Hello guys... running a 6 gallons reservoir with drip irrigation system... seedlings are now a week old and they look healthy..... only problem is that i started my res water (no nutes) at 0.09 ec and ph of 6.7/6.8. I took the ph down to 5.8 and immersed rockwool cubes for 24 hours before "planting". After starting to use the reservoir for the whole week I had problems with the ph going up almost 1 point every 12/16 hours (sometimes I left it in the morning at 5.7 and 12 hours later it was 6.5). I ph'ed it down every day (once or twice as needed) to keep it to normal levels but the ec has now gone up to 0.21 after 1 week.... Ps. I have well water in my house which comes at 0.09/0.10 Any idea on what I should do??? should I start melting snow and ditch the well water?
EC rises when the plants take up more water than nutrients ...thus making it more concentrated. Add clear water to keep the EC in the area of desire. pH rises because concentration is changing also ..
so you are saying that what's happening in my reservoir is normal? Will I have to adjust ph levels like that for the rest of vegetation and flower? would using distilled water help? Thanks!!!
I'm pretty much in the exact same spot as you and as far as pH rising it's because of the calcium and other minerals in tap water that make it rise continually. With distilled or RO water I was told the pH will be more stable as far as not automatically going up. But as your plants grow it will require more maintenance. My understanding was the less water and smaller rez = more maintenance. I would not think your plants are big enough to impact pH or ppm's drastically just yet, but it's just my thoughts.
oops yeah my post did make it sound as if the pH would just continually rise without stopping. I meant to say that with the calcium and other minerals in the water that if you pH down it, it will rise again. Then you (like me) will add more pH down only to find it rise again in a day (when the roots have not even got to the water yet). I was told at the fish store that unless I use RO water, my city tap water will do this over and over again. Now from what I understand when you use nutes they will help to lower your pH from tap water and create a slight buffer. Not sure what bad effects can happen but I have been using a pond water conditioner in my tap water and it seems to help to keep the pH from rising so fast.
interesting.. i've been considering a water conditioner... good results? also... if your buckets are new and unwashed your going to have ph swings for about 3 weeks... it slowly resolves itself.. especially if your using rockwool or hydroten or both...
Using both, but I have yet to see any negative response from either the pond conditioner nor the pH down I bought in the aquarium section at Petsmart. They are just seedlings and only have the 2 round leaves going so far but I would think that is when they would make it easier for them do be killed if what I'm using was not good for them. I'm hopefully not going to need as much pH down or conditioner once those 3 weeks from using new totes, and hydroton go down. Plus I read that the aqua flakes A + B is really good at holding a pH level. We will see once I get third set of leaves in...
I would start a journal but everything I said is basically about a hypothetical situation . However I will post hypothetical updates from time to time. When I'm totally done, the pics will be shown, but not until after.
I found out why my pH has been a lot more stable.... After reading up online I realized the pH down from petsmart is made from sulfuric acid. Sulfuric acid in it's pure form is best used to lower and maintain lower pH's from tap water. In flowering instead of using sulfuric acid you should use phosphoric acid. But I'm hoping that my aqua flakes when used will prevent me from having to use either.
if ppm drop an ph raises you need more food. if ppms raise and ph drops you need less food if both stay stable you are doing it right. if ph drops rapidly and ppms drop you probably have root rot