pH slowly changes in my watering sprayer

[choxie]

Hi I was wondering if anyone else has this issue. I put in my nutrients and fully let it dissolve, then I adjust the pH with pH down and shake it very well and get it to around 6.3-6.4. I fill up a large sprayer and it usually sits in there for about 2 spraying sessions for which by the time I need to spray again, the pH has gone up to around 7. Has anyone else had this issue? I'm using regular miracle grow and nothing that needs to break down over time.

 

[ROSTERMAN]

• When you leave water sitting out over night it kills most of the bad stuff in the water. So once that happens the PH will fluctuate. So if your PH rises a whole point over night all you have to do is PH Down it to around 5.0 & over night it will settle around 6.0-6.5

 

[choxie]

Well it's actually sealed in a container so nothing can really evaporate. I could understand if we had regular chloride in the water, but here in los angeles we use chloramine which does not evaporate (I double checked with my municipal water report). I was just wondering if anyone knew why this occurs.

 

[ROSTERMAN]

I wonder if the material your sprayer is made of is leeching into the water mix causing it.

 

[pute]

Don't understand, you are feeding with a sprayer? I drench and never let mixed nutes sit overnight.

 

[Airbone]

I had the same issue when leaving town for a week.
Had mother in law watering for me,
Everything pre mixed and ph.
The ph change on every jug.
I don’t pre mix anymore.

 

[choxie]

Hmm I never thought about leeching it out of the plastic, but I grow in really small batches so I figured it would be easy to have everything premade.

 

[Airbone]

Hmm I never thought about leeching it out of the plastic, but I grow in really small batches so I figured it would be easy to have everything premade.

You can adjust the ph every time you feed if you want to. But IMO those nutes are at the best state when first mixed.
If you have a small operation though should be easy enough to mix small batches.

 

[pute]

A bad thing about growing indoor under lights is you are kind of in jail. If I have to leave for a few days I would have them give the plants straight r/o water. Things will be fine if this is done just once.

Three times I had someone else fill in for me....three times they Fk'ed things up. I don't trust anyone with my plants.

 

[user 60570]

simple answer is that when the lights are on algae are producing oxygen and consuming carbon dioxide

at night with the lights off they consume oxygen and release carbon dioxide

Carbon dioxide dissolved in water makes carbonic acid.

 

[Airbone]

Always add a little cal mag to my straight ro.

 

[spunom]

Municipal water has buffers that regulate ph from becoming acidic. You will have to adjust every time.

 

[choxie]

Municipal water has buffers that regulate ph from becoming acidic. You will have to adjust every time.

Oh I never considered this before. I'm more so concerned since I'm going to be using an octopot soon where it's a hybrid between conventional soil and hydroponics. So if the pH buffers up that'd be terrible.

As far as the algae issue, carbonic acid would lower the pH. I'm having the pH rise over time and I think algae create oxygen so if that is an issues it's more likely converting CO2 in the water into O2 and thus raising the pH. I'm using straight tap water with the chloramine which doesn't come out of solution unless you use camden tablets. (I used to brew a lot of beer so I'm very familiar with the water reports)

 

[boo]

ever thought of using RO water...as for pre mixing, every label I've read and boy have I tried a lot of hooey, says don't premix or use left over solutions...easier isn't always better...

 

[JoseyWales]

Well it's actually sealed in a container so nothing can really evaporate. I could understand if we had regular chloride in the water, but here in los angeles we use chloramine which does not evaporate (I double checked with my municipal water report). I was just wondering if anyone knew why this occurs.

Chloramine got to go too.

 

[Bubba]

Well it's actually sealed in a container so nothing can really evaporate. I could understand if we had regular chloride in the water, but here in los angeles we use chloramine which does not evaporate (I double checked with my municipal water report). I was just wondering if anyone knew why this occurs.

Some RO filters remove chloramines....some of them.

Bubba

 

[spunom]

The octopot was what first got me on the SIP path. Just a few suggestions for when you start using one:

Get off of the big box store soils. I personally use a homemade peat/EWC/perlite mix with added amendments. The store bought super soils probably work, or with a little time and effort, you can make your own. Organic is the way to go with these systems.

Once you do your initial drench, leave top watering and the wet/dry cycles in the rear view. Top dress before you flip and after the stretch, but top watering can give you over watering issues. It's best to let the octopot do it's thing the way it's designed.

If it's possible for you... Dump the tap water. I use Crystal Geyser spring water from the grocery store. It's 99 cents per gallon. It takes 5 gallons to initially fill my two SIPs then one gallon top off per week each. Later in flower (when they really start sucking it up) it takes a bit more. Or, like Boo said, RO is a great option if you can do it.

I'm a huge fan of EM-1. It gives the soil some very good bennies and helps maintain your res. I add 1 tbsp of activated, expanded EM-1 per gallon of water. I've seen a few that use as much as 1/4 cup. There's a super easy recipe to make your own with rice, milk, water, and molasses. Plain water will work fine if you don't want to use EM.

I imagine you could use whatever soil you want to and feed with nutrients with good results. Imo tho, hempy buckets are more suited for that style than SIPs.

 

[WeedHopper]

I use FF Ocean Forest with 30% perlite mixed into the soil and tap water that has set for 24hrs. I also put about 2" of perlite on top of my soil. It helps keep moisture in and reflect's light.

 

[joeb631]

wow you guys are getting serious and I needs to write stuff down .

 

[choxie]

To be honest that's a bit too much work to make organic soil and so forth, but I do use fox farms ocean. Good to know there's another person using the octopot. Not really sure what SIP is, but for my first grow I realize that I over water too much and I'm gone for work a lot so this will be better in the end lol!