Hydroton raised my ph

BillyBobJoe said:

Just thought i'd share this. PH'd my water prior to hydroton and after and noticed it had raised my ph. i thought they advertised hydroton as ph balanced?

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The original Hydroton brand name (actually from a specific mine in Germany) shut down awhile back. Now the market has lightweight expanded clay aggregate (LECA) from mines all over the place/world... you never know quite what you might get as far as quality and pH neutral-ness. But IMO, it's more important than ever to thoroughly wash and then soak LECA before use. pH adjust the soaking water if needed.

That said, are you sure it's your LECA? Are you trying to pH water with low/no nutrients in it?

ZenWolf said:

The original Hydroton brand name (actually from a specific mine in Germany) shut down awhile back. Now the market has lightweight expanded clay aggregate (LECA) from mines all over the place/world... you never know quite what you might get as far as quality and pH neutral-ness. But IMO, it's more important than ever to thoroughly wash and then soak LECA before use. pH adjust the soaking water if needed.

That said, are you sure it's your LECA? Are you trying to pH water with low/no nutrients in it?

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Original post was 10 years ago. I bumped with a reply because im having same issue and im comparing to same nute batch left over in res without hydroton. Check out the post before yours.

The instructions I remember reading about clay pebbles was wash then soak overnight in low ph solution, pH 5.0 if I mind right.

Star Dog said:

The instructions I remember reading about clay pebbles was wash then soak overnight in low ph solution, pH 5.0 if I mind right.

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Interesting, that probably would have corrected the issue im having. Im curious, where did you read that? Instructions on a hydroton bag or somewhere else? Most others are suggesting that it is inert and should have no effect on ph, but it sounds like it tends to be basic.

DWCgrower406 said:

Original post was 10 years ago. I bumped with a reply because im having same issue and im comparing to same nute batch left over in res without hydroton. Check out the post before yours.

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Oh I got you - I didn't even look at the posting date.

Out of curiosity, are you having to use a lot of pH adjuster to get it back down each time? Or just a minimal amount each time your adjust?

DWCgrower406 said:

Interesting, that probably would have corrected the issue im having. Im curious, where did you read that? Instructions on a hydroton bag or somewhere else? Most others are suggesting that it is inert and should have no effect on ph, but it sounds like it tends to be basic.

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That used to be the case when Hydroton was coming from a specific mine in Germany that was both ideal in clay composition and the company that produced the Hydroton had very tight controls and testing. Nowadays, it's a gamble on what you get when it comes to the pH of LECA out of the bag; and depending on what mine it came from (chemical composition can be different) and if the company does any quality control or not.

That's not to say LECA is any worse or less usable now than it used to be but you really want to make sure you rinse it well and also do a pH adjustment to it from soaking if needed.

DWCgrower406 said:

Interesting, that probably would have corrected the issue im having. Im curious, where did you read that? Instructions on a hydroton bag or somewhere else? Most others are suggesting that it is inert and should have no effect on ph, but it sounds like it tends to be basic.

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Wash.
Wash again.
And again.
Soak in PH'd water overnight.

Wash it well and soak it or you'll have issues. (Especially Mother Earth. Wash it about 10x...)

DWCgrower406 said:

Interesting, that probably would have corrected the issue im having. Im curious, where did you read that? Instructions on a hydroton bag or somewhere else? Most others are suggesting that it is inert and should have no effect on ph, but it sounds like it tends to be basic.

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I can't remember where I read it bud that was a few years back.
Edit to change link.
Check hydroton and ph - houzz

ZenWolf said:

Oh I got you - I didn't even look at the posting date.

Out of curiosity, are you having to use a lot of pH adjuster to get it back down each time? Or just a minimal amount each time your adjust?

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It takes a pretty small amount. About 10 drops to go from 6.5 to 5.8 in about 2 gallons. Checked this morning and its still drifting but getting better. It was at 6.25.

DWCgrower406 said:

It takes a pretty small amount. About 10 drops to go from 6.5 to 5.8 in about 2 gallons. Checked this morning and its still drifting but getting better. It was at 6.25.

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Well if the nutrient solution mix is weak (and I think you mentioned your plants are young?), the water isn't going to have much in the way of buffers. And for what it does have, and for the medium being neutral'ish in pH, it would be normal for the pH to drift back towards neutral.

