PH Nightmare Remains!

T

texasdjj

New Member
Please, can someone help??

I have a DWC system, 90 liter (total capacity), filled with 45 liter. Have two air stones and a fountain sprayer. The tap water here is 7.8 - I use PH Down or Distilled White vinegar to get the reservoir down to 5.2
I also use an A/B Nute formula from the only store in this country (Indonesia).

Every morning I check the EC and maintain it at 1000 - 1300;
Every morning the darn PH is back up above 8

What is the problem? I am spending a fortune on PH Down, Distilled White Vinegar and Lemon Juice.

I change out the water completely every 3 weeks, clean the reservoir, etc..
I have had some "slimy root" decay taking place also - how is this prevented in a DWC environment?

thanks in advance for any Gems of Wisdom!
 
I'm unable to help you with hydro questions unfortunately as I have never grown that particular way but Cultivator is definitely a man that can. You can find him here (he may be sleeping now as he's in the UK or Europe) :

Alien Hydroponic EasyFeed System

Good luck with your grow :thumb:
 
Your ec could be too high. But if you have slime that needs addressed. You can use peroxide for a quick fix. I personally don't use peroxide. I use z7 to control bad bacteria. Use this chart after getting slime under control. .
420-magazine-mobile1682183659.jpg
 
appreciate that feedback! Problem I have is that there is only 1 hydroponic garden store here in Jakarta, Indonesia and they only have 1 A/B nute formula, 1 PH/up/down type, zero PH buffers or any of the other items that you have mentioned. Internet ordering here is subject to very high duty/tax and I can't have stuff sent to my location for obvious reasons.
 
For ph down go to an auto supply place and get sulphuric acid. It's commonly sold for vehicle batteries, is cheap and commonly available. It is generally sold as diluted 33% sulphuric acid, which is corrosive but not highly so. Dilute it down another ten times with water and use it, it works well according to every account I've read. I'll dig up more info for you if you think you are going to go this route.
 
Hello WeaselCracker - I'm definitely going down your recommended route. I'm out of other options. I just don't understand how the hell my "newly balanced reservoir" can go from a perfect 5.2 to over 8 in less than 12 hours. I completely scrubbed the reservoir, cleaned all pump components, air bubble lines, etc.. I noticed that the "water facing" sides of the "plant baskets" are a little slimey, so today, I will clean / remove any of that. WTF - I just can't understand the violent PH swings in such a short period of time.
thanks a bunch for your support!
 
I'm not sure. Vinegar has a bad reputation for balancing ph. It could be the vinegar. Do you trust your meter?
There used to be a great post on another forum about using sulphuric acid - I think it's been moved now but I reposted it in 420 somewhere- just might be hell trying to find it. But my earlier post covers it basically. Just get clean new sulphuric acid- never used- obviously. It's usually diluted to 33% like I said, then dilute it down to around 3%.
When diluting- always add acid to water. Never add water to acid- it can bubble up and splash.
33% sulphuric will sting a little if you have it on your hands long enough. Don't splash it in your eyes or drink it. Other than that it's safe. Just wash your hands if it gets on them.
 
Sounds like you might need to add peroxide since you can't get z7 or something like it. What are your water temps?
 
Hello Weaselcracker - thanks again for sticking with this problem. So the reservoir was changed two days ago, got up this morning and it was over 8.3 again. So, I took the whole system apart again, cleaned scrubbed and refilled. It was nasty! Had a "milkshake" like foam on top. *I use two fish bubblers and a pond fountain in the reservoir, (90 liter, but filled to about 50 liter). In just two days, a slimey film was on the bottom of the container, at the water line, inside the pump and the roots had slime on the bottom.

I'm done with Distilled White Vinegar - that is the culprit or the A/B solution is having a strange reaction to the vinegar -

I now have both PH Down (10 bottles @ $120) and I went to the "Ace Hardware" over here and purchased the acid - they carry all kinds of different stuff here. Reservoir started at 7.6PH From the faucet and I used the PH Down to get it to 5.4,(this took 250ml of PH Down.) I adjusted the PH after adding the 400ml of A/B solutions to get the EC to 1200

The ingredients on the A/B list all of the right items but does not give percentages of each - so I'm not sure what my plants are getting or the reservoir for that matter. If the PH Down does not keep the PH stable over night, then tomorrow I will use the acid. THANKS FOR THE TIP ON ADDING THE ACID TO THE WATER, NOT THE WATER TO THE ACID! That was an old lesson that I had forgotten from science class.

I will let you know what happens tomorrow. thanks again for your support! It is truly appreciated.
BTW - here is a 2 day old pic of the "Super Skunk" that is currently flowering, (about 7 days now). Please advise if I should change my EC or PH - I have been trying to keep EC between 1000 and 1300 and PH at 5.2

Cheers,
little_flower.JPG
DSC0012718.JPG
Long_Branch_Pic_7wk_old.JPG
 
texasdjj said:
Hello WeaselCracker - I'm definitely going down your recommended route. I'm out of other options. I just don't understand how the hell my "newly balanced reservoir" can go from a perfect 5.2 to over 8 in less than 12 hours. I completely scrubbed the reservoir, cleaned all pump components, air bubble lines, etc.. I noticed that the "water facing" sides of the "plant baskets" are a little slimey, so today, I will clean / remove any of that. WTF - I just can't understand the violent PH swings in such a short period of time.
thanks a bunch for your support!
Click to expand...
Its the lemon juice brother. it's only a meager 10% citric acid with the rest being organic material. As it decomposes or breaks down it raises the ph substantially.
 
It's a complicated world. lol It all depends on whos advice your taking. Check out the little green reputation lights under the user. As you can see I'm no pro. But some of the members here @ :420: are some of the best growers in the world. You'll see, just keep asking questions.:goodjob:
 
Please advise if I should change my EC or PH - I have been trying to keep EC between 1000 and 1300 and PH at 5.2
Click to expand...

Well- the answers to that could vary of course, and it depends how often you're feeding-etc etc. but just from looking at her- she looks healthy. I do see just a couple curly leaves but overall she's looking great so I've seems like whatever you're doing is working well. Maybe a little spindly- needs more light (?) or it could just be her natural structure to some extent.
 
Gardenseed said:
Its the lemon juice brother. it's only a meager 10% citric acid with the rest being organic material. As it decomposes or breaks down it raises the ph substantially.
Click to expand...

Hello Gardenseed - really appreciate your input! That makes a lot of sense and is something that I did not consider previously. Lately, I had been using a lot more Distilled White Vinegar - the labels here in Jakarta don't tell us much - I wonder if that has similar "organic material" ratios??
thoughts?
 

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