PPM Dropping from 900 to 400 over night

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Scandalous08

Member
Hello all I am running a 17 gal DWC reservoir, using about 9gal of water nute mix, I am using GH flora nutes with hydroguard, calimagic, and hygrozyme. I used the hygrozyme to help keep the dead roots decaying in the reservoir. (I’ve had issues with root rot, I recently put an air conditioner in grow room to bring reservoir temps down to 66. So I recently did a reservoir change and put my SCROG net on top. When I did that I think my reservoir wasn’t cleaned all the way because both my ppm and ph rose very sharply that first day. After more speculation I am thinking that not enough oxygen was getting to the reservoir through the air stone so I got a more powerful air pump. Did another reservoir change last night, and ppm were around 900 on the 5 scale and ph was set at 5.6. When I got up this morning my pond have dropped down to 500 and ph is up to 6.4. Can someone give me some insight as to what is going on? Any advice would be appreciated
 
Hugo Phurst

Hugo Phurst

Well-Known Member
Wish I could.... I'd still be DWC (gone back to soil).
Any white slime/build up?
Sign of N toxicity?

Good luck
 
S

Scandalous08

Member
Hugo Phurst said:
Wish I could.... I'd still be DWC (gone back to soil).
Any white slime/build up?
Sign of N toxicity?

Good luck
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Not really I will mention I’ve brought it back from root rot 3 times now, the roots look a little brown but I’m afraid when I did the res change the ppm wasn’t straight and the plant was leeching nutrients back in the water. So I changed out reservoir again and with the bigger air pump getting a lot more water agitation the roots were covering all the bubbles on my 15w pump. And the leaves look good they are just wilting a bit. I recently did some lst and may have broken a few branches but nothing way out of the ordinary I increased the nutes a little bit on the second res change and now is when it dropped from 900 to 500 over night. I also will add I’m using the 500ppm scale
 
Rurumo

Rurumo

Well-Known Member
The PH drifts upwards over time as the carbon dioxide from your tap water dissipates, that's totally normal and your plants are just chowing down on your nutrient solution, which is a good thing. Is there a reason you're concerned other than just the surprising #s involved? As far as the PH drift, it's easier to manage a situation where the PH drifts upwards rather than downwards-it can be a pain to keep up with the adjustments, but it's also good for nutrient absorption since various nutrients are more available at different PH levels. As long as you keep adjusting it back into range, I don't see a problem. Do the plants look healthy? Bigger air pump was a good idea too.
 
S

Scandalous08

Member
Rurumo said:
The PH drifts upwards over time as the carbon dioxide from your tap water dissipates, that's totally normal and your plants are just chowing down on your nutrient solution, which is a good thing. Is there a reason you're concerned other than just the surprising #s involved? As far as the PH drift, it's easier to manage a situation where the PH drifts upwards rather than downwards-it can be a pain to keep up with the adjustments, but it's also good for nutrient absorption since various nutrients are more available at different PH levels. As long as you keep adjusting it back into range, I don't see a problem. Do the plants look healthy? Bigger air pump was a good idea too.
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So I understand the ph drift but went from 5.5 to 6.4 in a matter of 6-8 hours? Also the pond dropped from 900 to about 500 in the same amount of time
 
Tolerance Break

Tolerance Break

Well-Known Member
Scandalous08 said:
So I understand the ph drift but went from 5.5 to 6.4 in a matter of 6-8 hours? Also the pond dropped from 900 to about 500 in the same amount of time
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The nutes drop the water PH, I am an amateur, but it makes sense that as the plants eat, the PH drifts upwards. If the plants are eating that much and not drinking a proportional amount of water, then the PH will spike. Bro science at its finest.
 
rkymtnman

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
if ppm drop 400 pts in a matter of hours, they need to be fed more.

and rot "usually" drops ph, not raises.
 