ZenWolf said:

Well if the nutrient solution mix is weak (and I think you mentioned your plants are young?), the water isn't going to have much in the way of buffers. And for what it does have, and for the medium being neutral'ish in pH, it would be normal for the pH to drift back towards neutral.

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I would agree, but remember im comparing it to the leftover 2gal in my res which has stayed dead on 5.8 with no adjustment. Only difference is no hydroton touching that 2 gal.

Edit: oh i see what you mean, neutral hydroton pulling it to neutral. But is "neutral" and "inert" really the same? I thought inert meant it should have no effect on ph at all, not actually pull it towards 7

DWCgrower406 said:

I would agree, but remember im comparing it to the leftover 2gal in my res which has stayed dead on 5.8 with no adjustment. Only difference is no hydroton touching that 2 gal.

Edit: oh i see what you mean, neutral hydroton pulling it to neutral. But is "neutral" and "inert" really the same? I thought inert meant it should have no effect on ph at all, not actually pull it towards 7

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Getting into chemistry weeds here (for me as I just play a mad scientist on YT). But my experience has been that LECA is not strictly pH neutral and varies a lot from batch to batch now even if it's from the brand/supply. But beyond that, LECA is absorbent and who knows what liquids or dust it gets exposed to from the factory to a bag to a shelf to your net pot and into your nutrient solution to be released. The clay itself may be mostly pH inert but salts and chemicals of all kinds abound in mines and manufacturing that could be retained on the surface, pores, and within.

Ran across this thread this morning looking for an explanation on the rise of my ph.
I have one DWC with no Hydroton and perfect PH, with 4 vegging plants. And I have 4 DWC 5 g buckets with 6 inch pots filled with hydroton, and seedling. The Hydroton DWC Buckets are rising about 3 points in PH every 8 hours. I'm using GH nutes, and GH PH down.
Im checking the PH with a Bluelab Combo meter.
I'm about to start 4 more 5 gallon buckets and do some experiments soaking the Hydroton first.

Cured said:

Ran across this thread this morning looking for an explanation on the rise of my ph.
I have one DWC with no Hydroton and perfect PH, with 4 vegging plants. And I have 4 DWC 5 g buckets with 6 inch pots filled with hydroton, and seedling. The Hydroton DWC Buckets are rising about 3 points in PH every 8 hours. I'm using GH nutes, and GH PH down.
Im checking the PH with a Bluelab Combo meter.
I'm about to start 4 more 5 gallon buckets and do some experiments soaking the Hydroton first.

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Yep, all same here, gh nutes and rising ph in the hydroton only. Out of curiosity, which brand of hydroton? Mine is "grow!t", ordered on amazon. Looks maybe cheaper than Stuff i used years ago. Rather than mostly nice round balls, its more irregularly shaped. I will say its getting better. Been about a week now, originally was rising like 6 points in 12 hours, now more like 2 points. Ive been adjusting once per day down to 5.6 and correcting at 6.

Mother earth

@DWCgrower406 @Cured

just curious: are you both top feeding your DWC? or is the pH climb just from water splashing on the bottom of your netpots?

all of my hydroton is almost 10 yrs old so it's stable now but still will give off a bit of dust when i wash it.

rkymtnman said:

@DWCgrower406 @Cured

just curious: are you both top feeding your DWC? or is the pH climb just from water splashing on the bottom of your netpots?

all of my hydroton is almost 10 yrs old so it's stable now but still will give off a bit of dust when i wash it.

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No top feeding here, but i have water level about an inch up the net pot. They are young seedlings. First roots reaching outside net pot today.

Cured said:

Mother earth

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You can get that exact brand from Ace Hardware for about half the cost for future reference (and if you are in the US of course).

Ok guys..
Mother Earth Hydroton...
Washed in 5.8 PH adjusted R/O water, then soaked 48 hours in 5.8 PH adjusted R/O water.
PH went from 5.8 to 8.6 in that 48 hours.

The original 4 DWC Buckets finally stabilized after adjusting the PH twice a day for 4 days.

If you're feeling experimental... Try letting the hydroton dry out before soaking and pH adjusting. Otherwise, maybe just go a bad batch of hydroton if you're confident you've eliminated other variables besides the hydroton.