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Water, water water 💦

Bigpapa

Bigpapa

New member
I would like to start a discussion about water and what fellow hydroponic growers use. Specifically, those doing DWC. Here is my experience. At the beginning of the 7th week of my first grow and having much success to this point, things have gone haywire. I've been using tap water that has a PH of between 6.3 - 6.5. To this point I had not used any PH Down at all. I have no idea what the PPM of desolved solids are. I had been using General Hydroponics 3 part FloraGrow nutrients at 1/2 of their recommended strength. I had a slight case of nutrient burn but nothing serious. Then I tried to get the PH down below 6 by using General Hydroponics PH Down. While preparing for the next change, I added 4 ml to my 3.5 gallons of my 6.4 PH nutrient water and waited about an hour to retest. The PH was 6.3. So I added another 4 ml and repeated the same wait and retest process. Long story short, it took close to 20 ml of PH Down to get my mixture to just below 6.0. After I changed out my old and added this new mix, within 24 hours my plants began turning brown. So I quickly changed out the water again. This time with plain water. Now I'm waiting to see if my poor plants will recover. I'm looking for advice on water for my next DWC grow.
 
How do the roots look? I'm using pretty much the same setup and nuit's but have not had any issues
 
almost sounds like something in ur res system is reacting... eating up the ph down as u stir it in. I'm DWC also but this is my first grow ever so I'm curious what would cause it. if ur ph is stable in the mix jug, just kinda points to the reservoir. have you changed any equipment inside the res? stones or anything? any soluble adhesives like tape that might be in contact with the water? just trying to help with ur CSI. good luck bp
 
possibly might be your test equipment....usually only need small amount of ph down dude:laugh:
 
I bought the ph tester recommended here on GWE. My next step is to recalibrate it. I need to get deionized water in order to get that done.

I have no adhesives in my tank.

I've been reading a book which I received for xmas on marijuana horticulture. I think that my plants are suffering from a combination of chlorine built up and nutrient burn. I know that doesn't explain my ph issue. But it certainly points me in a direction that makes sense. I'd been letting my water sit overnight before a change. This literature says to let it sit for 3 days to allow the chlorine to completely evaporate. In addition, the nutrient levels they recommend of the brand I am using are minuscule compared to any other that I have seen. Can't wait to apply all that I've learned to my second attempt.
 
What temps are you testing your Ph at? If you aren't on ATC meter you surely will have trouble getting a correct measurement in anything other than 25C! At least my solutions all work on 25C and my ph meter and ec meter suggests i calibrate and measure solutions at that temp for best results! I had done the same thing once i measured during night time without my heater on at 21C temp and added about 5ml in 30lt tank...Luckily i can add more water to lower or raise my EC and PH because i've got into the trouble of measuring my tank at 5 points to know exactly what im looking at in terms of liters!

Hope you get that sorted man! Peace
 
Water should be at room temp most the time if not always when measuring Electrical Conductivity and Ph! Warmer Molecules = Faster Molecules = Bonky Readings (at big differences).

EC as quickly explained by canna.co.uk (happens to be my nute supplier)

EC stands for electrical conductivity, which is the potential of any material to conduct electricity. Although most growers are used to measuring the amount of feed that they give in ounces per gallon, grams per litre, or some other unit of measurement, EC goes a little further than this.
Click to expand...

Peace ;)
 
Im avoiding the extra 35$ per grow in Calmag +++ additives that the 0.90 EC tap water surely contains!
 
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