# wide ph fluctuation



## wedginfool (May 14, 2008)

Hi all i have a question about using hydrogen peroxide in your nutrient resevoir.
i was following the directions in this post 




*h2o2 as oxygen source?  anyway i noticed that my ph fluctuates every single day. i mean i have to add at least 10 to 15 grams of ph down every single day to keep my ph at the 5.5-5.8 area
is there any way to keep my ph level with some type of buffer or something


any input would be appreciated and thanks in advance

wedginfool

*


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## Ilikebigbuds (May 14, 2008)

I was having same trouble, I discovered some things, one my water quality to begin with was causing me headaches so I switched to distilled water.

my ph troubles went away. I am using general Hydroponics for my nuits and I have yet to have to add any ph down or up to my mixture.

I also dont adjust my ph until after I add nuits. with the distilled water I have not had to adjust, it seems to be perfect each time.

hope this helps.

stay focused on what you want and watch it grow!


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## The Effen Gee (May 14, 2008)

Do not put h2o2 in your solution!!!!

There are Millions of microbes and beneficial bacteria that aide the plants nute uptake.

Peroxide will kill these immediately.

Stick with PH Down and change the solution WEEKLY.


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## widowmaker (May 14, 2008)

I had the same problem with my tap water.  Once i switched to Ro Di water bam! No more problem.


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## 0b1kinsmokey (May 14, 2008)

yes, distilled water will help tramendously. also use very stable full, 3 PART nutrients- this will allow for more even nutrient uptake, thus less fluctuation in acidity

*and also do not EVER put over the counter h2o2 in your resoviour...*

if u ever need to put hydroperoxide into ur reseviour *you HAVE TO go your local health foods or whole foods store and get "food grade h2o2"- *most all regular grocery stores do not sell food grade h2o2

and most likely if u are using strait chemical nutes there are no microbes or beneficial bacteria to worry about killing anyways  not unless ur adding it.

but either way harm is done, and h2o2 is usually frowned down upon unless u have severe gnat problems, slimy root problems, or algea problems.

i only use h2o2 for mushrooms  never for mj, but thats just me. 

u should never use anything but food grade hydrogen peroxide any ways, even for household uses....its just the healthy thing to do :aok: and just a great piece of information to know :aok:


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## wedginfool (May 14, 2008)

thanks guys
fng i have to do something about algae you see the  trays i'm using are clear and there is about 3/4 of an inch of standing water in the bottom of the trays this is why i have to use peroxide to keep the algae from growing.

i have used a black duct tape and taped over the entire tray bottoms and partway up the sides to block the light from getting into the water, then i used the tape to tape up the sides of the tray that fits into the first tray so as to completely block out the light. I beleive this will work as far as keeping out the light so that the algae won't grow however i still have the problem of the 3/4 of an inch of water standing in the bottom tray. this is why i also added the peroxide to oxygenate the stagnant standing water

i use a 55 gallon drum for a res and therefore it takes a lot of nutrient so you want to be able to go atleast 10 days without changing the res because of the cost of the nuts so i figured it is just as well to use the peroxide to keep your solution from going anerobic on my plant roots and keep it clean and keep costs down

before i bought gh's ph down i was using discus buffer from the aquarium stores and i didn't have this problem with ph fluctuating on me the problem with that is that it takes a lot of it so it will be expensive and there is always the snoopy people at the aquarium store who want to know what type of fish lives in ph 5.5 water ....and why do you need so much of it???

I think i may have to go back to it though just because i don't have a hydro shop anywhere nearby and i have to order everything online which is making me extremely paranoid about the postman and ups man

i'll bet they're already suspicious of how many packages i get delivered here. I started this little venture at the beginning of the year and so far i must have had 20 deliveries here and i live in a tiny 1 room apartment

just because of these things i think i might go back to the aquarium stores and get the discus buffer and try it again it seemed to hold the ph better but at the same time i was not using peroxide which may be why my ph is fluctuating so much especially since i replace 1/4th of the peroxide everyday which adds up to 4 oz of peroxide everyday 

anyway thanks guys 
if you can think of anything that might buffer the solution any better let me know 

thanks


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## wedginfool (May 14, 2008)

0b1kinsmokey said:
			
		

