ah didn't think about that. I'll check the battery. Always helpful having a multimeter around for such things.
I'm gonna go pick up some RO. I suspect that the tap has some buffer in it that's influencing the swing. I pulled a water quality report from the utility company and nothing really sticks out, but there's no telling how accurate or current it is. Overnight, pH climbed to 6.7. Something is buffering much harder than the pH down can compete with.
If the issue persists with RO, I'll be re-evaluating running a live res entirely. I know
hygrozyme will work with peroxide so that'll be my next move if the swing persists. It seems that once I added the
hydroguard, this problem really became an issue. Prior, there was some swing present, but not like this.
If going back to sterile doesn't work, then I'll be looking at a different silica source.
Protekt was recommended by multiple people but if the buffering it does can't be controlled without profuse amounts of pH down, then another source will be required.
All that being said, I've decided the leaf damage is being caused by calcium lockout. I believe this is being caused by the crazy pH swings, so the plant doesn't really have time to uptake enough for its requirements. The symptoms line up with early stages -- slight yellowing randomly around the plant, necrotic-like holes in the more affected leaves, slight tip curling. This is likely compounded by running LEDs.
If I fix the pH, I should fix the lockout and be ready for flower in the next week or two.