Bubbleponics PH adjusting...how often?

So my buddy has a small ( 1 plant ) legal grow, and emailed me a question I simply couldn't answer.

How often should he be adjusting the PH of his bubbleponic system? It's a small 2 gallon tub with one plant in it. The plant is about 3 weeks old I believe from seed.
Says he did a water change this past weekend and the PH was 5.9, but last night it was 8.1! Says he adjusted it to 5.9, and that this morning, it's back up to 6.3 and rising.

Doesn't sound right to me. Thoughts?

He could have a little disease in there, but since the res is only 2 gal that drift may be normal. Depends on how low the water was. Generally, you want to set the ph to about 5.5 and let it drift to around 6.3ish before adjusting it back down. Depending on the setup, nutes, and strain, that can take anywhere from 12 hours to 3 days. With such a small res, he will want to be diligent about keeping the water level normal, or else he will have a see-saw pattern in his nutes and ph levels. The important thing is not to constantly adjust PH, or over adjust to get the perfect level, as there is no perfect level, but an optimal range.

Is it safe to assume hydroponic systems are like salt water fish tanks? The smaller the tank, the harder it is to keep levels in their optimum ranges...and the more work they require to keep them in those ranges?

yes the smaller the res the harder it is at times to keep it stable. should only have to adjust it once a day if that. I also think other things are going on. Ask him what the roots look like and the res temp he has been keeping. that will tell the tale here.

Its the small res he is using 2 gallons isnt enough. I get huge PH swings in a 5 gallon bucket if I let her veg too long, my rootball becomes the size of a basketball and PH is hard to control. Get a bigger res and still have to check PH daily in DWC also watch the water temps, extremely important in DWC 62-68 degrees.

quixand said:

Is it safe to assume hydroponic systems are like salt water fish tanks? The smaller the tank, the harder it is to keep levels in their optimum ranges...and the more work they require to keep them in those ranges?

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DWC is pretty time consuming daily maintenance is required but you get explosive VEG growth that cant be compared to other hydro systems.

i try to keep mine under 72 degrees. over that is just asking for trouble.

If you cant afford to keep your water cool then please read Heisenbergs Beneficial Bacterias thread the dude helps everyone.

His room temps are anywhere from 75-86. So I'm guessing the res temps are in that range as well. It's summer, and he doesn't have AC.
Luckily, he's just using some bag seed just to see how it all works...kinda like a test run I guess. Once the fall comes, he said he plans on using primo seed.

quixand said:

His room temps are anywhere from 75-86. So I'm guessing the res temps are in that range as well. It's summer, and he doesn't have AC.
Luckily, he's just using some bag seed just to see how it all works...kinda like a test run I guess. Once the fall comes, he said he plans on using primo seed.

Click to expand...

Thats what I like about bag seed. You never know what your going to get. Some times you find treasure

whenever it goes out of range bro, if using small buckets its a complete arse !!
thats the only fall back with dwc in my opinion. can be over come by using large containers but bigger container more nutes more everything !