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General Hydroponics GH pH Down solution - observations on pH swings

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    HYDRO General Hydroponics GH pH Down solution - observations on pH swings

    Hellow fellow Hydro growers,

    About 3 weeks ago I had to switch from Essentials pH down to GH pH down solution as the Essentials bottle had finished.

    Ever since, I've seen large swings in pH occur before finally stabilising to my intended level - 5.9 - 6.1.

    Water: 25L / base pH 7.5 / ppm 280-300.

    The Essentials pH down would need about 10 - 12 ml to get my nute mixed water from 7.5 to 5.9, and it would stay there until water change every 7 days.

    The GH pH down is another story.

    Initially needs 36ml to get it down to 5.9.
    24 hrs later its at 7.0
    add another 15 ml and about 11 hrs later it stabilises at 6.0

    2nd water change with GH pH down:
    36ml pH down, pH is at 4.8.
    18 hrs later its at 5.3
    another 10 hrs and its at 6.7.
    add another 7ml pH down to bring it to 6.0

    Needless to say, I think this is a big cause of stress to the plants.

    Has anyone else seen these big pH swings using GH pH down?

    GH says that its pH down is based on "Food grade" phosphoric acid.

    Found an article on Wikipedia about Phosphoric acid, and a graph shoing 3 distinct 'buffer zones' where 3 different forms of Phosphoric acid are present, depending on the pH level.

    If the concentrated version of it is around the 1st buffer zone, how long would it take to transistion into the second form?
    Maybe someone with a chemistry background could weigh in?

    Thanks all, and would love to read your observations.
    GreenQube 1.5m x 3.0m x 2.2m tent
    2x CDMH 315W lights
    870m3/hr fan
    8 x 42L DIY DWC buckets, 2 airstones each

    #2
    Hey FlyingDutchPaddy I have the same fluctuations for about 3 or 4 days until it stabilizes. I agree that it is an unnecessary cause of stress. Until now, I hadn't thought about the ph down causing the problem. I just assumed it was something to do with the nutes even though I'm using ph perfect from advenced nutrients.

    Comment


    • FlyingDutchPaddy
      FlyingDutchPaddy commented
      Editing a comment
      hey SirSmksAlot, thanks for your comment.

      what i read about Advanced Nutrients with their Senzi grow/bloom nutes is that those are supposed to regulate pH themselves without needing to correct pH.
      supposedly they say that those nutes have something in them that allows nutrient uptake regardless of pH level, essentially you wouldnt have to regulate pH because their formula allows the uptake of the nutes that would otherwise be unavailable if pH wasnt in range.

      they even say not to interfere with correcting pH, as the nutes would be 'fighting' with the pH up/down.

      thats what they say......... can't blame their marketing speak, but would be interested in others' experience use the AN nutes...

      was considering switching to them... even though they are on the expensive side.

    #3
    I'm going to try to leave my reservoir alone next water change and see what happens. It just freaks me out when I'm above 6.5 or below 5

    Comment


    • FlyingDutchPaddy
      FlyingDutchPaddy commented
      Editing a comment
      SirSmksAlot ,

      would love to hear how your grow is going to to go if you're not going to adjust pH for a few weeks...
      see if it really works 'as advertised', regardless of pH levels.

      idea to picture document the state of your plants over the time you're not adjusting for pH?

    #4
    Not to burst your bubble guys but if that worked everyone would be all over that nutrient line. From research it’s all the same thing with different logos on their bottles.. kindda like our cable providers they’re all in it they have an agreement to what they can provide customers and how much they charge same with cell phones and everything else pretty much lol.. Look into organic soil and don’t worry about ph ever again.. oh and it will be a lot cheaper in the long run do some research and start growing damn near for pennies..

    Comment


    • FlyingDutchPaddy
      FlyingDutchPaddy commented
      Editing a comment
      Hi @Cali,

      no bubble busted

      I'm currently using the GH Flora trio series for liquid nutes growing in hydroponics. No soil here for now.

      Cable providers... are limited in speed to what the physical line can support with the technology used "at the last leg" - from central distribution point to your home... assuming they don't artificially throttle the speed of the connection..... In Europe at least.

      Its just the pH down solution used that seems to be of varying quality, or works differently amongst the manufacturers.

    #5
    I've tried AN ph perfect and I have to say it did not work as advertised for me. They have a video on YouTube where they add the whole line to 3 different reservoirs and they all balance immediately to the sweet spot. Every res change I did stabilized at 6.86 or 6.87 exactly every time. So it did work just not the correct ph, but I found if I adjusted the ph every 12 for the first 2 and a half days I wouldn't have to touch it for the rest of the week. If you really read reviews on the line up there are a lot of mixed results. Some people swear by it and some people like myself will never use it again

    Comment


    • FlyingDutchPaddy
      FlyingDutchPaddy commented
      Editing a comment
      Hey Jacob,

      interesting observations.

      would you know if they mentioned what kind of water they started with?
      starting pH / starting ppm...
      soft/hard water...

      thanks!

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