Help request. Unhealthy first ever grow

could use some advice. not really sure whats going on. im a newbie. first grow ever. anyway heres the info.

strain: auto ak 47 from seed
air temp : 78-80(on) , 71-73(off)
res temp : 70-79. use couple ice bottles to help control
pH: 5.48
ppm: 630
age: 30 days old (born jan. 2nd)
rh: 30-60%
light: 400w hps sitting 23" above this little girl. couple 35w cfl up the sides. 20/4 cycle.

i changed the res friday afternoon. and this is exactly what nutes and measurements i added. i have 14 gallon res, running about 10 gallons. i used this calculator from GH hXXp://www.generalhydroponics.com/calculator/index.html but i only used nutes for 5 gallons, not all 10. i didnt wanna do full nutes for fear of nute burn. although maybe the damage was done from previous res, it was at 1200.
25ml - Floranova Grow
50ml - Florablend
5ml - Floralicious Plus
30ml - Hygrozyme


random info that im not sure will help. i use abt 10 gallons in a 14gallon bin. wrapped in refletix for temp control. anyway is pH suppose to climb from 5.48 to 5.67 in 8hrs? pH'ed the res b4 bed at 3am, checked again at 11am and it had climbed up. if normal then okies. another thing is the ppm, is it supposed to climb too? samething at 3am it was 600, at 11am it rose to 650. why? i didnt add anything.

problem is, she seems very very runty. her leaves are growing all sorts of crazy. and has what seems like nute burn. browning / yellowing / drooping leaves. some burnt edges. im assuming im gonna have to lower ppm but i thought 630ish was ok for this long in. the main thing is that she is so tiny. standing about 4" from the rooter plug.

all pictures are current as of this morning.

You have many problems

Rez temp is to high need 65-68 range.

pH is to low, need 5.8

ppm's are way to high seedlings do not need any nutes for the first 3-4 weeks and after that only 1/4 strength to start.

light is to high, lower light til you feel heat on the back of your hand then set it there.

Most nutes have buffers in them in order that the pH will raise or lower to the correct pH.

thanks pcduck!

ive already lowed the ppm to 395 to 400. should i reduce it more still? the rez temp was 67 degrees just now. i will buy few more water bottles to freeze.

doh on the pH. fixing it now! up to 5.8!

the light unfortunately im boned. its fixed to its position. i cant move it. thats why when this grow is done im gutting the grow box and making it more versitle. ill try to prop the res up on some milk crates to lift it. but its kinda heavy. ill have to get my cousin to pitch in a hand. (propped up res on a couple boxes. now plant top is 13" away from hps)

again thanks so much. hope she perks up.

can you raise the plants any?

yep i did. i found two 3 gallon bins. about 10" tall and propped them under the res. top of plant is now about 13" from the HPS light.

ok so things have gotten worse! ive reduced the ppm to 90. the pH i try to keep at 5.8. but it climbs up to 6.3-6.5 within a couple hours. not sure why. the ppm also slowly climb up. but not as fast as pH. not sure why its getting worse.

ive done everything recommended here. res water is colder now. doesnt pass 69. air temp last few days hasnt climbed over 73.

any advice please!?! should i continue to work on this plant or yank it an start from scratch? is she salvageable?

I'm not a hydro guy, but what are you using to adjust your pH that it would drift that much?....you might try PM'ing PC duck, or Mindzeye...they know their stuff when it comes to this...I won't be much help with hydro...good luck to you!

using GH pH down (yellow/orange liquid) and pH up (blue liquid)

When you mix your nutes can you give me a description about how you mix your nutes? Do you PH adjust right after mixing? This plant has some serious damage right now Im not sure if its going to pull through, i have seen them do it though

what i have done. is i fill the res tub with the RO water. add the nutes like the nova grow mix the water a little, add hygrozyme mix water up, add florablend mix water, add floralicious plus mix water. then pH it to 5.8

return the box an add the airstones and plant.

This looks like PH issue to me and some nute burn but it sounds like you solved that issue, I think your making the same mistake I made when I first started DWC, Heres how I mix my nutes everyone does it a little different but the idea is slow adjustments...

I use tap water so I put my water in containers and let it sit overnight, The next day I mix my nutes then add them to res, I dont even bother checking PH at this point because I want to let the buffers in the nutes activate.. The next day I check the PH and make slow adjustments, If I need to adjust Ill add 1/2 a teaspoon of adjuster and let it sit for 4 hours then add more and repeat until your in the range you want.. I get the nutes to 5.8 and let it raise to 6.2 then correct it...


Just one more thing here.. Do you spray the plants with anything?

lol if i used my tap water the plant would explode. my tap runs 800+ppm LOL. so ill follow same instructions just with ro water. as far as spraying, nope i dont. should i be? if so what do i spray em with?

im thinking of just yanking her out, chalking it up as lesson learned and start again. but i need to redo the grow room. im gutting the file cabinet im in and getting a grow tent thats much more versitile. what you think? yank it or try and revive it next 2 - 3 weeks? if by then still looking ugly yank it?

With GH up and down PH I have found this, when adjusting your PH up the adjuster takes around 4 hours to reach its PH level, If you are adjusting right away to 5.8 PH and it raises 2 hours later then your fighting the PH up adjuster.. When you add some PH up it will have an initial jump up then it will continue to raise for 4 hours.. With PH down its different, with down you can add it and wait 1 hour then adjust again its a lot faster acting..

I was just making sure you wernt spraying with lights on, the water magnifies the light and burns the plant.. If I have plants that are in shock I will do a foliar feed of some vitamin B-1 it helps with shock, just one treatment is all you need.. But you can do it without also..

ah ok. didnt know that about the pH. i guess im gonna try an nurse it back. what do you recommend i do? just straight up ph water for couple weeks? no nutes. what about hygrozyme for the res incase i have some root rot?

I think your plant want nutes and thats why you see the damage, its nutrient deficiency. When the PH goes out of range the plant cant absorb certain nutrients.

I think you should go in and mix fresh nutes around 400 ppm, then tomorrow you can start PH adjusting.. Maybe even start out with just 1/4 tsp at a time until you get the hang of how much it will change the water PH.. After a while of doing this you will get a system down and you can even cheat a little..

For example, I know when I mix my nutes at full strength I will end up having to use at least 3/4 tsp of PH up.. So right after I mix my nutes I will add 1/2 tsp of PH up, then let it sit for 24 hours before fine tuning the adjustment...

oh i thought it was nute burn. ok so this is the plan.

1. pour ro water into res. let sit 24hrs.
2. mix nutes into res. let sit 24hrs
3. pH the res. let sit for several hours.
4. check pH, if in good range, set in plant an put in grow room

With RO water you dont need to let it sit for 24hrs first.. I let my tap water sit because of chlorine...

k start at step 2.

just so u know my current state. maybe i dont need to change and let this res run for a week? at lunch today i changed out the water and its running around 100ppm. or just dump it and start fresh?

If your running plain water phed water thats fine, but it will need nutes soon..

its around 100ish ppm and slowly climbing on its own.