DWC crazy PH 8+ and won't stop rising!

I'm a newer grower when it comes to hydro so I did what I could.. but this is my second grow and both had this same exact problem! The problem I'm having is no matter how much I adjust the PH it just jumps back up to 8+ within a day! Now I also added subculture b to try to kill the root rot that was in my last grow, so I've added it to this one also to prevent it from happening again. The strange thing is that each time after adding subculture b a large growth of strange foam appears.
Really, the reason why I've made this account is to ask why this is happening and how to correct it. I don't want my little ones being PH locked out from key nutes!
I'm using the General Organics grow box for nutes in an 18 gallon tote. I used distilled water to start then PH adjusted it to 6, added the nutes which balanced it to 4.9 so I figured the PH would be great! But 2 days later here I am at almost 9. I have a bubble stone and a top feed to all 4 little clones I just got. The temperature is 75-79 f at all times with light on 20 hours.

Is there a brown snot looking slim on the roots?

Root rot will have your ph going nutz, usually the cause of root rot will either be to high a water temp, or over feeding.
Water temps 20c no higher, ph should be between 5.5 and 6.5 nor more no less.
As far EC for small plants or clones start at say EC 0.4 to 0.7 max
Large Plants max EC in flower 1.0.

Above figures for EC based on 0.2 from the tap.

zypheruk said:

Root rot will have your ph going nutz, usually the cause of root rot will either be to high a water temp, or over feeding.
Water temps 20c no higher, ph should be between 5.5 and 6.5 nor more no less.
As far EC for small plants or clones start at say EC 0.4 to 0.7 max
Large Plants max EC in flower 1.0.

Above figures for EC based on 0.2 from the tap.

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I'm not sure how the EC converts, but the ppm is only 250..

manonfire8691 said:

I'm using the General Organics grow box for nutes

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that's your problem right there.

rkymtnman said:

that's your problem right there.

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Oh! Could you give me some reasons why? Also, what would you suggest for me that's within a reasonable price range? Keep in mind I'm not trying to grow for all of Colorado or anything lol

manonfire8691 said:

Oh! Could you give me some reasons why? Also, what would you suggest for me that's within a reasonable price range? Keep in mind I'm not trying to grow for all of Colorado or anything lol

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organics and dwc don't play well together. as you are seeing right now. better off with synthetic nutes.

i personally use GH floranova bloom. you can use it from start to finish. same with GH maxibloom powder. but you need to weigh it out fairly precisely. GH flora series (micro, bloom, grow) is also really good.

i've never tried the subculture but it's supposed to work good. hydroguard or something similar also works well in dwc.

rkymtnman said:

organics and dwc don't play well together. as you are seeing right now. better off with synthetic nutes.

i personally use GH floranova bloom. you can use it from start to finish. same with GH maxibloom powder. but you need to weigh it out fairly precisely. GH flora series (micro, bloom, grow) is also really good.

i've never tried the subculture but it's supposed to work good. hydroguard or something similar also works well in dwc.

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So a full flush and nutrient swap should fix my problem? What about the clay pellets, should I try to change them out? They have a weird white film growing on them where my top feed emits at the base of the plant..

SouthCross said:

Is there a brown snot looking slim on the roots?

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Well they're such young clones that I can't see the roots from under the net pot yet.. the cuttings did root but they're not that far along yet, its literally only day 5 haha

Put some tin foil over the tops of the clay pebbles this will stop your salt build up your seeing. Pour clean PH 5.5 water over the pebbles to flush them, and then flush the actual system out with ph'd water, it will help clean off the roots and keep the ph more in balance.

manonfire8691 said:

So a full flush and nutrient swap should fix my problem? What about the clay pellets, should I try to change them out? They have a weird white film growing on them where my top feed emits at the base of the plant..

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that should be a great start.
you mentioned your temps at high 70s'. is that water temp or room temp?

one thing that you might want to consider if you plan on staying iwth dwc is a aquarium chiller. they are expensive ($2-300) but well worth it in dwc. you really want your water temps around 65 to 68F max.

and @zypheruk is spot on about what to do too with the hydroton.

I just purchased this for my new nutes..
So I should cover the pebbles and the base of the plant with aluminum foil, flush the pebbles with PH'd water, replace the solution with PH'd water treated with my new nutes.. other than the chiller I cannot yet afford, can you guys think of anything else? I really appreciate this by the way!

start off your nutes at about half what GH says on the recirculating feed chart

keep pH 5.5 to 6.1

good luck!

The white on your rocks is probably mold. Put covers over them.

No mention of the water you are using. Really hard water will come down at first when pH down is used and then rise overnight to it's original level as the acid is used up.

I avoid all that by only using RO water and pH Perfect nutes so I only monitor ppm.

Take a gallon of your water then pH it down then check 12 hours later and pH down again if needed. Do that until the pH remains stable then add up the amount of down used to know how much you need to make it remain stable.

With hard water it must be changed often so any money you save using tap instead of RO is lost by tossing out good nutes by doing changes much more often.

Much less hassle with pure water and other than Scott's/Mon$anto/Bayer/GH nutes.

OldMedUser said:

No mention of the water you are using. Really hard water will come down at first when pH down is used and then rise overnight to it's original level as the acid is used up.

I avoid all that by only using RO water and pH Perfect nutes so I only monitor ppm.

Take a gallon of your water then pH it down then check 12 hours later and pH down again if needed. Do that until the pH remains stable then add up the amount of down used to know how much you need to make it remain stable.

With hard water it must be changed often so any money you save using tap instead of RO is lost by tossing out good nutes by doing changes much more often.

Much less hassle with pure water and other than Scott's/Mon$anto/Bayer/GH nutes.

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Somewhere in this post he said that distilled water is what he uses.

Did you get any signs of root growth yet?
I use a 4" rockwool cube surrounded by hydroton and it can be a week or longer before I get any signs. During the period when the roots aren't submerged I add a dribbler line to keep the rockwool moist. I also keep the surface covered with the hydroton and I don't get any growth of algae.

firsttimeARE said:

The white on your rocks is probably mold. Put covers over them.

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It could also be salt buildup if its right below the top drip feed. I used to get that all the time with top drips on my hydroton.

You can tell if its salt or mold just my looking at it - if its more off white and fuzzy then obviously its mold, but if its stark white, looks water stained and doesn't rub off easily its likely salts.

firsttimeARE said:

The white on your rocks is probably mold. Put covers over them.

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Could be salt buildup. Tough to say without a pic.

I fear that since we haven't heard from him in awhile that his roots were dead and the plant followed shortly thereafter...

@rkymtnman you have him excellent advice for DWC but it might have been a bit too late in this case.