pH shoots from 5.5 too 6.5 in 3 hours

[Growsmart12345]

Hello all first post here decided to make registration as I'm loosing my mind about this.

I am using wilma 4 pot system
Hydroton medium (rinsed very well)
Plants planted in Rockwood cubes
50 litre reservoir
Using ro water pumped trough resin 0.1 EC and 0 ppms.
Adding nutes sensi bloom a b EC 1.8 , 900ppms
Cal mag
Sensizyme and voodoo juice
1 airstone
Lights very good

Previosly i used bad water that was sitting around from humidifier, res got very dirty brown stuff and slimy stuff on walls. Cleaned it twice, started using ro water, no more dirt a little slime and white foam.

pH is still shooting up super fast.
Plants growing but slowly no signs on leaves or stem.


Please help me..thank you

 

[Phytoplankton]

Not a hydro guy, but how are you adding your nutes? You should mix in your cal-mag, wait 15-20 minutes, add your nutes, mix and wait another 15-20 minutes, then PH the mixture. Try that and see if it helps. As water sits, exposed to air, it will naturally drop in PH, but not in a couple hours. Hopefully we'll get some more responses.

 

[Bill284]

Hello all first post here decided to make registration as I'm loosing my mind about this.

I am using wilma 4 pot system
Hydroton medium (rinsed very well)
Plants planted in Rockwood cubes
50 litre reservoir
Using ro water pumped trough resin 0.1 EC and 0 ppms.
Adding nutes sensi bloom a b EC 1.8 , 900ppms
Cal mag
Sensizyme and voodoo juice
1 airstone
Lights very good

Previosly i used bad water that was sitting around from humidifier, res got very dirty brown stuff and slimy stuff on walls. Cleaned it twice, started using ro water, no more dirt a little slime and white foam.

pH is still shooting up super fast.
Plants growing but slowly no signs on leaves or stem.


Please help me..thank you

Good morning @Growsmart12345 welcome to 420magazine my friend.
I know that as I bubble my mix the salts fall out causing the ph to change.
But dwc guys don't have a ph change drastically so quick.
Maby I can get a couple dwc guys to help us here.
@Rexer @LKABudMan have you seen this happen so quick?
Thanks.

Stay safe
Bill

 

[LKABudMan]

If there is slime my guess is that there is still something growing in that res. Do you have a light leak? What do the roots look like?

 

[Rexer]

LKABUDMAN nailed some great questions, I'll add to them. This paints us the picture we need to find out what's going on.
Speaking of pictures, can you give us a whole plant, root pics, and setup pictures? It may save you/us a lot of back and forth.

Wilma systems- kinda an OK intro to hydro, but personally I'm not a fan of shared systems (where roots are allowed to intermingle).

What is the reservoir temperature?

Also, the mixture of nutrients must be done in a correct order. This can cause the wild ph fluctuations your seeing.

Get ready to dump reservoir. Reset reservoir once we're sure what's going on. Follow the mixing order.

Set PH to 5.5, let drift to 6.3, then reset it to 5.5

 

[bluter]

is there an actual problem ? with no photos its a dart toss.


you have to constantly monitor the res on those things much like active hydro. they work a lot like an auto pot, but with a common res, and are active. not passive. it's a mix of both passive and active hydro. i hate everything with a common res. early spit and dribble systems were built much the same.

ph is continuously a problem as the res isn't isolated. nute imbalances are also quite common as the res is normally added to but never truly refreshed in those things. it helps to use a nute that is not ph dependent.

that system is popular in europe. you can't give them away here. an autopot blows them away for the price, ease of use, and far fewer problems. it is essentially the same idea but passive with a lot better control.

i would dive deep in to the customer service and grow advice pages on the seller's website. there are a few approaches and issues specific to that system, and the fixes that work in normal active hydro, may not apply.

Plants growing but slowly no signs on leaves or stem.

this is the most important thing. so long as the plants look healthy you should be good. the rate at which they grow has many factors. it's how they look that is the proof. there could be several unrelated reasons they are slow.

Set PH to 5.5, let drift to 6.3, then reset it to 5.5

he'd have to crash the res daily to keep with that. the mfgr just asks that you keep ph in check.


edit : the sensizyme is a good idea. you're on the right track with that. you can save the cash on the voodoo juice.

 

[Rexer]

he'd have to crash the res daily to keep with that. the mfgr just asks that you keep ph in check.

I know that most of what I've seen on the Wimas comes from you helping members who have them.

But I'm curious as to where PH corrections would differ?

It's a reservoir, and has an airstone. Where would normal practices differ?

a little slime and white foam.

That part worries me.

And when looking at OPs post, I have to wonder, did he go from 0ppm to 900PPM out the gate?

As you said @bluter, no pics+ little info= dart toss

 

[bluter]

But I'm curious as to where PH corrections would differ?

It's a reservoir, and has an airstone. Where would normal practices differ?

res is not isolated. ph swings are going tend be wild and often in that scenario. one plant gets pissy and they all react. it was the same issue with the old spit and dribble systems from the 70's / 80's as well.

the pumps and airstones add heat, and also throw the ph etc out as a result. it's not a system you can add chillers to keep in check. then of course it changes as the plants eat. blehhh. i fought with an old spit and dribble for a few yrs. this is a modern version. better built but with the same core issues.


