topped off with pure RO water today to see if bringin down the PPM will decreaes the rate of PH rising... the fact that it goes to 7.0 and never 7.1 or any higher makes me think it's still an issue with my ph7 product used to calibrate my digi ph meter... when I stick my digi ph meter into my RO water before putting any PH down in it, it's generally 7.5 so I know the PH meter is not 'maxing out' at 7.0. so many people keep recommending that it's the equipment malfunctioning and do not read that I'm using colored drops to verify. buds are growing but only because I'm nursing it with ph down several times a day... i'd like to be able to enjoy a relaxing weekend!
I've never had a ph problem that took more than four days to get under control and I don't think the plants have been damaged by these incidents. In my case it is always caused by combinations of certain nutrients or additives and I have learned to expect ph issues when using them. I have never used peroxide or soap. I wash my tank with Simple Green between grows. I only flush the tank every two weeks. When I flush it, I drain the tank, fill it with tap water and drain it out, then fill it with RO water. I leave it alone with only water for a few hours before adding nutrients. Then after adding them, I wait a few more hours before adjusting the ph for the first time. If I adjust it immediately, that will start a roller coaster of adjustments that will drive me crazy. Also, if for some reason, my regular ph-down solution is not making a lasting impression, I put some distilled vinegar in there to support it (about 1 drop per quart). Flushing a lot can make it hard to get things under control and relax. Some other threads have suggested that peat pots may cause unpredictable fluctuations as they begin to breakdown. I use them with hydrokorrel and I think it's true sometimes. Your pictures look great. Thanks for sharing them.
what do you do with the plants during these several hours of fine tuning the water? just have 2 resevoirs so you can plan ahead?
I am using a mini cool cab. I just pull off one of the drip nozzles and use that tube to drain the tank with the plants in place. There are 14 holes in my tank cover and I only grow 2 or 3 plants at a time. I cover the empty holes with foil and refill the tank through one of them. The pump that I am using leaves about two quarts in the bottom of the tank, so I always flush it once with tap water before refilling it with the good water. That means that there is still a couple of quarts of old nutrient mixed with tap water in the bottom and so my TDS before adding nutrients is around 300.
i dont have any pumps or anything like that in my water, just a tube with an airstone coming down into the res from an aquarium pump that sits at hte top of the inside of the grow box. am considering looking into getting a 2nd resevoir that I keep nutes in and let it slowly drip water onto the growth medium to replenish it on its own so it will flush + top off on its own. I want to figure out this PH issue though before I spend more money towards hydro. fillinlg this res with soil next time is looking really good right now....
im jealous of your mini cool cab hehe. i wish i did more research before i bought my pc planter from sunlight solutions. i've had to modify it so damn much. i've spent nearly a grand total with everything i've bought since it. (and it was a 600 dollar kit and can only grow 1-2 plants at a time with 12 inches or so between the bottom of the HPS reflector and the top of the res. live and learn) my make shift tent with my soil plant requires so little effort. when it gets droopy i give it water and let it drain and then put it back in its home and it perks right up within a few hours until it needs water again. it's so green and problem free compared to this hydro plant that requires nursing 4-6 times a day. given the modular socket and bulb were purchased when I was modifying my pc planter I basically spent 20 dollars total on it. I'm planning on spending maybe 10 more on some panda film for the inside as it glows and my cat likes to get on top of it and there's some holes already developing on the clothes closet
flushed out my res, flushed out the medium with pure RO water (ph balanced). dropped ppm of soup in half to 450 lets see how it affects the problem. roots don't look as healthy as they once did. i think this resevoir just sucks ass and everything is bound to get root bound in such a small area. that or its just sympoms of the original problem spreading... or stress from me cutting the original problem? hydro grow 2.0 will be intersting as it will answer a lot of questions from this grow that are left in the air due to early stress/mistakes and how that could be influincing the roots later on.