> yes, distilled water will help tramendously. also use very stable full, 3 PART nutrients- this will allow for more even nutrient uptake, thus less fluctuation in acidity
> 
> *and also do not EVER put over the counter h2o2 in your resoviour...*
> 
> ...



thanks smokey 
i started out using distilled when i was hand watering but now that everything is up and running 55 gallons of distilled water is not something i want everyone in the building to see me bringing in every day so i just decided to ph treat my water.............we do have good water here even though i havn't had it tested i know that it is

as far as nuts go i use gh 3 part so there is no microbes to worry about killing 
i wouldn't mind trying a guano tea i'd have to do away with the peroxide though 
if i got the light sealed off well enough i might be able to get away with it
and i think that i do

just drained my algae infested water, cleaned all my trays,  taped  over the clear  trays so light  won't penetrate, put a water heater blanket over my clear 55 gallon drum to keep light out, taped black tape over the lid, 

the only thing left to do to make everything light proof is to put a lid on my control bucket and then i shouldn't have a problem with light causing algae growth ..........and the water heater blanket should keep the res water temp below 70 or in the low 70's anyway.........i heard that water temps consistently in the 70's will also promote faster algae growth

my next resevoir change i'll go without the peroxide and see how the algae goes

and if the ph will ever stabilize


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## trillions of atoms (May 14, 2008)

dont add h202, make sure to drian any stagnant water add more arreation and get rezz temps where they need to be 72-75 degrees F.

use good water and nutrients and you will never have a problem!


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## trillions of atoms (May 14, 2008)

fix the drianage problem i meant to say...this is a big deal!


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## 0b1kinsmokey (May 15, 2008)

fer sure wed. also more air= less algea.

60 watt dual diaphram air pump is 50 bucks on hyrdoempire.com

keeping h2o2 outa the picture will help with ur acidity problems fer sure.

also, you should just pick up a brita sink filter, they are only like 20 bucks and really do wonders.

my tap is 270 here and reads 30ppm after coming out of my small brita filter

just somethin to think about. first thing i would do is get another air pump and your problems will be damn near solved 

goodluck


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## wedginfool (May 16, 2008)

hey thanks guys now i have a new problem ............. my hose came loose and covered my carpet with solution (about 30gallons of it) and it stinks to high heaven. i've rented the rug doctor and cleaned the carpet........i even just started dumping out 2 gallons of water on the floor and sucking it right back up but it still stinks pretty bad....any ideas on additive to the water to make it smell a little better?
i think bleach will hurt the machine (i used it in an airless paint sprayer and it destroyed it)
not sure about peroxide
thought about sprinkling carpet fresh and then washing it right into the carpet so that the smell will go into the carpet
i've still got the machine til 2 tomorrow so i am going to be busy for a while, think i'll try the carpet fresh idea unless someone else has a better idea

about the ph ....................i've got 2 whisper air pumps the biggest ones they make they say they are for up to 60 gallon tanks......i have 4 stones in there now the 14-15 inch ones.... would putting T's in and hooking up an additional 4 stones help??  or would it not matter since you are not really increasing air volume???



Default
fix the drianage problem i meant to say...this is a big deal!
__________________
We are all Trillions of Atoms

my rockwool slabs are not sitting in water there is 2 rubbermaid trays one inside of the other so it is suspended above the standing water...now there is no air into the individual trays so this 3/4 inch of water is going to be stagnant this is part of the reason i was also using the peroxide i'm not sure it's necessary anymore now that i have blacked everything out now so when i finally get my carpet cleaned up tomorrow i won't use the peroxide in the solution and hope this helps to stabilize my ph a little.


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## 0b1kinsmokey (May 16, 2008)

if u have air pumps designed for 60 gallons and u are using a 60g rez, u need more pumpage xD

lol i cant beleive u spilled 30gs of solution. brings back memories before i moved out of the city...one of things where u come home and say... FvCK!

yea i wouldnt mess with t's unless u have massive pumpage- unless u have high powered pump, or smaller rez's, t's are counter productive.

you definetely need a dual diaphram. an 18watt Atleast. they are quite so i wouldnt worry about that. but drainage and air need to be ur 2 tasks for the month i think. 

get those slabs tilted, make it level with perlite or whatever. get that drainage efficient. and get some air. you should try and post some pics, we can help you out with how to get ur drainage going better

as for the smell giggle lol i really dont know what you could do- id definetely keep washing those carpets and drying them. keep fans on thats fer sure. 

