Water Ph goes up over night?

[lincon1231]

im starting my first grow
so when I do DWC, I ph the water at 5.8 at first, but after two days or three, the ph goes up to 7.2
is it because the PH down im using not good?
or thats normal? I should Ph the water every time I go to my garden?

[oldjarhead100]

I dont do dwc but have watched a friends dwc grow while he was in hospital so the ph is a range not one number if you try and correct it all day it will make you crazy . as long as its in the range its good . it will change as nute levels (ppms) go up or down the same with temps . I have switched to a citrus acid for my ph down and baking soda for my ph up doesn't seem to bother plants as much

[RosettaStoned]

Like he said, it's normal. I shoot for 5.65-5.8 for veg, 5.8-6.0 for first six weeks of flower, and 6.0-6.2 until harvest. Check it everyday but adjust when needed. Ojh is right, it will drive you crazy trying to keep one number...hell, just trying to get it in a specific range can make you wanna punch babies sometimes. I also dilute my pH up and down 5/1. It makes it easier to not go too far past.

[Obi-Wan]

It is normal for pH to drift in dwc, how much and how quickly it drifts depend on a number of factors. Smaller reservoirs tend to drift more quickly than larger ones so if you are in a single 5 gal. bucket it will drift quicker than a 10 gal. tote. In my experience the most common reason for large quick drifts in pH is the combined use of pH up and down products in the same reservoir. I personally prefer not to mix the 2 products in my reservoirs. After mixing my nutes I generally have a pH of 6.2 and after a couple days it gradually drifts down around 5.7, I then pH up to 6.0 and again let it gradually come down to 5.7. Every time I have mixed the 2 products I will see wild fluctuations in both directions.

[oldjarhead100]

boy Obi-wan I was reading your post and I'm going WTF ,WTF when you said after a couple of days thinking your using your nutes for a few days then realized you are in DWC and thats the difference in thought processes lol

[RosettaStoned]

That is not the case for me. It's just harder to get back to where I wanna be when I over shoot. I have found that when I get the ppm and pH range where the plant wants it, it stays for days. All that changes is the water level.

[Jason]

I use two GH WaterFarms @ two gallons each, with an air stone. pH can range 1-2 points up in three hours or a day or so. I check pH three times a day to make sure it ranges from 5.5 to 6.5. Different nutrients are absorbed at different pH levels, so you WANT it to range up, then you adjust down. I'm also adding .5 to almost a gallon of H2O a day to the res, particularly in late flower, so adjusting down is easy.
Good luck.