Ec rising IN RESERVOIR

Hello everyone.

My setup:
I have a small 1.5m x 0.8m, 4 plant hydroponics setup. I got them as clones but I think it's their 4th week veg.
Plants are grown in 7.5L off brand airpots, filled with clay pebbles and watered 2x a day for 5mins via small flex hose rings with self drilled holes.
They get distilled water with Canna Aqua Veg + Biobizz CalMag + great white (once per res change aka once a week) at an EC 0.9 ms/cm and pH of 5.8 though it rises to about 6.0 over a day. I then pH down it to about 5.8 again.
Reservoir contains about 10L with 3 air stones from overall 2 pumps and a mixing pump for more agitation.

Condition:
Air temp: 25°C
Rel humid: ca. 60-70%
Co2 enriched
Water temp: 16°C
And overall about 250W of COB LED (5000K) with probably 40cm distance
Multiple fans

My problem is that my EC is rising in the reservoir over the day and even overnight pretty dramatically when they aren't watered. Yesterday night 0.9. Today morning about 1.3. pH is stable overnight and just seems to rise after feeding but then also pretty quickly. I had the same problem last grow but this time it's starting right at the beginning. 3 of the 4 look kind of healthy but maybe a little droppy. One of them on the other hand gets dry leaves that curl upward with brown spots. I almost get the feeling as if they have a deficiency and the EC rise is nutrient unrelated but I don't really know.

I had pretty bad root rot and a bit of green algae (although I think not to the point that it was dramatic at least) last grow but cleaned everything with a disinfectant (2% purolyt so 20ml concentrate in 1L; sensors, hoses and connectors, walls...) and replaced the clay pebbles and the pots afterwards. But this time the plants don't look affected the same way they did last time.

Attached photos are just of the sick plant but I will post the others later when I get the chance.

Any advice, recommendation, suggestion, thoughts or prayers... At this point really anything, is greatly appreciated.

If I left anything important from tubing length to dick size just ask and I'll respond ASAP.

Ive played with this type of system,quickly changed to either rdwc or coco.
Not sure exactly why but it just didn't work well, add in having to deal with all those clay balls it was a nightmare.

Good luck.

That brings back memories. Probably been 20 years since I've seen one of those. You need bigger water volume. I would try to find a new bigger and deeper bottom(reservoir) to the top part. That what people did back in the day.

Something that's used for mixing concrete is a good place to start looking or sturdy storage containers. Then get a bigger pump and a T split and hoses, make a ring and drill or solder iron burn new holes in a ring that get feed by the pump. You could also just do a T and feed two hoses at either side instead of a ring. Set that pump on a timer running 5 minutes to times a day in the beginning. When roots are established you don't need the top feed anymore. Another thing is to do more and bigger holes for drainage in the top part, that improves those basic systems. Good luck!

They seem really small for 4 weeks of veg.

Thanks for the replys.

First of all I forgot to mention the actual irrigation system. I don't have roots growing into the water but just top feed them. Nothing holds the water in the pot so it flows over the medium and directly drains back to the reservoir. The tub everything stands on has a return hose to the reservoir outside.
The actual reservoir could hold probably 60L but I don't want to waste so much and they drink not that much.

@CaliVerner420 i don't exactly know how long the store really vegged them but I have them for 6 days now.

Here are the photos from today

I had timed feeds also.What I ended up doing was just hand feeding a couple of times a day.Dumping a 1/2 gallon of food seam to flush them better then what my 1/4" feed lines could do.
Roots stayed in the pots more compared to my 15 min feeds.

Hydroguard would do wonders for you if you can still find it.
Are you 100% sure you don't have light leaks in your reservoir?

@Average Yo
Isnt hydroguard similar to great white? If not I'll get it.

I have a small indirect light leak on the plumbing where the return hose attaches to the tub. (the connector is thin plastic that's sprayed black but at the top of it the paint brittled down giving a small light exposure on the bottom of the tub)
The reservoir itself has a tiny slit around the lid through which a bit of light could come through but the room in which the reservoir is placed is dark itself.

@myke hand feeding is not an option for me as I am trying to completely automate the process which is my actual goal.

Thanks

try_hard said:

@Average Yo
Isnt hydroguard similar to great white? If not I'll get it.

I have a small indirect light leak on the plumbing where the return hose attaches to the tub. (the connector is thin plastic that's sprayed black but at the top of it the paint brittled down giving a small light exposure on the bottom of the tub)
The reservoir itself has a tiny slit around the lid through which a bit of light could come through but the room in which the reservoir is placed is dark itself.

