Too Much Nutrient/Ph?

ImmaBeatThatAzz

Active Member
I am using an active Ebb and Flow system with 5 plants and I'm noticing some of my leaves are burnt/turning slightly brown on the ends. From Window's guide and what I've read here, I was thinking the issue is either high PH, too much nutrient, or both.

I am using Ionnic Grow and it says use 5mls per liter or 4 tsp a gallon. I think my issue is since I bought this system a few yrs ago, I do not remember the actually amount of water it holds, so I may have over-nuted. For some reason I keep reviewing my notes and thought my tank held 50 gallons. So I ended up almost putting 2 cups in when I calcuted my 4 tsps per gallon mess.

I'm going on the 4th week of veg and tested the PH with 2 seperate kits; the older kit gave me 5.0 and the newer kit gave me 6.4. Yes, I am currently using PH drops and I do think it's time to buy a digital tester. Ionic Grow says the PH should be between 5.8 - 6.2, I have papers that say 5.5 for veg, and so on.

There is an excess built up in the tub, which I'm thinking is salt. I figure this may be a good time to flush the system and start fresh. My questions are:

Should I just flush the rockwool wiht fresh water and keep what is in the tub, just balancing the PH?

Should I dump the tub, using a pitcher and measure how much water it holds, then add the nutes and balance the PH?

What should the PH really be right now?

I have a MH/HPS light that is more than 4 ft above the plants, so heat is not an issue. There is a cooling fan fo rthe light as well as an additional fan on the plants themselves. The temp of the closets stays in the 80s and never goes above 89 degrees. This is only my 2nd attempt, but I already see the mistakes I did before and would like to correct this before it's too late.

Also, I'm running my light on an 18/6 with 5 floods, so I'm thinking it's not from overwatering either. I added some tap water the other day before I checked the PH and I notice there are less burnt leaves, which also makes me think this is linked to the over-nuting. Any help/opinions are greatly appreciated.
 

tony maglone

Well-Known Member
Hi mate,
Measure the water as u put it into ure tank for instance i have two 14 litre buckets that i fill up again as soon as i use it so it can can for a few days,that way u know exactly how much nute to put in,
i would put your lamp lower onto the plants especially if heat is no prob, the lower the better if your worried about burning them place ure hand at the top of the highest plant if it burns your hand its to close.
4th week veggin wondering if you thought about flipping them mate there gonna be monsters how tall are they now>
 

ImmaBeatThatAzz

Active Member
Thanks for the response.

Ok so I found a measuring tape and my tallest is 15-16inches tall. The light is less than 3 ft away from my tallest plant and it's suspended from the ceiling. My hand is not hot at all when I place it between the plants anf the light.

Sometimes I wish we were using buckets. I will take some pics later so you can see the set up, but my system has a HUGE tank in it. So my baies have been in the system since 11/3 and I just added 2 pitchers of water 3 days ago, since it was down to 1/4 left. It can take a month to fully drain it.

So if I dump what's in it, carefully measure what is put in (in a smaller amount), I can stay on top of PH and nutes, as well as replace the water more often?
 

tony maglone

Well-Known Member
Hi your welcome hope i helped a little, a pic of your system would be great..i think i know what its like i use nft hydro so its a little different i change my water 1 time every week but its really important to know exactly how much nutrient your putting in to the water... Attention to detail take care of the little things....
 

potroast

Uses the Rollitup profile
Maybe you mixed too much nutrient to start with, but with every time you irrigate, the nutrient strength goes up. This is because the plants use more water than nutes. So you have to adjust the nutrient soup regularly by topping off with plain, pH-adjusted water.

Dump your entire rez and refill with fresh water and nutes, and then top off with plain water to keep same amount in rez. When you have added back enough plain water to equal the amount in the rez, it's time to change again.

HTH :mrgreen:
 
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