Hi Grace,
Bokashi is a product that has microorganisms, wheat germ and molasses. It's main use is to help break down compost into food your plants can eat, but I threw some on to try it since my outdoor plants loved it so much.
Thanks for the link, I struggled with my initial RDWC, which your ebb and flow eerily reminds me of. I actually have holes in the tubs (now gorilla taped over) and the bulkheads to do the drain, in both 1/2 and 3/4. I had such a nightmare battle with pH that I was discouraged from doing a "pure hydro" with all my plants connected together. With the 2L's each one is isolated so I can monitor and care for them individually. I may eventually give the DWC or EbbnFlo another go, but i'm not sure how that would lower my humidity?
I'm running LED lights so my temps are right at 80, but my RH does not drop like yours does. I just pulled my humidity meter during the dark cycle and it said 89% WTF! It is raining outside, so that doesn't help. I have a giant DampRid in the tent along with my other dessicant rechargables, and just turned on the exhaust fan to run 24/7.
I guess I'll have to throw down for a dehumidifier (or maybe an a/c).
help!
First my exhaust fan runs 24/7, at "night" I see RH of 35-38 at the most.
It would lower your humidity with Ebb&Flow, because the water is not "standing" in the bottom of your tray. It fills every six hours, and then drains back into your covered and sealed res. It is nothing like RDWC because the solution, for most of the time stays in the res and is not constantly circulating.
You plug in your pump to a timer set to fill for 5 to 15 minutes each, depending on your environment, and then it drains back out of the trays into the reservoir to sit for the rest of the time between fills. This removes the constantly evaporating water from the tray, and holds it in the tank, thus reducing the RH in your grow space.
In your situation, the ice bath sits in the bottom of your trays all the time, and when the lights go off, the RH spikes 89%. With an Ebb&Flow, you don't fill at "night" if you are having RH issues, and that alone can reduce your risk of bud rot.
As far as your pH issues, you have to have a good nutrient line. I use BPN and when I set it at pH 5.8 it STAYS at a range of +/- 3. Organics are not good for a hydro system unless you increase tube sizes and pump power because they build sludge in the res, and are notorious for random pH jumps throughout the day.
I noticed you use GH Flora products... Did you use those in the RDWC??? I used to use GH Flora Nova in my hydro system, and it was NOT GOOD to say the least. I was plagued with pH spikes/drops, and damn near killed every plant I had. I would adjust pH before I went to work, and by the time I got home, it'd be well out of hydro range for good uptake. I only slept 5 hours at a time in those days because I would have to get up and adjust pH back down just to keep my plants alive.
Later, I tried Advanced Nutrients Jungle Juice in this system. While results were okay, I was still adjusting pH every other day to keep things in range, and I had a myriad of problems with the nutrients themselves. Either they would burn, or when I adjusted to lessen burn, I would get a deficiency.
BPN to the rescue!! All those problems are gone. And now I have a very successful grow and my little clones grow by leaps and bounds...
This following pic is in the Cardboard Flower Box using GLR, BPN, and a 400w light. The clones were 2-3" tall when they went in, and THIS is three weeks later.
In this pic is is kinda hard to tell, but they all range from 10" to 12".
Environmentals are currently:
BPN 3-part Elite with Liquid Blue Bloom Booster @ pH, 5.8 (pH has been there for three days)
RH 24% using 4 fills per day Ebb&Flow
Temp 82
Res temp 67
I could probably add CO
2 with an environment like this and not even worry about the increase in RH in a cardboard box.
But that's just my experience... I think that your pH problems were actually caused by the GH FLora series of nutes, not the system.
