Ph Crashing Overnight

TheCreaMachine239 · Nov 4, 2020

Hey all. I’m needing some help here. I’m growing in a 5 gallon bucket with two air stones in the bottom. I’m having a issue with my ph wanting to crash after about 4-5 days after a res change. The first few days the ph will slowly rise while the EC drops and then around day 4 or so the ph will all of a sudden crash a solid full point down into the 4’s and then the EC will start rising soon after so I find myself needing to do res changes every 4-5 days. This has been a reoccurring issue with my past few grow and it seems to only be a issue in the later stages of flower. What’s the deal here ? I was either thinking acid rain effect or just too small of a container and not enough water volume for the root mass. I’m in a 2x3 closet with ventilation going to the attic. I’m using tap water(well) that has a EC of .1 and I’ve been running the Lucas formula but have not been running a set EC because I’ve been trying to figure out this PH issue. Temperature and humidity seem fine but the plant does have some nutrient burn on its leave tips and the leaves are a darker colored green. I just don’t understand how it can be nute burn if the EC can go from 1.2 to .85 in a day after doing a res change yet after 3-4 days the EC can start rising at as little as .7 EC.

93OG · Nov 4, 2020

Are you topping off with water only or nutes too? How much water are they drinking a day? Normal light pics would help too.
Im thinking they need more food. K def can look like beginning nute burn and cause dark leaves.

TheCreaMachine239 · Nov 5, 2020

93OG said:
Are you topping off with water only or nutes too? How much water are they drinking a day? Normal light pics would help too.
Im thinking they need more food. K def can look like beginning nute burn and cause dark leaves.

I’ve tried it both ways to see if it helps. I added some real low strength nutes last night and the ph went from 4.4 to 5.7 and the ec
Dropped from high .8’s to low .8’s I’m not sure exactly how much they are drinking because I don’t measure it but it does go down 1/2”-1” on the the bucket every day. I’m not seeing any yellowing margins so I don’t know if it’s k deficiency. Here is a picture.

Hollatchaboy · Nov 5, 2020

TheCreaMachine239 said:
Hey all. I’m needing some help here. I’m growing in a 5 gallon bucket with two air stones in the bottom. I’m having a issue with my ph wanting to crash after about 4-5 days after a res change. The first few days the ph will slowly rise while the EC drops and then around day 4 or so the ph will all of a sudden crash a solid full point down into the 4’s and then the EC will start rising soon after so I find myself needing to do res changes every 4-5 days. This has been a reoccurring issue with my past few grow and it seems to only be a issue in the later stages of flower. What’s the deal here ? I was either thinking acid rain effect or just too small of a container and not enough water volume for the root mass. I’m in a 2x3 closet with ventilation going to the attic. I’m using tap water(well) that has a EC of .1 and I’ve been running the Lucas formula but have not been running a set EC because I’ve been trying to figure out this PH issue. Temperature and humidity seem fine but the plant does have some nutrient burn on its leave tips and the leaves are a darker colored green. I just don’t understand how it can be nute burn if the EC can go from 1.2 to .85 in a day after doing a res change yet after 3-4 days the EC can start rising at as little as .7 EC.

Bigger bucket holding more solution will stabilize ph longer. I had the same problem with mine only it was every 3 days.

TheCreaMachine239 · Nov 5, 2020

Hollatchaboy said:
Bigger bucket holding more solution will stabilize ph longer. I had the same problem with mine only it was every 3 days.

Yeah, that’s what I was thinking. I never have issues with this until later in the grow. My next grow I’ll use a big rubber made bin and see if that helps.

Hollatchaboy · Nov 5, 2020

I had the problem all thru veg and flower. I was using the Lucas formula though. I'm not sure if that made a difference but I don't know why it would.

oill · Nov 5, 2020

TheCreaMachine239 said:
I’ve tried it both ways to see if it helps. I added some real low strength nutes last night and the ph went from 4.4 to 5.7 and the ec
Dropped from high .8’s to low .8’s I’m not sure exactly how much they are drinking because I don’t measure it but it does go down 1/2”-1” on the the bucket every day. I’m not seeing any yellowing margins so I don’t know if it’s k deficiency. Here is a picture.

Common problem... can you increase the size of the tank?

Hollatchaboy · Nov 5, 2020

oill said:
Common problem... can you increase the size of the tank?

