My General Organics GO Box arrived today. Mixed up a batch and put it in the reservoir. Curious, after mixing it up, I took a ph reading, expecting it to be way out of ideal range, but it was at 5.6, which seems pretty spot on from what I've read. 5.5-6.5 is ideal right?
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hydro ph issues, help me sleep tonight!
- Thread starter scratchzilla
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I'm already anticipating that. Shouldn't be a problem since I got ph up and down with my go box today, and tend to go in the grow room at least twice a day, so I'll be ready when the ph shifts.
Here's a question, how do you take your readings? I usually pull a couple ounces from the reservoir and split it between two cups that I can place my pens in and leave them while I do something else, since it seems to tait a minute to get the measurements on the screen to stabilize. Is this a good way to go about it, or am I going to get a false reading by taking that reading from a sample as opposed to the whole shebang?
Here's a question, how do you take your readings? I usually pull a couple ounces from the reservoir and split it between two cups that I can place my pens in and leave them while I do something else, since it seems to tait a minute to get the measurements on the screen to stabilize. Is this a good way to go about it, or am I going to get a false reading by taking that reading from a sample as opposed to the whole shebang?
you should at least calibrate it first. ph 4 buffer if you are aiming at 5's. 4 and 7 is better.
you may want to look into what you should be useing to clean your electrodes. some solutions require a cleaning solution other than the "general use" stuff.
i know for example... in beer ph measurements ethanol is usually used to clean crud off the bulb.
you may want to look into what you should be useing to clean your electrodes. some solutions require a cleaning solution other than the "general use" stuff.
i know for example... in beer ph measurements ethanol is usually used to clean crud off the bulb.
No problems here, I do it that way too...
Oh it's callibrated. That was the first thing I did when I got the pen.
That's good to hear.
And guys, thanks to all of you for your input and advice. You're helping me learn a lot, and I'm very grateful.
i mean before each use.
of corse if you are just looking for like .5 ish resolution it dosent matter much, but if you want the best accuracy calibrate before each use with 2 or more buffers if possible. if your probe isnt temperature compensating, you need to let the buffers and the solution you are measuring reach the same temperature.
this is for maximum accuracy tho.
I must say I'm quite impressed with the GO Box so far, aside from nightly ph adjustments, things seem to be going great. The plant is nice and green, to roots are getting longer, and the minor aphid infestation is getting dealt with.
I did notice that my reservoir is foaming up a little, but it doesn't seems to be inhibiting nutrient uptake or plant growth in general. Is this foam natural? Or am I doing something wrong?
Also got a floating thermometer to measure res temperatures, but haven't used it yet, most likely will tonight after work.
What do you find is the best way to keep res temps down in a DWC setup?
I did notice that my reservoir is foaming up a little, but it doesn't seems to be inhibiting nutrient uptake or plant growth in general. Is this foam natural? Or am I doing something wrong?
Also got a floating thermometer to measure res temperatures, but haven't used it yet, most likely will tonight after work.
What do you find is the best way to keep res temps down in a DWC setup?
You might want to consider not using pH up/down too often - definitely not everyday/night. We've already discussed how the pH will naturally fluctuate as the organic molecules are broken down into usable ions, thus causing the oscillations. They will tend around a mean of what nutrients are in the res and which are left to be broken down and consumed. If your pH stays within the sweet spot (range 5.5-7ish) I wouldn't adjust it at all; hell, I wouldn't adjust it necessarily if it goes only a bit out of the range - plants can still take up all the nutrients if they are outside the range a little bit, just not as efficiently as in the sweet spot.
By adding ph adjusters constantly, you are mucking up your reservoir with more and more additives; this is fine if you plan on completely dumping and replacing your solution more frequently, but allowing the pH to swing naturally and only adding pH adjusters when the solution gets far outside the range will save you some extra work. There are unintended consequences with adding too much adjusters - nutrient lockout, chemical interactions, etc.
An appropriate analogy for making daily adjustments vs. less-frequent adjustments is akin to stock trading: day traders pay attention to the short-term details (which is mostly noise) and make quick decisions without noticing the trends, whereas buy-and-hold brokers smooth out the noise and pay greater attention to the trends. In the case of growing plants, natural pH swings are mainly noise to be ignored...focus on the longer-term trends proceeding...BTW, day traders have been shown to have higher stress levels and more heart attacks than those traders that don't solely focus on short-term noise.
More on your DWC res temps question later - the baby is awakening, and she sounds hungry!
By adding ph adjusters constantly, you are mucking up your reservoir with more and more additives; this is fine if you plan on completely dumping and replacing your solution more frequently, but allowing the pH to swing naturally and only adding pH adjusters when the solution gets far outside the range will save you some extra work. There are unintended consequences with adding too much adjusters - nutrient lockout, chemical interactions, etc.
An appropriate analogy for making daily adjustments vs. less-frequent adjustments is akin to stock trading: day traders pay attention to the short-term details (which is mostly noise) and make quick decisions without noticing the trends, whereas buy-and-hold brokers smooth out the noise and pay greater attention to the trends. In the case of growing plants, natural pH swings are mainly noise to be ignored...focus on the longer-term trends proceeding...BTW, day traders have been shown to have higher stress levels and more heart attacks than those traders that don't solely focus on short-term noise.
More on your DWC res temps question later - the baby is awakening, and she sounds hungry!
So I took your advice and backed off on the ph adjusters, and I've noticed overthe last day or two that it's become kind of self regulating. The ph still swings, but not as drastically or quickly as it was when I was adjusting daily.
Haha. That I have. Ad the root system is beautiful. Must have doubled in sizeo vernight. I'm loving it.
I like it a lot so far, but I've been using it for only a week, so time will tell. Things I have noticed: bio root does a great job promoting root growth. I've been experimenting with using to root cuttings in a bubble bucket, but it's still to early to tell how well it works with that kind of application, but established plants love it. Since I started using it, I've seen my riot mass triple in under a week.
Bio Marine stinks like all hell, and leaves a bit of slime on the roots, so I wouldn't use it in a recirculating system, though my soil plants don't seem to mind it.
The ph will shift a bit on you, but it doesn't go too out of whack, just keep an eye on it.
I've only been using it a week so far, but I have been impressed by it. I was going to get the foxfarm trio, but I saw this for a few dollars more and decided to give it a try.
I'll keep you posted on how it performs over the next few weeks.
Bio Marine stinks like all hell, and leaves a bit of slime on the roots, so I wouldn't use it in a recirculating system, though my soil plants don't seem to mind it.
The ph will shift a bit on you, but it doesn't go too out of whack, just keep an eye on it.
I've only been using it a week so far, but I have been impressed by it. I was going to get the foxfarm trio, but I saw this for a few dollars more and decided to give it a try.
I'll keep you posted on how it performs over the next few weeks.
Week 2 - stopped using the bio marine, so hopefully the slime issues will go away. When I changed my reservoir today the stone was caked with the stuff, but a good scrub took care of it. I'm impressed with the ph it leaves my res at after initial mixing. My well water is neutral at 7.0, and after mixing the nutes the ph reads 5.8, so I don't need to make any initial adjustments, which pleases me. The plant itself is doing great both above and below, green foliage, white roots, and the pod it started producing is beautiful. There's pics in my grow log. Just search Handsome Zack and his growlog if you're interested.
Good to hear! - BTW: you can link to your grow log in your signature, that way everybody can see what you're up to without having to do a search...