RFT
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95+% of ph problems are inadequate alkalinity. Aka carbonate, bicarbonate. That's what provides the stability. So many times people will say my ph is rising from say 5.6 to 7 in 12hrs. I will tell them to add a buffer like baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) cause most ppl have it (ideally avoid sodium). Any they are like my ph is rising why would I want to add something that going to increase it. The reason is because then it takes more acid to lower the ph so in the end you get a much more stable ph. Same goes for ph dropping quickly. You have more acid but little buffer and as the buffer is used up the ph drops fast.
I dont necessarily think I have a pH problem per se. I think the pH dropping is just a symptom of the actual issue. Why? Because my pH has no problem staying stable for the first 4 weeks of flower. It's only in the 4th/5th weeks do I see things take a dive for the worst.
My source well water is plenty alkaline. It's about 7.5 on it's own. Which means a fair amount of pH down is added to get things in the 5.6-6.0 range.
I dont think adding more stabilizer will fix the root issue, if my theory is correct and the root issue happens to be that a sudden feeding of P-K by the plants is removing the pH stabilizing they provide once they're eaten up (leaving an excess of pH down still left in the solution and thus the dive). Ultimately tho, I wont know if I just add pH stabilizing products so that my pH doesnt swing. My plants will still be left short on the P-K they obviously want more of.
I just flushed the tanks again. Going with a higher ratio of P-K. Let's see if that stabilizes the pH for the entire week or if it dives again a few days from now.
I've already lowered the EC enough to probably rule out EC burn as being the pH drop culprit. Im at 1.4 currently after this flush. If the EC level is right, we should see it drop day by day right? Assuming I got the NPK ratios finally on point.