Maintaining pH in reservoir with organic nutrients and drain-to-waste in coco

lochem

lochem

Well-Known Member
Indoor grow with organic nutes (BioBizz).
this is my first grow in coco.
50/25/25 coco/perlite/vermiculite.

I set up a drip system with hydro halos to fabric pots.
the nute solution ph is controlled manually when filling/topping up the reservoir. However I can’t measure the ph before every feed.
now I noticed the pH of the res is going up each day (I’m measuring now because I am having stunted growth and my guess is due to the ph-after I looked at all other possible reasons).
I understand this could be due to evaporation of chlorine over time which raises the pH- I am using tap water and my water is very very soft.
I did have a recirculating pump in the reservoir that was pumping every hour or so for about 1-2 minutes, but for a couple of days it was not working.
Everything was going well with manual feeds but to be honest I just can’t keep that up. Plus I am going away for a week and I thought I had everything sorted with timers, sensors and data loggers etc but honestly I can’t spend much more money on Automatic ph correction systems.
This is not recirc, it’s drain to waste. I thought ph fluctuations happened only with recirculating systems but it’s clear to me now I was wrong.
So what can I do to keep the ph stable without spending lots of money and be able to go away for 8 days????
 
Kassiopeija

Kassiopeija

Well-Known Member
What kind of a pH-downer do you use? BB's own is just citric acid - which isn't stable at all. Why do you actually have to use that given you got soft water - there, the acidic pH of the BB nutes themselves should take you pH down.
If the alkalinity of the water is just too soft you could as well bring in some stability via CalMag
 
lochem

lochem

Well-Known Member
Kassiopeija said:
What kind of a pH-downer do you use? BB's own is just citric acid - which isn't stable at all. Why do you actually have to use that given you got soft water - there, the acidic pH of the BB nutes themselves should take you pH down.
If the alkalinity of the water is just too soft you could as well bring in some stability via CalMag
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I’m using citric acid.
I don’t have to lower it a huge amount; after mixing in all nutes/additives I’m around 6.3-6.5 and I usually try to bring it down to at least 5.8, with a target range of 5.5-5.8 but it depends on what else is going on with runoff etc.
I am using: in this order:
Hydrogen peroxide (“oxy”)
Calmag(+micro) by MedTek
BioBizz biogrow (in veg now)
Cannazym (BioBizz recommends adding an enzyme additive when using their nutes in coco)
Then I measure ph and EC.

I just measured it again after 12 hours, pH went up from 5.6 to 6.2

I noticed there was a problem when I saw stunted growth and I checked the runoff pH and it was 7.9!!!!
That’s when I checked the res pH and it was much higher than when I had dialed it in a few days prior.
 
L

Larry3215

Well-Known Member
You may have some algae or other bacterial growth in the rez. That will drive the PH up. The more you have, the faster it goes up.

By the way, adding chlorine raises the PH, so as leaves the water, the PH will go back down again - not up.

Also, algae and bacteria just love organically based nutes.
 
lochem

lochem

Well-Known Member
Thanks both.
I actually can see the drawbacks of using an organic nutrient line in a reservoir that ideally I wouldn’t have to check and amend every day.

What do you think about the use of enzyme additives e.g. Cannazym or BioBizz Activera? If I scrapped the H2O2 Will the enzyme additive be enough for keeping bad bacteria and pathogens out of the res?
 
curious2garden

curious2garden

Well-Known Mod
Staff member
lochem said:
Thanks both.
I actually can see the drawbacks of using an organic nutrient line in a reservoir that ideally I wouldn’t have to check and amend every day.

What do you think about the use of enzyme additives e.g. Cannazym or BioBizz Activera? If I scrapped the H2O2 Will the enzyme additive be enough for keeping bad bacteria and pathogens out of the res?
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Depends on your temp and your aseptic technique. If your res is around 68 and kept dark, maybe. But you can't put your hands in your res or touch things that go into the res after they are cleaned. Some people manage to do it. I wouldn't waste my time as I've not noticed any difference in the smoke quality. Then again I've grown sterile hydro res for years so I'm biased. All you can do is try it and see how it goes.
 