MustGro

MustGro

Well-Known Member
Scandalous08 said:
Hello all I am running a 17 gal DWC reservoir, using about 9gal of water nute mix, I am using GH flora nutes with hydroguard, calimagic, and hygrozyme. I used the hygrozyme to help keep the dead roots decaying in the reservoir. (I’ve had issues with root rot, I recently put an air conditioner in grow room to bring reservoir temps down to 66. So I recently did a reservoir change and put my SCROG net on top. When I did that I think my reservoir wasn’t cleaned all the way because both my ppm and ph rose very sharply that first day. After more speculation I am thinking that not enough oxygen was getting to the reservoir through the air stone so I got a more powerful air pump. Did another reservoir change last night, and ppm were around 900 on the 5 scale and ph was set at 5.6. When I got up this morning my pond have dropped down to 500 and ph is up to 6.4. Can someone give me some insight as to what is going on? Any advice would be appreciated
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So you’re just running 9 gallons? How big are the 2 plants? I agree that 400 ppm is a lot in a 6-8 hour period, but how much do they usually use? The high ppm use probably caused the ph swing; what’s the ppm of your tap water?
you have pics of the plants?
 
S

Scandalous08

Member
I will post picture when I get home and I moved my ph and ec meter (blue lab guardian so I leave it in the reservoir) and the ppms are at 1100 now so I think maybe the air stone was too close to the meter or something but I’ll have a better idea when I get home. So what I think was happening then I recently switch my nute schedule from 2.5ml/gal of the trio and 5ml/gal of the Cali magic to 5ml/gal of the trio and 2.5ml/gal of the Cali magic with 15ml/gal of hygrozyme. When I emptied res ppms were at like 1100 and when I changed it with new nutes was at like 980 so I think the plant was leeching nutrients but I’m afraid that it caused root rot because my roots are dark, but I think it also could possibly be from the dark color from the nutrients or Cali magic, that’s staining the roots. I’m not totally sure I added a double dose of hydroguard in case it is root rot but I haven’t had any root rot problems since I got my reservoir temperatures down to 66 constantly.
 
MustGro

MustGro

Well-Known Member
Scandalous08 said:
I will post picture when I get home and I moved my ph and ec meter (blue lab guardian so I leave it in the reservoir) and the ppms are at 1100 now so I think maybe the air stone was too close to the meter or something but I’ll have a better idea when I get home. So what I think was happening then I recently switch my nute schedule from 2.5ml/gal of the trio and 5ml/gal of the Cali magic to 5ml/gal of the trio and 2.5ml/gal of the Cali magic with 15ml/gal of hygrozyme. When I emptied res ppms were at like 1100 and when I changed it with new nutes was at like 980 so I think the plant was leeching nutrients but I’m afraid that it caused root rot because my roots are dark, but I think it also could possibly be from the dark color from the nutrients or Cali magic, that’s staining the roots. I’m not totally sure I added a double dose of hydroguard in case it is root rot but I haven’t had any root rot problems since I got my reservoir temperatures down to 66 constantly.
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I doubt you have root rot with those low temps, but how about a pic. My roots get pretty stained looking from the nutes, but root rot is slimy looking and it’s around the roots, so you mostly just see slime. If you’re seeing individual dark roots, it’s from the nutes. I run no hydroguard, no air stones and keep my res at 71 and I’m fine.
 
S

Scandalous08

Member
Father Earth said:
Look at those stalks on your plants. 900 ppm is just teasing them. How long have you been vegging?
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So I got root rot early on the left one got it worse they both are in same reservoir. I got reservoir temperatures under control and ended up not giving them enough nutrients and they were leeching back into the reservoir causing ph spikes. But they have been begging about a month to 6 weeks here is an updated picture.
 

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MustGro

MustGro

Well-Known Member
Scandalous08 said:
So I got root rot early on the left one got it worse they both are in same reservoir. I got reservoir temperatures under control and ended up not giving them enough nutrients and they were leeching back into the reservoir causing ph spikes. But they have been begging about a month to 6 weeks here is an updated picture.
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Nice and green in that first pic.
 
S

Scandalous08

Member
MustGro said:
Nice and green in that first pic.
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They were both taken literally when I posted that lol I’m not sure if it’s really a deficiency or if it’s because I switched to their transition nute schedule because I was supposed to be getting my second hlg 260w xl in which I did but it came with a broken connector so still waiting on the replacement to get in.
 
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