Maintaining Proper PH

So I'm on my first grow, but this seems to be working for me. Every day or two, I mix up a full bucket of nutrient solution at a PH that's around 5.5-5.9. I use the drops to test, and look for orangey-yellow coloring. then i take that bucket and use it to top up all of my reservoirs til they're just under the net pots I use cold water directly from my faucet to make this solution (PPM 80-100) and if I skip a day of feeding I will place a frozen water bottle into the reservoirs to cool off the solution until I can make some time to feed. I got tired of lifting plants out of their buckets to do complete res changes, so I figured that the cold slightly lower PH solution should offset any PH fluctiations or temperature swings that occur in the last 24-48 hrs. Now i'm not an expert by any means, but this seems to be working for me, and my plants have just started stretching out for flower and they look wonderful.

 

I am no hydro grower but I think you can just ph your res or bucket. It is natural for ph to rise though, if you didnt already know. And to answer your actual question yes when my brother in law did bubble buckets he would bring new nute water in a bucket and lift plant out and place in the new bucket. So the plants were removed from the water and placed back in plenty of times.

 

If you can not do that I would suggest putting new res water at 5.2 well see how much the swing is total and ph to lowest point possible, this way you will not go over that 6.5 mark you want to stay under.
I also think(now remember I ain't no dummy but I am just saying my thoughts not facts) that you want the p.h. to be at different levels in a hydro system so the plant is able to uptake all the different nutes it needs. FACT- different nutes uptake at different ph levels, the one that I always remember is calcium best at 6.2

 

Ok dont put ph straight into res it will cause some type of negative reaction with the air stone.. here is a link to a thread somone else had the same question.
Bubble bucket PH and temp

 

You need an easy way to get liquid out of your reservoir, and then back in.

Topping off with fresh water between res changes will lower ppm away from the optimal amount you originally wanted.
Topping off with a ppm fluid that gets your reservoir back to where you want it is the best strategy, but is more work, and might not matter too much.
Saving money on nutes can be done by changing out reservoirs less often.
Some people NEVER change the reservoirs.

If you remove 1/2 - 1 gallon reservoir fluid, then add pH adjustment and nute adjustment to the removed water, the plant roots can handle the diluted stuff when you pour the fluid back in.

You can avoid res changes altogether if you remove and replace a small amount each day or so, which can be conveniently done during res checks.

1/2 gallon removed from a 5 gal bucket containing 3 gal usable fluid completely re-cycles the fluid in about a week or so. 1/4 gallon removed for testing, and then discarded and replaced with fresh, recycles in about 2 weeks.

I've done full res changes, partial res changes, and zero res changes.
I can't tell any difference, but I use 12 usable gal res.

 

I am not changing res solution every day. I am topping off with nute solution every day because it keeps res temps and PH fluctuation to a minimum, and my plants drink a shit ton of water. like 1.5gal per day

EDIT: I also NEVER change res completely other than the times when my plants drink themselves dry. (OOPS ) always just keep refilling res with nute solution. plants seem absolutely fine

 

What kind of water are you using?

 

It looks like splash damage to me. Did those patches start off green, but a duller lighter green than the leaves? If so it will be from when you wet the leaves

 

As for the pH adjustment and topping up...
I used to fill the reservoir with a hose and then glug in some nutes to get the ppm back up to where I want it. Then put a few drops of pH down to lower it to around 5.0-5.5 and then over the next few days it would creep up to about 6.5. By then the reservoir would need topping up again. I only emptied the res for a full refresh when I changed from veg to flower but a few times I didn't change at all and never saw any problems

 

Yeah refreshing the reservoir like that is the traditional way of doing it. It was because people used to overdose a bit and as the plants drew up the nutrient solution, the remaining solution became more and more concentrated. This meant that after a few weeks the plants would become sick. So most people would change out their solution to prevent this.

This wastes a lot of nutes so I prefer to match the concentration to what plants take up, this prevents the solution becoming too concentrated so unless your chosen nute brand is badly ballanced there shouldn't be any need to refresh it

But if refreshing it works for you, you aren't doing anything wrong