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Rollercoaster pH, help appreciated from hydrogrowers

N

naurin

Hello fellow chiligrowers!

I have some problem with the pH-level in my hydro. It keeps sinking below 5, wich isn't really appreciated by my plants. I changed the nutrientsolution only five days ago, cleaned the inside of the hydro and flushed the roots of every plant. I added the nutrients and checked the pH wich was somewhere around 6.5 if I remeber correctly.

The plants are flowering but the foliage are falling of on one plant, and the others are showing nutrient deficiency symptoms. I have yet to discover if the flowers will just drop of or actually be kind enough to transform themselfs into peppers.

:?: Why is this? Why is the pH sinking so fast? I added some bicarbonate the last time but it only solved the problem for a day or two. :?:

And another question. If I were to plant them in soil instead, would that be a certain death for this years crop? :?:

Thanks!
Mikael
 
When the ph swings below 5.5 and above 6.5 the plant will struggle to absorb nutrients.

Using any acid and base that isn't hydroponics or aquarium ph up or down will not have buffers in and wont remain stable for long.

Generally ph falling means the nutrient solution is too strong. Are the plants showing signs of nutrient burn? Any downward hooking leaves at the tip, curling under at the sides?

Any pics?

Chris
 
I don't use hydro (yet), but i've keep fish, rare shrimp, and planted tanks for over 10 years and have run c02 systems, dosed using the EI method and can say a lot of problems are from either over reacting to wrong readings or not allowing 24 hours for pH adjustments to show up before making additional changes causing spikes and drops in your pH. How accurate is your meter? Do you test meter before ever water test to ensure your meter is accurate? How long do you allow your water to set after making an adjustment? Do you have specific amounts per gallon of nutes that your suppose to follow from an over the counter solution or are you just dosing based on your own setup and needs? A pH swing that much means something is wrong with your dosing either your dosing the wrong amounts or your meter is not working correctly and your getting bad info.
 
Toleman: The newer leaves are turning light green and you can see darker veins in them. One plant keeps dropping leafes. But your advice is to get a better pH adjuster? I have been to a couple of stores around here but only found a "pH up" that was meant to be used for swimmingpools and that didn't feel right. The nutrients I'm using are originaly meant for soil, but I know that alot of potgrowers in sweden uses it for hydro. But maybe I'm puting in too much like you say, I use about 150% of what the instructions says. The nutrients pH is 5,5.
PS, nice june update!

LGHT: I'm using some kind of solution that I bought in a pet store, you mix it with the solution and compare it to a colour chart to se the pH level.

Hopefully it's just me overdozing nutrients, that's seems to be your guesses?
 
Well if you don't have a controlled dosing scheme it's pretty much guess work and would be next to impossible to guess right each and every time. Not to say that those test tabs are hardly accurate.
 
Increase the size of your reservoir....I don't know what size it is now, but you should have minimum 2 gal/plant reservoir. This will minimize both Ph and Ec swings.

Stop using stuff from your medicine chest for Ph control and get some Ph up and Ph down as it is buffered.
 
Willard: Just came home from a better assorted petstore with some pH up, the "medicin chest stuff" was just a quick fix as I couldn't get hold on some real stuff. The size of the reservoar is about 2.4gallons/plant.

I'll report back tomorrow on how things are progressing
 
Toleman: Here is a picture as you requested, i'm sorry for the delay.

Blad.jpg



And I can't resist to put up a picture of the first (!!) chilie I have ever grown! :P

Chili.jpg
 
I checked the pH yesterday evening wich was 6.5 (a couple of hours after I had added some pH up), now it's about 6.0. Hopefully it has stabilized there.
 
.....and we are down to almost 5 again. But I read somewhere that you might have to correct the pH more than once, that it naturallyt drops again after corrected?

A question that popped up as I checked the pH. How much doeas five small to medium sized plants drink? And would the solution get more acid as the plant sucks up the water? What I'm getting at here is if the pH would be more stable if I compensated every day for the water that the plants uses?

If it isn't clear yet; yes, I'm a total newbie at this :) And therefor, all help is much appreciated
 
Keep adjusting bit by bit rather than chucking loads in.
You right it can take a while to stabilise.

When the ph keeps falling it means the nutrients are too strong. Next time try adding less at the start. If they keep rising at the start it means they are too weak.

As yours seem to strong and you ph is falling becoming more acidic try adding just tap water as this will weaken the solution and rise your ph.

Chris
 
Everyone that gave advice here did a great job. ;)

On a side note, can a PH crash be related to lack of nutrients? I.E. Really strong dose of nutes that was used up and is ready for a nutrient change? Even if you have a tds/PPM meter you can't really tell what nutrients have been used and which are still there right? Always water change after 2 weeks regardless correct? even if you redose to 500 ppm couldnt you be double dosing bloom nutes and half dosing veg nutes (just a quick example I guess)????
 
Hi again!

Time for an update since I still got pH problems. I have been using half the amount of nutrients now, and bought myself some "real" pH-up that's made for aquariums. But the problem is still there, I have to ajust the pH level every morning.

Now when I changed the solution I found a pretty big hole in the aluminum foil I've been using to keep the light out of the tank, and the water smelled a little bit funky. Is it possible that algiers/bacteria has been causing all my pH problems?
 
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