Help...I need somebody...DWC troubles

[Platypusmann]

OK.......new to DWC........done a few ebb & flow grows.
Started 10 sprouted seeds in 5 gallon DWC buckets. Only one rooted and took off. A lovely little California Orange Bud seed from UK. Not feminized.
It began life in tap water with AN Micro/Grow/Bloom nutes, with organic additives. It took off quick!!! Under 600w Sunmaster MH 18/6. Plenty of aeration. Starting pH was 5.8/TDS: 300.
Room stays between 66 and 76.....humidity between 35 and 55.......bucket temp between 18 and 22 celsius..........
Unfortunately my pH/TDS pen crapped out and I had to test the pH with a dropper kit......it was somewhere in the 5.0 to 6.0 range for the first week.
After the first week of good veg growth, the organics started making my nute bucket frothy, and being a pythium survivor, I wasn't gonna risk it again......
I did a Clearex flush and eliminated the organics.....adding in H202 @ 1.7ml/l with the M/G/B. pH was between 5 and 6 when new bucket set up.
The next day the plant looked wilted. Just not perky like she had. Roots still looking AMAZING. I received my new pH meter that day and tested water........4.3 pH...YIKES!!!!!
I decided to go buy some RO water at this point and do a bucket change.
On 1-28, just before lights out, I changed out the water with RO (pH 6.55/TDS 20) and added in fresh nutes, plus a cal-mag supplement. 2 drops of pH down brought pH to 5.73..TDS 690..water temp 18.5c.
1-29----plant still droopy.....otherwise looks green and starting to smell a little skunky. 6" tall and 7 nodes. Little bush.........at 1:00pm I tested pH 5.32/temp 22.1c.....added 1 drop ph up.....at 2:30pm pH 5.63.....at 10:30pm ph 5.4/TDS 648/temp 23.4c........
1-30------today she is still droopy and the largest fans are yellowing slightly. at 6:30am the tests showed pH 5.6/TDS 548/temp 20.6c.........at 1:00 things got weird to me.....and that is why I am writing......when I checked her the yellowing on the leaves was more evident, and the tests showed pH 5.36/TDS 754/temp 22.2c......WTF???
How can the pH drop that much and the TDS jump that much in only 7 hours???
And why the yellowing???
And the wilty look??
Should I add pH upto get back tooptimal ranges or leave it??
Does DWC lend itself to such pH shifts even with RO??
Someone some help please????

[max11max]

Originally Posted by Platypusmann

On 1-28, just before lights out, I changed out the water with RO (pH 6.55/TDS 20)

20 on the TDS, is that us or ms.

If it's hot your plant will use a lot of water and no nutes, pH will fall like a stone. TDS will go UP

[Platypusmann]

I am not sure what us or ms means, unfortunately.
20 is the TDS ppm reading of the RO water. I do not check the EC.
There is over a foot of snow on the ground, and my grow room has never gone above 76f. The buckets stay around 72f in the hottest part of the day.

[max11max]

Originally Posted by Platypusmann

I am not sure what us or ms means, unfortunately.
20 is the TDS ppm reading of the RO water. I do not check the EC.
There is over a foot of snow on the ground, and my grow room has never gone above 76f. The buckets stay around 72f in the hottest part of the day.

Then its not that, how big is your res, is all the water you have in the bucket

Whats the temp of the water, at some stage you say "temp 23.4c ?" is this room temp or res temp.

[Platypusmann]

The plant is in a 5 gallon bubble bucket DWC....no res other than the bucket.
Room tempsare between 66 and 69 lights out/71 and 76 lights on
Bucket usually starts the light cycle at 19 to 20c and over the 18 hours lights are on climbs to 23 to 24 c........I will use ice bottles to drop the water temp when it get above 24.

[max11max]

Originally Posted by Platypusmann

The plant is in a 5 gallon bubble bucket DWC....no res other than the bucket.
Room tempsare between 66 and 69 lights out/71 and 76 lights on
Bucket usually starts the light cycle at 19 to 20c and over the 18 hours lights are on climbs to 23 to 24 c........I will use ice bottles to drop the water temp when it get above 24.

The only thing I can see thats a problem is the water temps, if they go above 20C then the amount of oxygen in the water will fall off. The higher the temps the less oxy in the water.

H202 will help but it's not good to add chems to solve a temp problem.

If it's not that then it could be a component of the build. Have you used this setup before ?

[Platypusmann]

I know the temps get a bit to high.......they spend at least 10 of the 18 hours over 20c, but I am afraid to keep ice/frozen bottles floating in the bucket for fear of root damage from the contact with the ice.
This is my first time using this set up.
I use the H202 to combat infections and for sterility (I had severe pythium before).......and of course the oxygen at the root zone benefit...but I don't credit it with any temp help.

[5starfarmer]

Any DWC grower has found out the hard way.. managing water temps is critical to ph and tds. Trust me i know

You can use the water bottles fine imo, i did it all summer before.

[max11max]

Can you move the air pump outside the grow room and cool the air flowing through the bucket.

[Platypusmann]

No...I can'tmove the pump out, but I wonder if the airline went through ice if it would offer any temp reduction......hmmmmmmm.....for now I will just float 20oz ice bottles in there and they seem to keep the temp around 18c. I wish I could afford a chiller!!!!
I may have to go back to ebb & flow!! But, I need new tables......sheesh...this is a drag. Oh well......I may be working this hard for a male anyway........so better I am learning the nuances of DWC now!
Thanks for all the help!
ppm

[Platypusmann]

Last night @9:00 I checked and the pH was 5.3. I added 1/2 quart RO water (pH 6.5) and waited 15 mins. tested pH and it was 3.5. HOW THE FUCK DID RO WATER DROP THE pH??? Meter is brand new and I recalibrated it after the test, and yes the pH was 3.5.
I added 1 1/2mL Barricade and got pH up to 5.2. Then added 1/4mL pH Up and got pH to 6.2. Saw an immediate perking up of the plant. 2 hours later the pH was 5.9. This AM pH was 5.8.
WHY IS IT DROPPING SO???? Temps in bucket swing between 18c and 24c.HELP!!!!! PLEASE!!!!

[max11max]

That's very strange, Did you just add the R/O water straight out the filter system or did you aerate the water and leave it for a few hours to settle down before testing and adding it. Just a thought..

EDIT: where is Rumpleforeskin when you need him...

[Platypusmann]

It was RO that I buy at Wal-Mart and pour into a 30 gallon trash can that is aerated.