Someone please help! Im running out of options and my plants are dying fast, and Im not sure how much longer theyll hold on. Right now I am running a 16 site aeroponic spray system with a 30 gal resevoir. I have one 400w MH and one 400w HPS with Hortilux ES bulb over 16 4 week old clones. I have brand new hydroton which I soaked in a 5.7 solution for 3 hours before it went in the system, and I ran Clearex through the system for one hour with PureWater distilled water, and even after all of this I cant keep my system stable! Straight out of the tap my water comes out at 275 ppm, and after it's in the res I will pull the pH down to about 5.4-.5.8, and within no more than an hour it will be back up to 8.0 and higher! What else can I do to solve this problem??? My plants are frying and I dont know what else to do, the only problem left is it is a little hot in my grow area, topping out around 85 at times, do you think this could be responsible? I hope not, and thanks for any help you can offer :/
HUGE pH swing, what do I do???
- Thread starter ex1stence
- Start date
GreenThumbSucker
Well-Known Member
What are you using to adjust PH?
Do you have a PH meter?
How old are the plants? What stage are they in?
If you do have a meter are you calibrating it regularly?
jake43
Well-Known Member
Stop using tap water!
The same thing happened to me. Tap water (I was told) has some kind of buffer or something in it that makes the pH bounce back like that.
I went out right away and bought a RO system. If you don't have the $ for that go buy .99 a gallon distilled water at a drug store.
Hope this help, good luck man.
The same thing happened to me. Tap water (I was told) has some kind of buffer or something in it that makes the pH bounce back like that.
I went out right away and bought a RO system. If you don't have the $ for that go buy .99 a gallon distilled water at a drug store.
Hope this help, good luck man.
Earl
Well-Known Member
i use tap water and had the same problem for the first few weeks.
When the chlorine in the tap water evaporates it causes to the ph to bounce around, and when you keep correcting it often it lowers the buffering ability of the water.
best way to fix it and what has worked for me:
get water in an alternate res 24 to 48 hours before the res change.
let it sit out in open air for atleast 24 hours 48 even better
then add your nutes to the desired level first.( some have buffers built in )
wait about 20 min so everything is mixed properly then test and adjust your ph.
wait about another 20 mins and see where it is at if it is the same you should be good
once you get this fixed in three to four days you should be golden. already affected leaves will prolly remain the same but new growth will be good
now you should only monitor your ph with slight adjustment till the next res change
When the chlorine in the tap water evaporates it causes to the ph to bounce around, and when you keep correcting it often it lowers the buffering ability of the water.
best way to fix it and what has worked for me:
get water in an alternate res 24 to 48 hours before the res change.
let it sit out in open air for atleast 24 hours 48 even better
then add your nutes to the desired level first.( some have buffers built in )
wait about 20 min so everything is mixed properly then test and adjust your ph.
wait about another 20 mins and see where it is at if it is the same you should be good
once you get this fixed in three to four days you should be golden. already affected leaves will prolly remain the same but new growth will be good
now you should only monitor your ph with slight adjustment till the next res change