aerohelp

I have a aeroflow2 60 and I am having a problem with water temp and of course pH. My room temp over the last four days has ranged from 78 to 82, humidity is about 35% and my water temp was staying around 80. I used a small refrigerator and ran 50ft of 1/2 plastic coils in the fridge and pumped the res water through it hope it would help. the water temp only went down to 77. Has anyone ever had this problem ? I think part of my problem is my pump getting hot, and heating my water. my pH has been about 8 through all this and I know that is because of temp. does anyone have any ideas that could help me? I set up a fan blowing on my pump. My room is 12X5 or so and I have 2 1000W air cooled lights. only one of my lights is on right now and my plants about 3" tall. I dont have the fan turned on the lights because I was told 80 was about were my air temp should be. I need any help I can get. I am a nubie

I'd replace the pump. Sounds like it's overheating.

can you get an a/c into your space? 72F-78 is optimal, remember that if your room temps are 72 your rez will be around 2degrees lower, control air temps and you can control water temps, if thats not an option you should look at a more expensive option and invest in a chiller, dont forget your gonna have another 1000watts in that room, the only thing missing from your grow room to make it a perfect grow is an a/c or chiller, why do half the job right and pour money and sweat and blood into this project and seel yourself short ya know? my motto is no a/c no chiller = no hydro, warm water = root rot

Since my last post I have kept the fan on the pump and added a fan in the room. My a/t has stayed between 70-72, my water temp has stayed between 69 and 71. THe humidity has stayed about 45-50%. I also flushed my water and took my aeroflo completely apart and cleaned it best I could, fresh water and put some kind of flush i got at the hydro store. My problem I am now is ph. Every day in the morning it has been about 6.8-7 and I adjust it, come home from work and it is up there again.

Add a liitle Cal-Mag. It will form a magnesium carbonate. It is a magnesiun carbonate. Magnesium carbonate is a pH buffer. A pH buffer neutrailizes acids which cause the decline in pH. The cal-Mag is not to raise the pH, it just keeps the pH from readily declining. Add a little pH up or a little Potttasium hydroxide to actually raise the pH. I you sure you really wany a high pH with that set up. I do not use a hydroflow but it seems like you are trying for a awfully high ph. What pH does Aeroflow recommend? For aeroponics or traditional hydroponics the pH is kept at about 5.6 to 5.8

THat is what I have ben trying to keep it at 5.5-6.0

So if your trying to lower pH, scratch the Cal-Mag. There is nothing that could cause the pH to rise if the formulation is balanced right unless you are adding a high pH water or your plants is using a lot of nitrates and not much potash (unlikely) and your water is evaporating without you adding more nuetral pH water. Rising pH should seldom be a problem with good nutrients replaced regularly and with good water top offs. There are no natural buffers against pH rises as that is not a typical problem in natural systems whaere usy ualy declining pH is the common thing that must be dealt with.

I just went and checked on my babies and the ph was 6.9, i added 1 1/2 teaspoons of dry ph down. while i was there in a matter of about 10 min, the ph had dropped to 5.8 and didnt change for prob 5 min. If I go check it in about 2 hours, it will probably be back to 6.8-7

The past 2 mornings when I first checked them they were 6.9-7.5.

Before I put a fan on my pump, and ran it through a mini fridge, and turned the fans on for my light, the water temp was like 80. It was that high for about 3 days. there was like a brown maybe slightly green film on the inside of my aeroflo. That is why I changed and flushed my res. Is it possible this crap is stll in my media and that is my prob?

Tell me again, what are you using for nutrients. Any supplements.

I am using dutch masters 2 part nutes, about 370ppm, my water to start was 70ppm. I am not using any supplements at all. I noticed on their website they actually figure three of their supplements in into their calculator: Add.27, Silica, and Zone. Like I said my plants have been in the aer0flo for about 3 weeks, and they range from 4-6 inches tall. I am just now starting to see good roots forming about 4-6 inches long as well, but only in about 9 of 12 plants. Those 9 I have dropped the water level in the chamber about as far as it will go. The other 3 plants have shorter roots and the chamber is still about half full. I am not sure if I should increase nutes yet, and also I think I am gonna go get those three supplements and flush and resart in a few days. What is your opinon about the supplements?

I only use Silica as a supplement, No others. Waht problem you are having are starage as usually in eraly (especillly low lighting) growth plants roots release H+ ions which lower the pH not raise the pH. Rises in pH are not natural and are neraly always based upon tap water and only occasioanlly on the fertilizer. It happemns more with fertilixz zers that are based on organics such as fish. Or some ogf the rooting or budding mixes where they add high amounts of potash. these should be used as supplements to gergular formulas not alone as there is too much hydroxide and that raises pH.

I am now using all the supplements it show on DM site and everything is going great. I think that my pH problem was due to insufficient cleaning of the pebbles. I now have that stabilized. I am currently 7 days in to cloning. I am gonna move 12 plants from my aeroflo to a DWC I am making, any info on moving the plants?