Click to expand...

I don't think they are similar, Hydroguard contains Bacillus and is marketed as a "root inoculant" which has been proven quite useful for avoiding algae to grow over the roots due to warm water temps or light leaks on the roots, in my times it was either have a water chiller or use hydroguard to have a successful DWC grow. I know your irrigation system is different but to be honest man I do not think it's working well for you, why not try a different solution that is also automated but maybe put a little more effort on feeding manually?

Just my 2 cents bro.

Average Yo said:

I don't think they are similar, Hydroguard contains Bacillus and is marketed as a "root inoculant" which has been proven quite useful for avoiding algae to grow over the roots due to warm water temps or light leaks on the roots, in my times it was either have a water chiller or use hydroguard to have a successful DWC grow. I know your irrigation system is different but to be honest man I do not think it's working well for you, why not try a different solution that is also automated but maybe put a little more effort on feeding manually?

Just my 2 cents bro.

Click to expand...

Ok thanks appreciate it.
I'll get hydroguard and see what happens.
My res temps were almost too cold so I added a heater once but quickly got rid of it. I think 16-18°C is pretty good as it is now. I could go colder if you think that'd be helpful.

Regarding the manual feeding: it's not so much the effort, but me trying to build a completely automated system to be able to sell it as growing solution. So automation is unavoidable even though at this point it would probably take less effort to hand feed.

@Average Yo Oh and regarding switching irrigation:
That would be possible but I don't know which route I should take? I considered RDWC but as root rot was my problem I was afraid to go the opposite direction (instead of less moisture, 100% submerged).

Regarding great white: attached photo of ingredients show that it contains some bacillus strains. Would be greatly appreciated if you could take a look.

@Wastei As my irrigation is different (I described it a few posts later) I don't know how to apply your advice. As I said I can up the volume to about 6x what I have now but I don't know if it helps.

@Larry3215 I took part in one of your conversations regarding aeroponics but regarding your experience and problems maybe you have a hunch.

@ALl if something grows inside my res, could that falsely increase my EC reading leading to me actually underfeeding and consequently developing deficiencies.

Don't guess it could just be your Rez temps getting colder causing ec to go up?

Jay Unity said:

Don't guess it could just be your Rez temps getting colder causing ec to go up?

Click to expand...

It was far too dramatic for temp influence. Yesterday night 0.9 and today 1.3

Biobizz CalMag is partially organic and will break down and release ions thus raising EC.

Only 2 feeds per day? But these clay dont hold much and then roots just loose contact to moisture...

They also look like not getting enough feed/nutes

I'd get rid of your mineralic/organic approach, just buy a full mineralic CalMag so you can see what ur feeding right on the EC meter (BB Calmag contains only 30mg 10mg Ca:Mg per ml) and then use H2O2 to get rid of bacteria/pathogens + increase O2 water levels >> irrigate much more often

try_hard said:

It was far too dramatic for temp influence. Yesterday night 0.9 and today 1.3

Click to expand...

Does your water temp fluctuate much? It needs to be pretty extreme warming to raise EC that much.

Now for the big one that Im surprised nobody has yet asked. What's your penis strain? Length, girth and dry weight too please?

try_hard said:

It was far too dramatic for temp influence. Yesterday night 0.9 and today 1.3

Click to expand...

l had that ass backwards anyway.

Change in ph in res will largely have to do with your electrical balance. Depending on what sort of nutes you use, and how they are absorbed will affect you anion to cation balance..

Kassiopeija said:

Biobizz CalMag is partially organic and will break down and release ions thus raising EC.

Only 2 feeds per day? But these clay dont hold much and then roots just loose contact to moisture...

They also look like not getting enough feed/nutes

I'd get rid of your mineralic/organic approach, just buy a full mineralic CalMag so you can see what ur feeding right on the EC meter (BB Calmag contains only 30mg 10mg Ca:Mg per ml) and then use H2O2 to get rid of bacteria/pathogens + increase O2 water levels >> irrigate much more often

Click to expand...

Ok thank you, I'll try all this.
So:
1. No hydroguard/great white
2. H2o2
3. Non organic Calmag; like Canna Calmag? Or should I add the salts directly? If so, which one to use for calcium? (i guess magnesium sulfate for Mg/S increase)
4. Just changed irrigation from 5min x2 a day to 5min every 4 hours so 5x a day.