plants are struggling after changing Hydro systems..

[phspector]

Hi guys,

I've had a problem with my plants for few days. I planted seeds in AeroGarden and recently they overgrowed that tiny system. So i bought a new one.
Atami Wilma. i think it's called.
The plants have been healthy since the begining. but only 1 or 2 days after i
changed systems they started to show some signs of illness and seems just be
getting worse.

I give them alot of care and spend some time with them each day, I mesure the pH and EC every day and that have been just fine... the pH level have been around 5 - 6, it might have been 6.5 several times but not often.
The thing about the ph is that it seems to rise quite fast and if i see a mesure
that is 5.2 i can expect that 24 hours later it's about 6.0 and i have to add a
little pHdown almost every day. That sound really wrong to me and was not an issue when i was using Aerogarden, than i added phdown maybe once a week and the pH rised slowly to that level that i had to adjust it.

what is different between the aerogarden and the atami wilma. I don't know much about hydroponic but i am a fast learner and read alot about this.

Wilma has 4 pots with brown little stones in it (I just can't remember the english word for it, sorry) and the plants root are in these stones and with a tiny bit of rockwool since growing in aerogarden. Do you think this is an issue? are the stones spreading the water and nutrition enough?

this is a dripping system and i make the water pump go of every 30min for a 30min. is that ok ?
In aerogarden i had the tomato settings wich had the pumps on for 16hours and off for 8hours if i remember right.


I have a 250W fluorscent light and they are on 18/6 cycle in a veg grow.

I use GHE flora (3pack) nutriton and i put it in the water in this order : first the brown one, green and finally red.

the EC levels are stable in 1.3.
i use following formula in the water as described in manual that i got with the nutrition. 7/7/7ml in 10L of water. thats 7 ml from each nutrition bottle.

i've been looking in the forums and in photos for something to help me identifying the problem but im not experienced enough to trust my judgement. but after reading alot i think this problem might be caused by hard water, with high ph level. the levels in the water is about 7 - 7.5 before i add nutrition and adjust the ph with pHdown.

Can you please guide me in the right direction and help my little babiesþþ

and yeah, the seeds are from a friend and he had no idea wich type it is... he had forgotten it :P

thanks...

Here is a dropbox gallery with photos of the problem. I couldn't upload them here... Dropbox - Photos - Secure backup, sync and sharing made easy.

[SmknVTEC]

What type of pH down do you use? I am not a big hydro pro but your pH fluctuations are not good.

[phspector]

I use pHdown from GHE like the nutrients.
yesterday right after i posted this thred i decided to flush out the old water and mix new one, i cleaned all the system.
I suddently remembered that i used water from another sink in my home when i first added water to the new atami wilma system, than i had always done be for. I actually took it from a bath tub last time and the hot water where i live got type of silicone (Si) in it because of it's origin, wich i belive can damage the plants.
I hopefully gambled on right horse and my plants will be fine, they are only four so i can't loose even one!

They seem like they are beggining some healing process, im not 100% sure but i think the leaves feels a bit healthier to touch.

please if you guys think that im wrong about this tell me, im just a stupit n00b trying my best

[SmknVTEC]

GH Powder or liquid? Liquid is best for hydro I found.

[phspector]

I have used the powder but the small bag i bought is almost empty so i have to buy one tomorrow. you say the liquid is better?

I was checking the ph levels and it has rased to 7 since today at 3pm (14:00) then i put it down to 5.2
There seemes to be some kind of a buffer in the water. is there anything i can do to fix this ? it can't be normal to add ph down every day and still it's not stable...

please give me some advise about the water. it's said cleaner then in other places in the world. everybody in my country drink the water from the sinks and i haven't seen much water for sale here...

[SmknVTEC]

I found the liquid was better for hydro.