pH goes up within hours -- Aero Vegging unit?

[Daithy]

Hi,

My first time, I am running my vegging unit 2 days now. I have adjusted the water after the feed solution to 5.8 pH. And after, like, 3 hours it's already 6.1....

I know that it need time to mix and stuff, but it's just weird. Is that normal? What am I like supposed to be fixing the pH every day?

 

[Silky Shagsalot]

how many gallons, how many plants?

 

[Daithy]

how many gallons, how many plants?

It's only a vegger, so I have in there roughly 9 gallons. The plants are just seedlings 4 days old. 9 plants.

 

[Silky Shagsalot]

It's only a vegger, so I have in there roughly 9 gallons. The plants are just seedlings 4 days old. 9 plants.

that could your problem. a small rez, with a lot of plants, can cause ph swings fairly quickly.

 

[Daithy]

that could your problem. a small rez, with a lot of plants, can cause ph swings fairly quickly.

Yeah perhaps. It's only the vegger; they'll be spending relatively short time in it. I'll be using 27 gal for my flowers. Thanks.

 

[Commander Strax]

what are your res temps like?

5.8 to 6.1 is not that much, what is it after 24 hours??

 

[Silky Shagsalot]

once they get bigger, 9 plants in 27 gals. is prob. gonna be an issue...

 

[Daithy]

once they get bigger, 9 plants in 27 gals. is prob. gonna be an issue...

I'll be only having 6 plants per 27 gal. I have another two spare units and received bonus seeds, that's why nine plants.

 

[Silky Shagsalot]

that'll prolly be good. 5 gal. per plant is very good.

 

[Daithy]

what are your res temps like?

5.8 to 6.1 is not that much, what is it after 24 hours??

Yes, you are right! My temps are annoying. Out of the tap it's 16 centigade. In a day it climbs up to 26 centigrade (which is unacceptable).

The reason is my pump runs on 15/15. It heats up a little in the 15 on and doesn't cool down much in the off time. I have a solution to that. Today I purchased seconds timer; I'll have it 4 mins off 1 on, which reduces the on time to a quarter (less heat).

Second, I am using 600w MH for my vegging and cloner unit, and that bitch gets HOT! In the near future I will ditch that and get fluoro.

 

[Daithy]

that'll prolly be good. 5 gal. per plant is very good.

I should be okay so. I appreciate your advice.

 

[Daithy]

Concerning the fluorescent light:

Will a regular kitchen light with 2 bars do? I know nothing about fluros, absolutely nothing.

Ex.

 

[Daithy]

what are your res temps like?

5.8 to 6.1 is not that much, what is it after 24 hours??

Oh ya and I forgot to say, that at the moment I reduce the temps with frozen water bottles. I never exceed 23 degrees

 

[Daithy]

Today, the solution went up to 6.5 ph and 79F, from 5.7pH and 71F. I am not worried about the temps as I am using frozen bottles to tackle it right now and will change timers and lighting. BUT the pH? In this pace I'd have to adjust it daily. Could the tempeature be messing with the pH readings? Also, the solution got stronger in a day; but I have read that's normal as the plants absorb water faster than the nutes.

 

[Aeroknow]

What nutes you using?
Are you using RO water? Or are you starting with really soft water?

Some nutes aren't buffered as well as others. If using RO water, it helps to add back some cal-mag. If none of the above, start @ 5.5 and let it drift to 6.2 before correcting. No one said hydro is easy But in general, the bigger the reservoir, the more stable it is.

 

[Daithy]

. No one said hydro is easy

I can see that now haha. I am using Dutch Pro. No R/O water, tap water 210-220 ppm (Hanna)