Having to Ph my water twice daily.

[Ranek Icewalker]

Hey all, first of all im glad to see MP is back and running
I really missed reading the posts and was worried it was gone for good.

I have a quick question for all the Hydro pros out there.

Is it normal to have to PH my water in a DWC 10 Gallon system twice daily?

In the morning i ph it down to 5.8-5.9 then in the evening i ph it down again.

my PH always goes up and never down, it always goes up to about 6.4-6.5 and kinda freezes there, i checked it by not changing it down for 24 hours and it never went above 6.6.

Im using Advance nutrients 3 part nutes with bloombastic bloom booster.
im using only Distilled water in my tanks and i change my res twice a month. i use general hydroponics PH adjuster and i check my PH with a hanna meter.
I dont have any way to test the water temps, but the water stays cool to the touch if that helps, its never warm/luke warm

i havent noticed any problems with the water algae slick roots etc. plants seem healthy and happy as well.

any help, or is this just a normal thing?

 

[woodydude]

I had a similar problem with my first grow. Morning check, ph sitting at 6.4, corrected to 5.5, the following morning it was back to 6.4ish.
The yield from that grow was poor and I think a major part of the problem was me!
I was told the root zone will have its own ph, the run off another ph and the res another so I ended up leaving well alone and let the buffers in the nutrients do their job. The result is greener happier plants.
I have recently switched to AN sensi 2 part, which has some kind of ph guarantee so now I dont even check the ph! The plants tell me they are happy, lush green leaves facing up towards the light.

In short, dont even check the ph for a week and see how the plants respond, they will probably like the stability. Dumping acid into the tank (ph down) several times a day does nothing but harm imho. If I have learned anything in the short time I have been growing it is to try and keep it simple and let the plants tell you what they want, a bit like a woman really, just not as noisy.
Dunno if that will help but it's what I did.
Peace
Woody

 

[Ranek Icewalker]

Thanks for the reply woody appreciate your response.

I'll try giving them some time before i PH down, hopefully it'll stable itself out.

 

[ozzydiodude]

Hope my mind is working right and I'm remembering this right, but you need to fix the ph to 5.5 to 5.8 and if plants are having wild ph swing s they are not getting enough nutes and you need to up there feed alittle.

 

[Ranek Icewalker]

Hey folks, thanks everyone for the replies

Im gonna try to take the PH down slower thats a good idea star, i never thought about it, i always just thought "High PH DANGER DANGER"

Oz, i try to keep it right about 5.8, from all the Hydro charts ive read that appears to be the optimum ph level.
about the nutes, my ppm is right about 750-800 they drink it good, if i go any higher my PPM goes up not down, ive heard that means they are drinking more water than Nutes they are absorbing.

The Ph hasnt been as drastic the last few days, going up to 6.3-6.4 and sitting at like 6.1 for the majority of the time, so maybe the problem is solving itself.

 

[woodydude]

I'm slowly learning the level of patience required with this hobby is much greater than anticipated!
Peace
Woody

 

[Old_SSSC_Guy]

#1 - if the plants are happy then stop looking (smile)

but how many plants are being fed by the 10 gallon res? any chance your media is shifting the pH once it recirculates?

 

[Ranek Icewalker]

I dunno what changed, because nothing that i did changed, i was having that ph spiking up problem for about 2 weeks, the last few days i havent had to put any down or up in, they have been sitting at 5.90 exactly since yesterday when i checked em

Thanks folks, my ladies are getting fat and stinky harvest in about 2 weeks.

 

[woodydude]

I think the buffers in the nute solution are doing their job.
If they are, its good to know they work.
I have been impressed with AN stuff from that point of view, I check my ph often but never have to correct it any more since the switch to Sensi 2-part. Expensive but it seems to do the job.
Peace
Woody