Do I have an PH and EC problem?

I think this is my 1st or 2nd post, long time reader/grower though

so my PH keeps dropping, by .5-1.0 every day. Im adjusting it with PH up

I had no problems maintaining 5.8 ish in veg cycle

It started last week when I went to flower cycle, and switched to HPS

here is what i have:

Aeroponics 60, growing PK
using GH nutes (1100-1300ppm) (flower)
added Hydrozyme (good bacteria)
(2) 1000watt HPS (flower)
resevoir temps 65-70
ambient temp 60 (dark) 75 (light on)

my water is changed often, but i do notice, very small particulate in the solution, may be normal, or the hydrozyme, maybe alge, (no light on the water, dark tub)


my thoughts (some are crazy)

bacteria problem (change solution about every 10 days) maybe leave hydrozyme out next time?

PH meter problems (backup PH meter confirms #s)

MH to HPS, not sure if this has anything to do with it. leaves have lightend since switching to HPS and 12 hours

my tap h2o has high PH, but i adjust it and never had a problem before (well water, nothing added)

some type of EC problem, I do not monitor EC, nor have i seen an EC meter at any other grows i have seen. maybe someone can explain if this is an important # to watch, if it is off, how do you adjust it? what is a good EC to shoot for?

The lights should not affect the ph. I would suspect the bacteria. They are multiplying in the res?

i do have a ppm meter, and have not noticed any ppm flucuations 1000-1300
i will pay more attention to this, if PH is dropping and PPM is going up, what is this a sign of?

i did transition slowly with the nutes, and run them weaker than GH suggest

as far as the bacteria, i dont have any obvious signs, it was just another guess

blueybong said:

Oh yea, do you use tap water? or distilled? or RO?

Do you need to add some ph down to get the water balanced?

Do you use a liquid down? Or what type of ph down & up are you using?

And lastly, I'd stop using the hydrozyme since your rez temp are cool enough.

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i use tap (local well, nothing added), i use GH ph down (its like 7.5), I have a 40 gal resevoir, seems like distilled is even higher PH

I did not have any problems in the veg state (1200-1300ppm)

Im still at the same ppm range, but no more GRO, just Micro and Bloom, should i go less PPM in bloom stage? Like I mentioned earlier, the leaves have gotten lighter since i went to bloom, but I think that is normal for PK in bloom state?

I orginally used the hydrozyme, because my resevoir temps got high in the summer, hit 85 degrees one time. so i was just using it up. This was a while ago and have chaged the solution twice since then, with no temp problems.

"Im still at the same ppm range"

If you didn't transition the nutes(50% Grow & 50%Bloom) for one week, then you should be a little lower when starting bloom. Try backing off by a 1/3 for a few days and see how they respond. Then slowly increase.

Sounds like we're close in set-up. I too have well water with a ph of 7+ and I use GH liquid down, along with 20 gallon in the rez. Even thou I transition for a week prior to changing over, I still backed-off by 25% and worked it up.

Good luck!!

Morrisgreenberg wrote this on another thread and thought I'd share. Note: he's more experienced then me.


ok heres another since you are using bloom, when did you start using bloom nutes? im so sorry if i didnt catch all this before, the reason i ask is many people start using bloom nutes as soon as they flip the lights to 12/12, technically we are not flowering until we see bud sites forming, perhaps 2-3 weeks into this light cycle, up until seeing these budsites Veg nutes should be used since the plant is relying heavily on the extra nitrogen in Veg formula, starting with bloom nutes too soon will cause premature yellowing....the kind of yellowing we would like to see at 5-6 weeks in on an 8 week strain

blueybong said:

Morrisgreenberg wrote this on another thread and thought I'd share. Note: he's more experienced then me.


ok heres another since you are using bloom, when did you start using bloom nutes? im so sorry if i didnt catch all this before, the reason i ask is many people start using bloom nutes as soon as they flip the lights to 12/12, technically we are not flowering until we see bud sites forming, perhaps 2-3 weeks into this light cycle, up until seeing these budsites Veg nutes should be used since the plant is relying heavily on the extra nitrogen in Veg formula, starting with bloom nutes too soon will cause premature yellowing....the kind of yellowing we would like to see at 5-6 weeks in on an 8 week strain

Click to expand...

i think that is it!!!, I backed off the nutes, took the ppm to about 1000 with bloom nutes (from 1300 in veg), and the ph levled out and the plants started to take up much more solution. I also have premature yellowing, think I hit the Bloom cycle too hard, I will add a little Gro back into the system.


Thanks

Possibly still seeking Nitrogen? Maybe up the N. If it is a bacterial issue then there is usually a bad smell involved. Smell anything out of the ordinary when changing the res? And do you flush the system on ocassion or just change the res?

b2krawler said:

i think that is it!!!, I backed off the nutes, took the ppm to about 1000 with bloom nutes (from 1300 in veg), and the ph levled out and the plants started to take up much more solution. I also have premature yellowing, think I hit the Bloom cycle too hard, I will add a little Gro back into the system.


Thanks

Click to expand...

Excellent!!! Good to hear that things are balancing out.