Ph dropping - root rot? DWC

Hello guys

Tap Water with 5 micron, carbon & uv filtered
Water Temp is 18°C, ppm 350-450
I have 1 plant, 3 weeks in veg.

I suspect i have bacterial activity in my roots. I changed the water 2 days ago after I saw ph was 4.7. Change water, set the ph to 6.1 w/ 2ppm chlorine and now is 5.4 and going down. Today a added 2 ppm more to see what happens, what are you thoughts?

Those roots definitely aren't looking too happy. The super quick and large ph drop is definitely indicitive of root rot. If you're already trying to run a sterile res then I'd look at using peroxide in there, or at least run some through the pot, like a bath. I had to rinse mine two or three times in a peroxide bath to clear mine up and then started dechlorinating my res with seachem safe and adding HydroGuard and haven't really had any issues since then.

Any idea what your water temps are?
You can see the stuff growing on your air line and the other thing on the left side of the picture. I usually only have surface growth where there are light leaks.

HolyAngel said:

Those roots definitely aren't looking too happy. The super quick and large ph drop is definitely indicitive of root rot. If you're already trying to run a sterile res then I'd look at using peroxide in there, or at least run some through the pot, like a bath. I had to rinse mine two or three times in a peroxide bath to clear mine up and then started dechlorinating my res with seachem safe and adding HydroGuard and haven't really had any issues since then.

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This.

Fix your PH and see what happens. Your roots don't actually look bad. They still have the individual strands staying apart and not stuck together with shit.
You said your using chlorine? What kind? Bleach, shock, UC?

I did a big shock of chlorine...pH got stable and now is going up as usual. Think im gonna aim for 5 ppm every get 4 days and see what happens.

shortarker99 said:

I did a big shock of chlorine...pH got stable and now is going up as usual. Think im gonna aim for 5 ppm every get 4 days and see what happens.

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Keep res cool, lots of air/bubbles and make sure you have no light leaks to roots. If you can achieve this then you don’t have to add peroxide or hydro guard etc. if temps are getting a bit high then changing your bucket/res out with chlorinated tap water works wonders.

You may consider replacing the clear tubing as well...it may have nothing to do with your issues, but the less light in the res the better off your roots will be. Some simple, yet effective, tips are to keep a fan blowing on your buckets and to wrap them in reflective mylar as to reflect heat. Personally, running Great White beneficials I can safely get up to 72F res temps or perhaps a bit higher with no issue. But this is while also keeping a LOT of air blasting through my buckets, typically about 35-45LPM of air going to each and every bucket.