed to bloom feed.
What they said above, but also consider when you add more nutes it will lower PH too (as well as raising EC), so you don't really wanna be adding a specific PH down product unless PH is still way too high after a fresh feeding.
I'm not sure how this new high tech stuff works, but if possible, it might be sensible to just tell it to add PH down if it drops below say 5.5 for example and only let it bring PH up to say 5.6, as your PH will drift upward naturaly anyway as you'll be adding plain water inbetween 'feed doses' as the plant drinks but you'll not want EC to get too high.
Although, thinking about it, I might be talking crap, as if this automated system controls EC too, I guess you set a specific target PH and target EC value, and it does the rest?
[/QUOTE]
So the way the unit works is it it's a monitor for temp/pH/TDS. I'm still not 100% sure how the functionality works but it refers to the ppm level as "EC". Then you can set trigger points to have solenoids turn on and off based upon the points you set and that works for pH and the ppm level.
So what I did was hook up a tiny peristaltic pump to a reservoir of pH down and if it goes above 6.2 it turns the pump on and as soon as the meter reads 6.19 it turns it off, which usually a few drops have come out and it'll go down to like 5.7.
But honestly my pH has been super stable at 5.97-6.06 and my ppms have been fluctuating but center around 825ppm +/- 10 ppm
I'm not sure how this new high tech stuff works, but if possible, it might be sensible to just tell it to add PH down if it drops below say 5.5 for example and only let it bring PH up to say 5.6, as your PH will drift upward naturaly anyway as you'll be adding plain water inbetween 'feed doses' as the plant drinks but you'll not want EC to get too high.
Although, thinking about it, I might be talking crap, as if this automated system controls EC too, I guess you set a specific target PH and target EC value, and it does the rest?
[/QUOTE]
So the way the unit works is it it's a monitor for temp/pH/TDS. I'm still not 100% sure how the functionality works but it refers to the ppm level as "EC". Then you can set trigger points to have solenoids turn on and off based upon the points you set and that works for pH and the ppm level.
So what I did was hook up a tiny peristaltic pump to a reservoir of pH down and if it goes above 6.2 it turns the pump on and as soon as the meter reads 6.19 it turns it off, which usually a few drops have come out and it'll go down to like 5.7.
But honestly my pH has been super stable at 5.97-6.06 and my ppms have been fluctuating but center around 825ppm +/- 10 ppm
rkymtnman
Well-Known Member
your pH sounds great but i prefer to see EC/ppm dropping a decent amount each day. but if that works for you, keep on !
futurebanjo
Well-Known Member
Cool, If it aint broke, dont fix it..
I'd be really interested to see how you progress.
As I understand, EC is just another way of measuring nute concentration in the water, but there are 2 different ways (scales of measurement) of measuring PPM, so I just went with EC for simplicity.
I'd be really interested to see how you progress.
As I understand, EC is just another way of measuring nute concentration in the water, but there are 2 different ways (scales of measurement) of measuring PPM, so I just went with EC for simplicity.