@Growsmart12345 ... spent a while on the handle lol ..

i'm assuming you have a decent ph and ec meter. i'd live by those and just try keep in the correct range for the stage of the plant.

i'm not sure what the mfgr recommends, i swapped the res out every 3 days on a similar system. i would keep to that. a lot of those systems recommend wkly, but i found the plants were happier on a more frequent change. you may have to do it every other day in flower.

i found running sterile opposed to live worked better generally.

i'm not as worried about foam depending on what it looks like and colour. i've seen some enzyme products do that a little bit, but again a pic would help. i'll just sit tight til then.

this is a general hydro trouble shooting guide

it is active hydro specific, though it will apply here as well.

one old school trick is to run h202 constant in the res. it would do the job of the sensizyme and add some 02 as well as it breaks down. it's not compatible with the sensizyme though. i believe sensizyme is a live res approach, where as h202 is sterile.

hope things are working out.

 

[Growsmart12345]

Thank you for all your replys sorry late i broke my mobile screen.
First time hydro.
Yes i started EC 2.0first week
900ppms
Did not have ro

Some questions asked.

No light leak i use lunar blanker mylar only exposing plants.

EC 1.7 now
Ppms .84

I dumped all res it got too difficult to hold it down 30 mins shoots up.
Before I put 3% h2o2 let it run for 1 hour flushing hydroton
Took the buckets rinsed hydroton with high flow of water from tap
I let them sit for some time
Cleaned tank

At first pH rises slowly 1st day 0.2..3 change
Then gets harder 5th day disaster

Shop were i buy system and nutes told me mix 1ml per litre sensi part a and part b. When I did that ppm went 900 and EC 2.0 let it run like this. Mistake i see.

I suspect biobizz organic pH down. And pH up.

Now I purchased phosphoric acid 85% i use few drops shoots down. Since I did not have pH up non organic had to use some biobizz organic up.

Thank you guys sorry Abit late appreceate all the help.
Best regards

 

[bluter]

Thank you for all your replys sorry late i broke my mobile screen.
First time hydro.
Yes i started EC 2.0first week
900ppms
Did not have ro

Some questions asked.

No light leak i use lunar blanker mylar only exposing plants.

EC 1.7 now
Ppms .84

I dumped all res it got too difficult to hold it down 30 mins shoots up.
Before I put 3% h2o2 let it run for 1 hour flushing hydroton
Took the buckets rinsed hydroton with high flow of water from tap
I let them sit for some time
Cleaned tank

At first pH rises slowly 1st day 0.2..3 change
Then gets harder 5th day disaster

Shop were i buy system and nutes told me mix 1ml per litre sensi part a and part b. When I did that ppm went 900 and EC 2.0 let it run like this. Mistake i see.

Thank you guys sorry Abit late appreceate all the help.
Best regards

don't chase the ph in those systems as much as watch the plant.

test the res periodically. 2-3 days. the ph and ec will change. let the ph and ec together inform you of where the res is at. use that chart to adjust accordingly. unless there is a notable change, test the res, and then change and refeed every three days.

resist the urge to fiddle with it daily. you get to play with it every three days.
don't intervene unless stuff really needs other wise. you can put it on a schedule. that will help smooth stuff out a bit.


edit : plant's not bad. could use a better look. .. looks like you're an auto in flower ... congrats ..

 

[Growsmart12345]

What I noticed, from my experience.

EC and pH is a major contributor to growth speed.

Meaning. When my ppms and EC where dropping fast plant was growing exponationaly. If it stays static or increase. I add fresh water to dilute reduce EC facilitating plants to uptake nutes.

Root mass and development when this achieves a certain point plant is more resistant and also can take higher EC value absorbing more nutes growing faster.

My pH rise is wierd. I suspect bacterial activity. Cyanobacteria from my research or my organic pH down and up was issues.

H2o2 flush helped but now still not absorbing nutes ppms remain static.
I am reducing EC maybe EC potential of root when down after h2o2 hit.

Any taughts on these would be greatly appreciated.

Best regards

 

[Bigjake8]

Are you using the ph perfect line of nutes
Had the same problem if I put anything in to adjust the ph it would go crazy and had to adjust daily

Did you pre soak your rockwool

 

[LKABudMan]

If they are still drinking and the PPMs are remaining static than they are eating proportionately to what they are drinking and you are good.

 

[Growsmart12345]

Hello All thank you for all the help.

The h202 flush was great it killed all alge and bacteria.

Senzijme + jungle juice

Switched from organic bio buzz ph down to 85 % phosphoric acid.

Now it is doing very very well.

What I leaned
no organics.
Ro water
pH perfect nutes sensi
Reservoir temp keep it low.
Cover hydroton with mylar or foil.

Cheers guys and happy growing

 

[LKABudMan]

Sound like you are on the right path now. Hope those girls are growing great and let us know if you have any other issues.

 

[bluter]

Hello All thank you for all the help.

The h202 flush was great it killed all alge and bacteria.

Senzijme + jungle juice

Switched from organic bio buzz ph down to 85 % phosphoric acid.

Now it is doing very very well.

What I leaned
no organics.
Ro water
pH perfect nutes sensi
Reservoir temp keep it low.
Cover hydroton with mylar or foil.

Cheers guys and happy growing

good job. let us know how it develops.

 

[Growsmart12345]

I'm back healthy thank you

 

[Bill284]

I'm back healthy thank you

I'm so glad things are going well my friend.
Looks good.

Stay safe
Bill

 

[bluter]

nice work. it's in to flower and looks like you have it nailed down.


keep an eye on those roots. i used to run a little h202 constant in a sterile set up. you can revert to that if the sensizyme doesn't work.