My balls are alkaline

[vapoholic]

I felt like making a funny in the title, pardon the pun

I thought I would start with clay pebbles, so I got a 45L bag of Gold Label Hydro. I rinsed them a few times, but realized that was not nearly enough so I redid the process.

My tap water is about pH 7.5 so I started the pebbles in 5.0 water to soak, since I knew it was going to go up. I started the soak Sunday evening and I have since then adjusted the pH 4 times, it just goes up to around 6.4 all the time, I bring it down to just above 5. Are pebbles this alkaline by default? I thought that it would stabilize.

I feel that if I pH- the water much more it will cause issues, I've added at least 50-60ml of pH- solution already.

Thanks.

 

[Serpent]

when i did hydro i would take the clay pebbles get a pot and boil them on the stove to clean everything and reddy to use. 50 to 60 ml is a lot and why the PH spicks is a small bowl or pot your using to clean the pebbles with what about half a gallon of water you have everything in that could be a problem. try boiling them to starlies the pebbles killing anything on them

 

[Papageno]

Yeah likely you have some sort of infection. There are multiple ways to clean that. Boiling, or bleach water. But good hydro pebbles should not adjust the pH when clean.

And by the way doing what your are doing is covering up the problem not fixing it and could kill the grow.

Technically you are using a mildly acidic solution...but lets say to knock it down enough to think you solved it. It is likely wont have just made it low enough you can read it. Then you go set up the grow with mildly toxic pebbles and bam problem city for a month or 2.

Good that you caught it now. I bet a lot of people don't check that just out of the bag for a first grow.

 

[vapoholic]

Thank you both for the comments, much appreciated.

 

[Fuzzy Duck]

Ye normally most will rinse well to remove debris/dust etc which may sit in the res tank & then left to soak for 6 to 24 hours in PH corrected water even heard of people soaking pebbles after prior treatment with a 1/4 strength nutrient solution or an Ec level no higher then 0.4 before use.

Clay pebbles are porous and a weight gain should be noticed after a good soaking they also have a high CEC which means that they can hold on to nutrients for a longer period.



Any way i'm pretty sure clay pebbles are PH neutral.

Not sure on how you test the PH of a clay pebble ? but sounds like ya checking the water to which they have been soaked in & more likely not needed... just the PH acid & water used effecting over all PH value over time, just wait in till ya start growing


The PH of the clay pebble should not be a problem as i'm sure they are inert (does not effect PH) it is just the prior treatment before use & of course cleaning em after use which is the important area to cover.

 

[vapoholic]

Well they seemed ok now. I realized that I soaked them in quite a lot of water (I did indeed check the water itself).
Also, I did one soak with way too high pH first (I misread the instructions), which probably permeated the pebbles and then seeped out when I did the second soak.

The EC and pH of the water seemed ok. It also smelled fresh. I took the leap and put the pebbles in my vases and planted my seedlings. I'll be very careful monitoring the pH of the water, I managed to start at a stable 5.8 at least.

 

[Fuzzy Duck]

Mmm vases !

In general clay pebbles are most often used with ebb & flood systems, drip irrigation etc or even the good old hempy buckets.



Vases raise's a question tho... or how you wish to grow with what you are using.

May need to explain more so we & others can point you in the right direction etc or you could start a journal & see who helps out perhaps a few pic's could help if ya not shy.



At the end of the day is a community & many of us assist or share our knowledge with so many fellow growers, perhaps you may share with us with a journal of your growing experience ?


How to Make a Grow Journal

Journals in Progress




Always worth taking a look around the forums or use the search function for a little bit of research/home work.

 

[vapoholic]

Ah yes, apologies, I used the wrong word. I use a Wilma, so "pot" would probably be more appropriate

I didn't think of a journal to be honest, I've been so busy with reading, calculating, measuring etc.

I'll see if I can get one started now though

 

[Papageno]

I like Pot