My Ph is dropping huge amounts within 12 hours of fresh tank NEED HELP please

Grow Mediums Hydroponics
1

hey guys im having issues with Ph no matter what i do. I have been using tap water but Ive tried boiling it ive tried leaving it out in the sun for days no matter what i do after i add nutrients and ph balance it to 6.3 the very next morning its in the 2.0s range and adding PH up does nothing sometimes adding up even makes it drop more lol . this is my first time with DWC hydro and need help. Im thinking of buying distilled water and swapping out tanks again but this is costly wasting nutrients and ph stuff every 12 hours lol thanks in advance

i guess more info would help
clay pellets medium
general hydro for nutrients
4in net pots with DWC bucket system
I balance ph then add nuts then check the ph again.

3

ive been really worried about that. I calabrated it with the buffer solutions 5 days ago maybe i made a mistake with that. my meter does seem to have huge fluctuations

2 Likes
4

I definitely would check the meter. If you have white distilled vinegar, it should be in the 4’s.

What is you’re TDS/PPM out of the tap?

1 Like
5

ppm around 180 ill check TDS now

6

ok i just re calibrated my PH meter and sadly it was correct. I tested it again after calibration and im down in the 1.8 and 2 in both tanks they both had same setup and in water last night. Im going to try to get distilled water and run that tonight. no matter how much ph up i use it wont come off 2.0 . i fear the water is the cause so ill know if my distilled water doesnt drop

2 Likes
8

ok just went and bought distilled but after all that i come back and the ph is now up. does it normally take that long [roughly a hour] for ph up to work? i thought it was almost instant. my ph went from 2.0 to 6.9 but it took almost a full hour for the change.

im still concerned this is a water issue cause this is happening everytime where it drops that much

9

You might want to get an aquarium test kit as a back up. It has ph up, ph down and test strips.

10

These are not accurate enough to get an accurate reading. @Lee62 but welcome to the community!

2 Likes
11

Lower your PPM at least 1/2. 1200PPM lower to 600PPM, 700 PPM lower to 350PPM yata yata. When your plant takes up more water than Nutes the PH will go down and when the plant takes up more nutes than water PH will go up.

3 Likes
12

I’ve used them for years but it would be a way to see if your ph meter is working. I suggesting that you use the ph kit for a back up in case your ph meter fails.
…

1 Like
13

Any way howdy. Love to see growers talking to each other. Y’all have a good day.

1 Like
14

I store my probe in PH 4.0 test solution and know if it’s reading high or low.

15

thanks guys i decided to start with a another new tank of distilled water and see if this corrects the problem. my meter is dead on i double checked and calibrated and checked it again lol so i know its not my meter.

Can some one tell me the proper technique for checking PH maybe the fault is in my method

16

one more thing and ill leave you guys alone. It seems the tank is lowerr ph when i test it under my HPS light. then strangly enough when i turn the liight off and test it goes up more to normal could an 1000w HPS cause the meter to read wrong?? .

i want to thank everyone also… I was ready to throw out the hydro and go back to soil before i got your help

18

I’m not sure if anyone said this… do Not ph your water before adding nutes. I seen you said that’s how you do it and I didn’t see anyone pick up on it. Add nutes then ph after never before your nutes will lower your water ph typically.
Dwc ph should be between 5.5 and 6.5. I shoot for 5.7 let it sit over night with air in it then check it next day then I feed then I check dwc buckets every other day if I hit 6.4 I lower ph
Typically my plants drink a gallon and a half a day

19

thanks guys I wanted to follow up now that i learned from my mistakes it might help someone in my position i was in.So I was doing PH and then nutes. I was over doing the ferts. they were causing my PH to drop huge amounts and then id try correct with PH up. I learned and now things are stable remember LESS IS MORE lol

1 Like
20

Mixing Order

Silica
Cal-mag
Macro-nutrients
Micro-nutrients
Additives
then PH

1 Like
21

5 gallon DWC and a 10 gallon tote. I finally got my PH to stabilize but I had to use distilled water. also i have to turn off my HPS 1000w when its on the light seems to cause the meter to act wonky. so yeah tap water and to much fertilizer after i PHed the water. Im a noob this is my first hydro setup so I expected to have mistakes. lucky i corrected before much damage was caused

2 Likes
22

Air stones WILL change PH day to day if you use them, Just FYI

23

Hey @Member420 I was wondering about this too. I’ve noticed my plant (only one, lonely girl) is taking on a half gallon / two liters of water a day. I have been giving only pH’d water with no nutes for about two weeks. Ph is dropping every day and EC/PPM increases.

Is this a sign I should flush and get ready for harvest?

Also, how long to flush in a bubbleponics setup? (I have a 20-ish gallon tub with about 12 gal of fluid in it).

1 Like