flushed again last night to pure RO water and ph balanced it. was at 7.0 still this morning.... balanced again and ran a few hundred ml through the medium.
watered the soil pant down, zero nutes this time since I'm gonna shoot for every other watering. still not showing sex which I thought it would be by now since it's been over 3 weeks. maybe I need to study up more because my first plant was an auto but I was fairly sure I should see sex before switching to 12/12, right?
the 2nd set of leafs from the bottom on the soil plant are yellowing. not sure if it's a reason to be concerned. it's the set of leaves that only gets 3 blades, before the first real 5 blade leafs.. can anyone confirm if this is deficiency or should be occuring? made this thread in noob section to get confirm its deficiency before I do anything stupid/impulsive, i have not been testing ph of run off but everything I put in has been 6.3-6.8 http://forum.grasscity.com/absolute-beginners/847257-nute-deficiency-right.html#post11117916 have only given it nutes once as it's in miracle grow, the time before last feeding.
everything's bushier/thicker, the main cola makes me salivate everytime I look at her. side stems with feathery/non-dense bud spots have stretched out and up, hopefully they start bulking up. am unable to resolve this PH problem still. I want to say it is all from early stress with the plant but I do not know this 100% so am trying to be diligent on getting to the root of the problem. http://forum.grasscity.com/hydroponic-growing/844657-persistant-ph-problem-please-help-5.html i feel like we've tested everything though hehe.
purchased the advanced nutrients line of micro/grow/bloom, their final phase flush and b-52 vitamins/fertlizer enhancer. flushed out my plant and made a gallon of 800ppm soup with the new gear. it ph'd itself at 5.7 without me having to do anything. so far I'm a big fan. lets see if this cures my ph drama.
gonna give this soup to the soil plant as well for watering right now, will ph it up to 6.3 for that.
put soil plant on 6 hours of darkness yesterday and today I swapped to a 2700k 125w cfl at 10 am and put the timer on 12/12
gave soil plant plain water today, have had to raise the light/fan setup in the tent an inch or two. looks good. buds growing on the hydro plant, still a pain in the ass to nurse the PH. so far i'm convinced to go soil in the pc next time as I just cannot fit a large resevoir in there. maybe i'll setup a 5g hempy bucket in the tent next time so they just swap.
washed res out res again yesterday morning btw. as of this morning is the longest gap ive ever given them without looking at them, prolly been 20 hours or so since i've looked at the hydro plant and going to do so now. i'm interested if its above 7.0
res was at 7.2. was quite low on water from ignoring for so long + prolly needed a top off late yesterday hehe. took a very large amount of PH down to get that 7.2 to 5.5 even with the low amount of water in the res. topped off through the medium. buds look good. not all the colas have visible crystals w/o microscope but I think they're still getting into place before bulking up... if that makes sense.
I think you may have better luck controlling your ph if you use distilled water from the supermarket. It has a TDS of zero and is usually neutral or slightly acidic. Also, it may be that your tank is being affected by the starter plugs. I suggest using distilled water and adjusting the ph without any nutes. Check it the next day and adjust it again if necessary and then add your stuff at half the usual strength. Check and adjust the following day and then bring it up to the usual nutrient level. It will not hurt your plants to go a day or two without nutrients. Too small of a reservoir makes it easy to get into a roller coaster cycle of adjustment. Hang in there.
started flushing about a week ago. I'm sick of dealing with this and the chlorasis issues has even the buds loking zebra striped between green and yellowish. microscope was showing everything pretty cloudy but very little amber, you had to search for it. I've had it in darkness the past 24-36 hours and will be taking her out tomorrow and trimming her and seeing what I have. I started germinating 2 new seeds today. Kind of excited to start over and not have early problems bite me later on. My soil plant looks great, 2 feet tall and flowering. 2-3 weeks into 12/12. Not sure if i'm going to transplant it into a bigger pot, i have a thread up about that currently in the newb section.