Hello all newish farmer having ph issues :(

[XtreemLee]

I’m one my second grow, I have two 18” plants each in there own 3.5 gal bubble bucket with 400 watt mh lamps. These plants are about a month old and ph drops like mad after a day. I just refreshed the water with ph 6.0 yesterday checked this am and it 5.2 and tomorrow it will 4.5.
my well water comes out at a ph of 8 and .4 ec. I adjust after added nutes to six. Then it drops like mad.

not sure what to do, I thought I was over nutrients so this last water change I didn’t add much at all (1.1ec). It it still drops like mad.
I have good looking roots and can’t figure out why it drops.
Thanks
Lee

 

[budgie]

Is this soil or hydro

 

[XtreemLee]

Is this soil or hydro

Hydro bubble buckets

 

[tobh]

I’m one my second grow, I have two 18” plants each in there own 3.5 gal bubble bucket with 400 watt mh lamps. These plants are about a month old and ph drops like mad after a day. I just refreshed the water with ph 6.0 yesterday checked this am and it 5.2 and tomorrow it will 4.5.
my well water comes out at a ph of 8 and .4 ec. I adjust after added nutes to six. Then it drops like mad.

not sure what to do, I thought I was over nutrients so this last water change I didn’t add much at all (1.1ec). It it still drops like mad.
I have good looking roots and can’t figure out why it drops.
Thanks
Lee

We need more details. What nutrients are you using? How are you mixing them? Please provide NPK ratios, and any additives you're using, in the order you're using them.

Typically pH dropping rapidly is due to a lack of buffering, expired hydroguard, or improper mixing methodology. With more details, we'll be able to identify what's going on.

 

[budgie]

Sorry can’t help you,I do soil but it is kinda strange for the ph to be dropping like that

Hydro bubble buckets

 

[XtreemLee]

I use fox farm grow big and big bloom to about 1700-1800 ppm on the 700ppm setting. I plan on changing that to decimal ec in the future. I add per package directions usually getting ec to 1700-1800 ppm.
And I would add some fox farm root drench and microbrew at the levels listed.
what’s ec scale is used here to make it more simple?

 

[XtreemLee]

I’m thinking I need to flush these plants and maybe just give them a bucket of water. I haven’t done a flush since I transferred them.

 

[XtreemLee]

I think I am going to flush them with sledgehammer and try ph balanced well water and see how they handle it. I also need to clean better between grows. Flushing it all with h2o2 water and scrubbing the salts off.

 

[tobh]

I wouldn't recommend flushing them, that'll just shock the hell out of em. Are you using anything to maintain the reservoirs? like enzymes + hydroguard, or h2o2 or pool shock? It's possible you have a bacterial infection going on. As bacteria reproduce, it drops the pH very rapidly.

However if there's not a solid buffering agent in the water, like silica, that can also cause the pH to drop quickly as there's nothing to buffer the acids in the nutrients or pH down.

In terms of EC scale here, I always just assume the Hanna scale as that's the most common on the market. PPMs are fine to post, that's what 90% of us go off of anyhow.

 

[XtreemLee]

My water comes out at a ph of 8 so what kind of buffer would you recommend. I assume from the rocks around this area are all iron stained, we should have plenty of iron in the water but I’ve never tested it. I’m leaning towards bacteria and that’s why I was thinking flush. I just washed all my unused equipment but I can’t change the stone or baskets that’s why a soa

 

[Aqua Man]

May help explain some things.

Marijuana pH Levels for Growing Weed: A Basic Explanation

OK I'm going to do my best to explain PH since its something that is for the most part greatly misunderstood and can be confusing to new growers and even experienced growers alike. This will explain why we need both ppm and PH meters to give us informed information about PH This will be a...

www.thcfarmer.com

 

[Aqua Man]

My water comes out at a ph of 8 so what kind of buffer would you recommend. I assume from the rocks around this area are all iron stained, we should have plenty of iron in the water but I’ve never tested it. I’m leaning towards bacteria and that’s why I was thinking flush. I just washed all my unused equipment but I can’t change the stone or baskets that’s why a soa

Ph is only part of the equation. If you read the link its should make more sense.

 

[MIMedGrower]

I use fox farm grow big and big bloom to about 1700-1800 ppm on the 700ppm setting. I plan on changing that to decimal ec in the future. I add per package directions usually getting ec to 1700-1800 ppm.
And I would add some fox farm root drench and microbrew at the levels listed.
what’s ec scale is used here to make it more simple?

sounds like way too much for constant feed. The excess is very acidic.

 

[MIMedGrower]

And with .4 ec source water buffering is not likely the problem. @Aqua Man we discussed confusing ph, alkalinity and likely causes and were going to simplify no?

 

[Aqua Man]

And with .4 ec source water buffering is not likely the problem. @Aqua Man we discussed confusing ph, alkalinity and likely causes and were going to simplify no?

Didn't really read the thread. I'm not understanding the last sentence but I agree not likely a buffering issue with the ppm of about 200. But with it being well water in not sure could be higher in others?

 

[MIMedGrower]

Didn't really read the thread. I'm not understanding the last sentence but I agree not likely a buffering issue with the ppm of about 200. But with it being well water in not sure could be higher in others?

could be a lot of things but you linked you ph thread first and it is likely simply too much nutes. It almost always is if growers are following any directions.

 

[Aqua Man]

could be a lot of things but you linked you ph thread first and it is likely simply too much nutes. It almost always is if growers are following any directions.

Could be just figure its a good idea to understand it forst and foremost.

Typically if your nitrogen is high in ammonium sourced nitrogen it will cause ph to drop as its taken up... nitrates will raise ph as its taken up... so may want to look there. We want to avoid ammonium based in hydro.

 

[MIMedGrower]

Could be just figure its a good idea to understand it forst and foremost.

Typically if your nitrogen is high in ammonium sourced nitrogen it will cause ph to drop as its taken up... nitrates will raise ph as its taken up... so may want to look there. We want to avoid ammonium based in hydro.

again all true. Not challenging knowledge. But full strength fox farm nutes will be too much. And they are very acidic.

Keep it simple is my answer regardless.

 

[tobh]

again all true. Not challenging knowledge. But full strength fox farm nutes will be too much. And they are very acidic.

Keep it simple is my answer regardless.

^^^ that's an excellent point. I'm four weeks into flower and not running as high of an EC -- doubt I ever will. Hydro simply doesn't warrant that. Didn't take that into account, though my personal experience hasn't warranted facing such an issue (yet). Good lookin out for sure.

 

[Aqua Man]

again all true. Not challenging knowledge. But full strength fox farm nutes will be too much. And they are very acidic.

Keep it simple is my answer regardless.

Absolutely.... usually I try to explain so they fully understand the how and why and often it gets confusing. But feel it helps them a bit more than just giving the answer.

With that said it can confuse more than help sometimes if they are only looking for the answer.