Extreme daily PH swings in Aero60's

C

caregiver

New Member
I'm having trouble figuring out what to do about all the PH up I am spending so much money on right now for two separate 40 gal. res's that go from a PH of 6.1 at the start of the light cycle to 4.5 by that time the next day. What am I doing wrong? In the meantime I've been adding almost over a CUP of PHup to each tank in order to get the PH back to 6.0... plants seem to be eating slowly, the EC is holding steady around 2.8, and i'm topping off with 6.0 r/o water daily. temp in room is avg. 85 during light...
Any ideas?
thanks...
 
HOLY CRAP!!! That's huge! I don't remember any posts relating to that kind of PH drop. Usually, it's PH problems goin up... not down.
I know my huge PH problems were related to high water temps and things growing in the medium. You might want to monitor your res temps to see if the problem is temp related.
I'm sure one of the grow support folk will chime in with better ideas soon... but in the mean time, you might want to check your temps.

cheers
 
Are you adding 1 nutrient at a time to your full resevoir?
Are you making sure that your resevoir is completely mixed before measuring your ph?
Do you have a recirculating pump in your resevoir that keeps your nutrient mixed all the time?

It's important to make sure your nutrient is well mixed before checking your ph level. You may be checking it too soon and adjusting it. Therefore your ph is off before you even start.

Or, Your nutrient is settling in your resevoir so when you stick your pen in the next day your only testing the top layer of the nutrient. So it's gonna give you a false ph reading.

It's important that you have a pump in your resevoir that keeps your nutrient mixed.

Tead is also correct. Temperature and alagae growth can affect ph levels. Damn near anything can affect PH levels.

Are you in the veg or flowering stage?
 
yes adding 1 nute at a time

will add a circulating pump, but try to get avg. of readings throughout the res. which all remain pretty consisent. bluelab meter calibrated almost daily or checked/stored in 7.0 solution.

water temp. ranges from avg. of 73 at start of light cycle to 80 but I try and add iced water bottles throughout the night to keep it down.

air temp in room 60's at dark cycle and 83-89 during light

I am in my last week of flower on one system, flushing in three days, and 5 weeks from harvest on my second, which experiences almost as extreme PH shifts daily....

Any other ideas?? I'll add the pump tonight and see what happens.

Gracias!
 
A "bump" is really an internet term, not a growing term. It's commonly used in public forums like this when someone wants to bring a post to the top of a "new posting" list without actually commenting on the issue at hand.

Did you notice the "New Posts" link at the top of this page? Pitviper was trying to make sure that your issue got attention.

per wikipedia.... "Bump, any device used to raise objects, especially in displays "use a bump to raise the items in the back row"

of course, wikipedia also defines "bump" as "The rubbing of one's nose against another's, or in the most extreme cases, physical exchange of saliva through the mouth"... and I've been product testing, so it's getting pretty wierd... but alas, I rant.

Cheers!
 
All good points, there's a recirculating pump in there now, we'll see if that helps.

I did have a big root rot problem in my last system, that just smelled like rotting feces, but haven't seen any signs of it in this one. The res. is 40 gallons, I do a complete change every 7-10 days on the nutrient solution. Using the Humbolt line, this might be the issue in this type of system. Everyone else I know runs GH or Advanced...

There is SOME debris floating around, but there is stuff like that naturally in the lineup I'm using. Also adding Hygrozyme to the mix...
 
Thanks for the help, adding a pump to recirculate the res was key.... PH today was 5.9 only down half a point...

sweeeet.
 
I'm with tead. I've never had a problem keeping the pH up. Keeping it down is where my problems lie. What do you guys use to lower it. I saw pH down at PETCO but I wasn't sure if it would be right for growing. What is recommended to lower the pH?
 
You need to get those temps to below 70 at all times. Anything higher encourages algae growth and that is what caused your root rot prob before. Try placing a small pc fan at a angle to blow across the top of your reservoir. this could be good for a 5 degree drop. It sounds like you might need to isolate your reservoir from your grow room due to heat issues.
 
thanks for the info. Temp. is an issue... I eventually will need to invest in water chillers/liquid lumens setup.

For now just bottles of ice as much as poss... Res. is covered by system, so fans probably won't help although a good idea.unless a small fan over the hole in the res will make a diff? I guess that wouldn't hurt.

Also thinking of pumping my res. water through a hose that I run under my house, so it will cool off before it gets back to the system. Sounds good but will it really work? I guess only one way to find out.

Best,
cg
 

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