ph buffer help +rep

hi my ph is constantly going up and i have read i need a ph buffer since im using ro water. i have read that alot of people use barricade but AN does not make barricade anymore and it appears they made it into rhino skin, what do i use as a ph buffer? please help i need to get something fast because im having alot of ph problems, thanks and +rep to any info..

also im running aero if that helps.

Have you tried different ph adjusters? Im having awesome results from AN's tho its strong. How big is your res tank? My water contains calcium, and the swing stabilizes after 72hrs. Perhaps adding a tad of calcium? Wish I had your answer. Best of luck

Shanus said:

Have you tried different ph adjusters? Im having awesome results from AN's tho its strong. How big is your res tank? My water contains calcium, and the swing stabilizes after 72hrs. Perhaps adding a tad of calcium? Wish I had your answer. Best of luck

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my res is 14 gal and i use 8 gal of water. i never even knew of ph buffers and such untill tonight when i got fed up with my ph and decided to look up what is wrong. i need something to help stabilize ph and all i have been seeing is use barricade from old posts and AN doesnt make barricade no more and its now rhino skin. should i get some rhino skin then or what should i do?

also right now im using ro water with GH micro and bloom for veg.

can anyone help with this? does anyone know what to do? there has to be someone on here using ro and some kind of buffer.

what about botanicare silica blast? i was reading that, that may work, anyone have any thoughts on this and how i should use this if recommended? I could really use the help my plants have suffered greatly from ph problems.

well i found this post somewhere else from earl, so i will go ahead and get the silica blast. i just dont have the funds for calmag right now. anyway im just updating in case someone else ever sees this post looking for the same info.

i will give this a try, i hope it works.

I am using botanicare calmag pus

I bought a gallon of it a couple of years ago.

If you really want to stabilize your pH
then you need a float valve in your rez connected to a RO supply.

Add about 1ml/gl of calmag before you add nutes
and then use Silica Blast to raise the pH to 5.5
and it should drift up.

You need a fast pH meter and a new probe.

Preferably a dual junction probe.
add just enough silica blast with an eyedropper until the pH is 5.3-5.5
about 1 drop per gallon.

If the pH still falls ,
then switch to potassium hydroxide for up
and do the eye dropper thing again to 5.5

Be sure the rez is freshly topped off with RO
before measuring or adjusting the pH.
.

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I think I can help a little bit dude.

Are you topping off your res over the week?

What are your res temps?

8 gal seems kinda small for more then maybe 2 plants I dunno about aero though.

Are the ppms also dropping?

Cal mag is working nice as a buffer for me so far.

I plan to use Rhino Skin just as a PH up I haven't been able to find good info on it as a buffer.

Whenever I make a batch of nutes for my DWC this is what I do.

First thing I do when I mix a batch of food is chill my ro water. I have a 25g RO res and the water can get warm.

I use some ice cubes from filter water to get the ro to around 65f. After adding my ice the ppms are at about 10.

I do .75ml Calmag + per gallon this gets me to between 75-85 ppm.

Then mix your other nutes.

Do not adjust ph!

After you have mixed your nutes let them sit for at least 2 hours. I use airstones when I mix for DO and to keep the soup agitated.

After 2 hours check and adjust ph. I will sometimes mix a batch and let it sit over night for the ph to stabilize.

Smoke a joint.

After your doobie check the ph and temps. If everything looks good ( for me its 68f and 5.6 ph ) then I would feed the girls.

Check and adjust ph again after 1 hour.

I will allow ph to gradually rise over a couple days from 5.6-6.2ish then I will adjust back to 5.6. Some drift in ph is good as different nutes are available at different ph levels.

If ph spikes down I know its uselly rot/pathogens/too much food. If your ph is climbing then it is a sign that your plants are eating.

I hope some of this helps, anyone feel free to correct me if Im wrong about anything cause Im a noob.

Good Luck!

I use RO, my ph goes up only .1 by the end of the week. Three things that maintain this.
Stable Res temps - temp affects ph
h202 - pathogens affect ph
Larger Res. - bigger body of water, less chance of wandering ph

What size res do you use?

I use a chiller but was thinking of increasing my res size.

Right now Im at 4g per plant 12g total.

Also do you use H202 consistantly throughout your grow?

I just started dosing 3ml per gallon of 27% H202

Was thinking trying Connesour + Big Bud + Bud Candy then finishing with overdrive.

Will H202 react ok with that line up?

Not trying to hijack but + rep if anyone can answer. Also should I even fuck with budcandy in dwc?

All my res's are 90 Gal mixing tubs for concrete or whatever. They are about a foot and a half tall, perfect for sitting under 4X8 tables. I've never had an issue with temps, however my room is air conditioned. Nonetheless, if you have ideal temps in your setup and enough water is touching the surface, then you're golden.


Also, I don't use anything to cover my tank. I had issues in the past with res temps getting high due to the heat the pumps displace. The more the water breathes the cooler it is. Don't worry about mold or whatever, this is as dirty as my tanks get, and that was me missing a couple doses of h202. The h202 is vital if not using a cover.

I would increase the amount of h202 if this is the method you choose. I use 35% 'technical grade' at 1.7 ml/L. You might want to bump it up to 2 ml/L at the grade ur using or 7.5/Gal. I redose my tanks every 3rd day. At the end of the grow I scrub the shit out of the tanks because what little crap remains will stack up and eventually turn ur roots into mush and make everything smell like egg farts. I was harvesting last week and decided to not bother dosing the tanks while I was cutting. IT only took 5 days and the small pool of water in the slump of my tray had turned the roots and the rockwool green with algae. Trust me the shit is fast, dont miss a dose.

As far as the lineup, use synthetic nutes only as u probably know that h202 will oxidize/break down everything living. My current lineup is H&G Aqua Flakes A&B H202 and cal mag plus. I just replaced Canna Aqua Veg and Flores which was a stellar batch and not bad for the price. Only reason I changed was I wanted to experiment with some bloom boosters and the canna aqua line seems to deny even their own pk booster. I used Hydroplex and had 'okay' Results but still got some burning leaves at the end using only half dose. Since H&G is manufactured by canna, I thought I'd receive the same results and maybe get to try out a good bloom booster without burning anything. You can't beat the price either.

I don't know much about the AN line you're using but im sure none of it's organic and will work fine with h202.

+ REP Thanks for the response. Will up my dose to 7.5ml per gal. I think budcandy is the only organic nute I mentioned. Although with using conny/bb/overdrive I dunno if I will even need it.