keep us posted


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## trillions of atoms (May 16, 2008)

hey man, if its stinkin try the pet deoderiser carpet liquid or spray, it works wonders for pet no-nos and leaves a mild after tone when the initial smell has wafted off, also- rugdoctor makes a solution for cleaning carpets thats a sweet deal.... they also have pet deodoriser liquids as well 


to the other question:

if the dispersion of the air is greater the volume wont matter because its more efficent. if you only get a certian amount of air throught one bubble stone, the air bubbles comming out will be larger and the dispersion less. its the smaller the bubbles and the greater contact to roots, air then nutrient/ then air/ then nutrient and so on- which matters.  think about it.... 

this is why timing on flood and drian matters so much. its not how much nutrient solution that gets to it, its the time the roots has to dry then take on more nutrients. you could water 10- on 20 or 30 minutes off all day: it will work <10X better than an hour on/ hour off.

I would recommend bubble wands compared to stones....if the pump is big enough 6" air wand are awesome!

goodluck wedgin, I am here anytime forya' brother!


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## 0b1kinsmokey (May 16, 2008)

no doubt ^^   :yeahthat:


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## wedginfool (May 17, 2008)

thanks smokey and toa i wound up using pinesol and i think that it worked pretty well and it didn't take too much of it.........never realized how much pinesol would foam up though. I bet i put at least 100 to 150 gallons of water on the floor cleaning up that mess.........this was the kind of smell that would definitely get you busted it was the most dank rank stinking *** skunk smell you have ever smelled i mean it was BAAAADDDD  it smelled so strong of pot in here i couldn't beleive it........... and to make matters worse i found out this happened after a night out at the tavern drunker than **** then i had to work until daylight sopping this **** up.  It didn't smell that bad then at the time but the next day after i had snoozed most of the day away and it was starting to dry a little the smell hit me so strong that that's what i think woke me up from my drunken stupor..........my eyes were watering!!!!   it was if you had crawled up a skunks *** !!!
I tested my tap water and it's 110 ppm, I'm new to this so if one of you could clear this up for me it would be nice. right now my ppm in my res is 600 ppm ...........now given that my tap's 110 means that i'm giving it 490 ppm of solution right???..................and when some of these recomendations on the back of nut bottles suggest giving a certain ppm at a certain point in a plants growth i should deduct the ppm of my water right?...........not that i'm goiing by that right now. right now i'm using gh 3 part nuts at 1/2 tsp per gallon..all 3 parts

quote
if u have air pumps designed for 60 gallons and u are using a 60g rez, u need more pumpage xD


both of my pumps are for 60 gallons each shouldn't this be enough in a 55 gallon drum??

as far as my drainage goes i can't really see changing it this growing cycle ...........number 1 i'd have to get all 6 new pans and re do them, right now the drainage holes (and fill holes for that matter) are on the sides of them the reason for this is that i didn't want to raise them up off of the ground and take up valuable height space ........i'v only got 4 feet to work with on top of this is my cloning (vegging) space.....and yes it has been a pain and it really would be better if i could lift them up and put in fill holes in the bottom 
another problem with my design is that i put in too small of return lines..i put half inch fill and 3/4 inch drain which isn't enough my pump will cavitate because it pumps faster than it will return to the control box so i had to raise my pump head level (the max height it will pump) up to the max so that it would slow down the pump and not cavitate also remember how i said that i needed the height space........well i did have to raise the tubs the thickness of a 2x2 and also i had to put a hose on the pump that curved down and cut it flat with the bottom of the control box this is so that it will continue to draw the water down below pump height (the pump's out of the water) so that i could get the water level down low enough to get the upper tray in the dry.............it really would be nice to just raise the ceiling a little 6 or 8 inches and go ahead and do things right and put in 1 1/2 inch hard pipe for return and put them in through the bottom of the pans , it would drain a heck of a lot better...........but for this grow i think i'm going to leave it alone and see how it goes right now my babies are looking spactacular and i've spent way too much money since the first of the year on this.

on a good note it's almost harvest time for my other girls and i wont be paying for my smoke and man it does look good I've been trying to get the temps down at night by leaving the airconditioner on all night and as a result one of my girls is turning purple she looks pretty...........she'll be dead within the week


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