Even if he can... he's going to need to go significantly higher in size. If he's getting 4-5 days after res change, he's pretty close to res change schedule anyways. If you believe in doing a res change weekly that is.

oill · Nov 5, 2020

Hollatchaboy said:
Even if he can... he's going to need to go significantly higher in size. If he's getting 4-5 days after res change, he's pretty close to res change schedule anyways. If you believe in doing a res change weekly that is.

Switch to coco... is probably the best answer I could give.

TheCreaMachine239 · Nov 5, 2020

Hollatchaboy said:
I had the problem all thru veg and flower. I was using the Lucas formula though. I'm not sure if that made a difference but I don't know why it would.

Yeah, I’m also using the Lucas formula.

Hollatchaboy · Nov 5, 2020

TheCreaMachine239 said:
Yeah, I’m also using the Lucas formula.

Ime the add back doesn't work real well in a small container. I like growing in the smaller bucket though. I just have to do res changes every few days instead of once a week.

TheCreaMachine239 · Nov 6, 2020

Hollatchaboy said:
Ime the add back doesn't work real well in a small container. I like growing in the smaller bucket though. I just have to do res changes every few days instead of once a week.

So are you just topping of leg with fresh water ?

TheCreaMachine239 · Nov 6, 2020

This is what my leaves are looking like btw. Looks like nute burn right? Leaves are darker green and tips are droopy. Another thing I just thought of and I’m not sure if it can be related but I was using a mars hydro reflector 480W and I noticed the bloom switch wasn’t working and that all my bloom LEDS were burnt up! I honestly think I have been running on only the veg lights for the entire grow and possibly previous grows before that and I just never realized that the bloom LEDS weren’t working. I just installed a mars hydro TS1000 two days ago.

Hollatchaboy · Nov 6, 2020

TheCreaMachine239 said:
So are you just topping of leg with fresh water ?

Yes. I have a 4 gallon bucket. I put a water level indicator tube on it (I use that for a drain also). 2 gallons is all it will hold (subtracting space for net pot and roots). I would let it get down to a gallon(once a day) and refill with fresh water. I could do that 2-3 times. By then the ph buffers are pretty much used up and I have to do a res change because the ph will just keep dropping. I have 5 airstones in that 1 bucket though. Its probably putting in a lot of co2 causing acid rain effect. Looking back in my journal, I noted that if I hadn't of let the water level drop a gallon, the ph would stay stable longer. So I'm gonna use a top off res next time.

Hollatchaboy · Nov 6, 2020

TheCreaMachine239 said:
This is what my leaves are looking like btw. Looks like nute burn right? Leaves are darker green and tips are droopy. Another thing I just thought of and I’m not sure if it can be related but I was using a mars hydro reflector 480W and I noticed the bloom switch wasn’t working and that all my bloom LEDS were burnt up! I honestly think I have been running on only the veg lights for the entire grow and possibly previous grows before that and I just never realized that the bloom LEDS weren’t working. I just installed a mars hydro TS1000 two days ago.View attachment 4735223

Tips are burnt yes but you have something else going on i believe. I'm not exactly sure what though.

Hollatchaboy · Nov 6, 2020

Hollatchaboy said:
Tips are burnt yes but you have something else going on i believe. I'm not exactly sure what though.

How do the roots look?

Hollatchaboy · Nov 6, 2020

Hollatchaboy said:
How do the roots look?

That's usually the first place I start. Light leaks, even the smallest ones, inside your res is no bueno. Any signs of algae or slime? Do you use any kind of sterilizer?

TheCreaMachine239 · Nov 6, 2020

Hollatchaboy said:
That's usually the first place I start. Light leaks, even the smallest ones, inside your res is no bueno. Any signs of algae or slime? Do you use any kind of sterilizer?

Here is a picture of the roots that I just took. They look brown but no slime or anything. I think the brown is just from the GH micro. I don’t use any kind of sterilizer. I have a Ice probe chiller on a thermostat and it keeps the water temps between 65-67F.

TheCreaMachine239 · Nov 6, 2020

Also, no algae or anything that I can see. The only possible light leak is from the blue water level tube on the side of the bucket.

Hollatchaboy · Nov 6, 2020

TheCreaMachine239 said:
Here is a picture of the roots that I just took. They look brown but no slime or anything. I think the brown is just from the GH micro. I don’t use any kind of sterilizer. I have a Ice probe chiller on a thermostat and it keeps the water temps between 65-67F.View attachment 4735295

Roots look good. Gh micro does the same to mine.

Ph Crashing Overnight

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