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lochem

lochem

Well-Known Member
rkymtnman said:
use synthetic nutes. i've been away up to 14 days with my DTW system
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It is sorta where I felt like i was headed. I’m not very fussed about organic vs synthetic; the only reason I have been using biobizz honestly is because it’s all I’ve ever used. This is my first grow since I took a break 7 years ago. And back then BioBizz was all I used and I was growing in soil +perlite with bottled water and manual feeding. Didn’t need to worry about a res.

how stressful is it to the plants to switch from organic to synthetic? Or do they not care about the switch?
Do I need to give them a flush in between?
Also, because I’ve still got quite a bit of the BioBizz I’d rather use them up before I really need to go away and set up the auto drip system -
There’s about 25 days until then. I was going to potentially flip to 12/12 sometime in the next week so I could be around for the first couple of weeks of flowering while I tuck and fold under a scrog.

any suggestions or comments on this timeline and how the plants might react to nutrient format change? I’ve read somewhere that plants don’t care as long as they’re getting the right food in the right way that they can uptake under their climate and growing medium conditions.
 
L

Larry3215

Well-Known Member
I dont think the plants will care if you switch - just be sure to use the same EC, PH, temps to avoid shocking them.

It wont hurt to flush the old nutes out - just be sure to do as above and keep EC, temp, PH constant. I would for sure clean the crap out of the rez, pumps, stones, filters, etc. to be sure you get any bad algae, bacteria out. Maybe even do a second rez change sooner than normal.

You going to run sterile? I would unless you can keep water temps below 70F.
 
lochem

lochem

Well-Known Member
Larry3215 said:
I dont think the plants will care if you switch - just be sure to use the same EC, PH, temps to avoid shocking them.

It wont hurt to flush the old nutes out - just be sure to do as above and keep EC, temp, PH constant. I would for sure clean the crap out of the rez, pumps, stones, filters, etc. to be sure you get any bad algae, bacteria out. Maybe even do a second rez change sooner than normal.

You going to run sterile? I would unless you can keep water temps below 70F.
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Sounds good I have all that under control (finally! ;) )
I mean EC ph and temps etc.
I will not be able to control temps to below 23 c but this is just an estimation. I have never used synthetic nutes before, nor run a sterile res, so I have no idea what I’m up against but I’ll do some googling.
i personally do not care about organic I just need control!!
 
L

Larry3215

Well-Known Member
There are several recent threads in the general hydro/aero section covering sterile rez choices, chlorine ppm levels, and good nute choices for hydro that are not organically based.

Im a big fan of Jacks 321 hydro. Its easy, been around forever, used all over the world - including many huge commercial grows, and just about the cheapest nute available. Plus it will let you do some basic fine tuning of calmag ratios if you feel the need.
 
lochem

lochem

Well-Known Member
Thanks Larry.
i went to a local shop today and had a long chat, ended up walking out with what he recommended and some additives for flowering.
i just need to get some phosphoric acid and should be ok.
 
lochem

lochem

Well-Known Member
Larry3215 said:
What did he recommend?
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Well....I don’t want to start a whole thread about nutrient preferences.... but here goes
He recommended the Bio Diesel line (yes I know it’s organic) and said if I cut out the H2O2 and replace the cannazym with their enzyme (Aloevate) then I should be able to go away for a week and not worry too much about ph instability.
and yes he also agreed with the phosphoric acid instead of citric but he didn’t have any.
I didn’t get the bio diesel full lineup; but I did get some of their additives for flowering because I’m about to flip.
i would have gotten their base nutes but he only had large containers.
i ended up getting Hy-gen hydro A+B bloom and the Marine Calmag, Bio Diesel, Aloevate and Rhino K by BioDiesel for all the extra goodies.
he recommended not adding the additives to the res though for the week that I’m away.
 
lochem

lochem

Well-Known Member
Larry3215 said:
I hope it all works out for you!!
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Cheers thank you.
I just flipped to 12/12 today. This is not my first grow but it’s been a few years since last time and I’ve forgotten a bunch.
If I’m moving from organic grow nutrients (Biobizz Bio-grow which is actually just molasses...)
To the synthetic nutrients:

Is there anything I should be aware of?
I know it is recommended to continue the Nitrogen/“grow” nutrients through flowering; how quickly should I be introducing the Hy-gen bloom A+B? This is a two-part “bloom” product.
 
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