Keeping ph in check

Fibbage3

Fibbage3

Member
hi all,

I’m having some issues with my first grow. Hoping for some pointers.

I am in week 4 of veg and my plant growth appears stunted. I’ve been having trouble keeping my ph in an appropriate range, I usually check 3-4 times a day (once in the am before work, then 2-3 times at night after work). Every time I check my ph seems to swing up to 7.50, so I put some ph down solution in, usually bringing it to about 5.8-6.1 then leave it for a bit. It’ll stay at the right range for an hour or so, but I’ll check like 5 hours later and the ph is back up. What can I do??

Also, can you identify any issues with my plant so far? Is this root rot? It is almost like a brown slime, and the bucket is starting to have a bit of a chemically smell to it. The leaves are wilting a bit too. I am considering flushing it with hydrogen peroxide but don’t know how to do it effectively. Thanks for any suggestions in advance.

-Ppm around 900
-Ph I try to keep between 5.8-6.1 but it often goes rogue and ups to 7.50 or so.
-water temp around 69F
-room temp around 75F
-humidity around 35%
-strain is kosher kush started from clone
 

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shawnery

shawnery

Well-Known Member
Yes you have root issues. Treat with 4ml of 35% h202 per gallon and clean out your system and refill. If you cant get 35% you can use 3% in a bind but must change to 40ml per gallon.

Your ppm is on the high side and more for a plant double that size. High levels of nutrients can cause root problems by itself. Lower your nutrients to 500ppm when you refill your system.

Your ph should never swing that much and all that ph product is going to effect your plant and roots as well.

So,

Empty system, clean out and refill with h202 treated water as suggested above. While your doing this, if you can, have your planta sitting in a separate container with h202 solution as well. Set your ppm at 500 and your ph @ 5.5 and see what happens in a couple days and post back
 
Fibbage3

Fibbage3

Member
shawnery said:
Empty system, clean out and refill with h202 treated water as suggested above. While your doing this, if you can, have your planta sitting in a separate container with h202 solution as well. Set your ppm at 500 and your ph @ 5.5 and see what happens in a couple days and post back
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This might be a stupid question, but should the roots be submerged in the h2o2 treated water?

Also - I don’t have RO water, so I’ve been going to my local water store to fill up jugs. can I use tap water for the h2o2 treatment or is it best to stick with the filtered water (the guy at the water store confirmed its RO)
 
shawnery

shawnery

Well-Known Member
Stick with RO for treatment and yes submerge the roots when cleaning.

Then add 2ml per gallon everyday to be safe.

You can also try hydroguard but that would be instead of h202 not with it.
 
Fibbage3

Fibbage3

Member
Also - should I leave the plant in just h2o2 treated water for a set time, say 12 hours before mixing in any nutrients? I will definitely dial back the nutrients.. originally I was following the guide provided by the nutrient company (green planet nutrients), but I’ve since read that you should use 50% of what they suggest
 
shawnery

shawnery

Well-Known Member
Just fill the syate3m back up with 500ppm or lower solution after cleaning and when treating plant in seperate container if you are no nutes needed.
 
Fibbage3

Fibbage3

Member
shawnery said:
Stick with RO for treatment and yes submerge the roots when cleaning.

Then add 2ml per gallon everyday to be safe.

You can also try hydroguard but that would be instead of h202 not with it.
Click to expand...
Thanks, any idea why the ph fluctuates back up to 7.50 so frequently? Could it be a result of the high level of nutrients?
 
Fibbage3

Fibbage3

Member
shawnery said:
Yes you have root issues. Treat with 4ml of 35% h202 per gallon and clean out your system and refill. If you cant get 35% you can use 3% in a bind but must change to 40ml per gallon.

Your ppm is on the high side and more for a plant double that size. High levels of nutrients can cause root problems by itself. Lower your nutrients to 500ppm when you refill your system.

Your ph should never swing that much and all that ph product is going to effect your plant and roots as well.

So,

Empty system, clean out and refill with h202 treated water as suggested above. While your doing this, if you can, have your planta sitting in a separate container with h202 solution as well. Set your ppm at 500 and your ph @ 5.5 and see what happens in a couple days and post back
Click to expand...
I am trying this out, hope it works. Here is what I’ve done..

I put 4.5 gallons of RO water in my 5 gallon container, mixed in 15ml of 29% h2o2 (it’s less than you recommended, just want to be on the safe side). Ph for this is set at 6.10 (I figured I’d leave it at that instead of adding ph down for the flush). I plan on letting the roots sit in this water for 12-18 hours.

Next, I will poor another 4.5 gallons of RO water in a new bucket, and will manage my ph prior to adding the nutrients (should already be around 6.10 but I might bring down to 5.5 or so). When adding nutrients, I will do 30-50% of the suggested servings (since my ppm was actually 1200 when my nutrients were added before, and I diluted down to the 900 ppm that I mentioned). My main question is, will adding nutrients affect my ph? I never paid attention to the ph before adding nutrients, I usually checked after adding them in the past.

Thank you for your help and suggestions!
 
Fibbage3

Fibbage3

Member
5BY5LEC said:
What kind of air pump are you using?
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Marina model 75. 60L/hour according to the package. I was using ecoair 793g/h before but it was too loud and generated too much heat for the water temp. Thinking about upsizing to the marina 100 or 200 for a little extra oxygen, thoughts?

Edit: I bought the ecoair originally because I was going to do rdwc with some very large totes. It would have been suitable for those, but was definitely not suitable for 1 5g dwc system. Saving it for when I’m more experienced and confident with rdwc
 
5BY5LEC

5BY5LEC

Well-Known Member
I used two of those ecoair pumps for my grow, they did very well. More oxygen would do you well I think, get a more powerful pump.
I am no expert but when I see your pics I see what presents as a Mg issue, edges/tips burned from PPM's too high and wilted leaves caused by an oxygen issue.
900 ppms, what kind of nutes are you using?
In a nutshell I am saying pump more air and less nutes in there and use some calmag if are arent already. I was at 600ppm in flower and still burned them a little. More air equals less nutrients needed as well.
 
shawnery

shawnery

Well-Known Member
I agree about the air but if you add 2ml per gallon of h202 everyday, you'll have more then enough.
 
polishpollack

polishpollack

Well-Known Member
If this is indeed a brown slime, then you have algae growing in the bucket choking your roots. Research how to deal with algae in hydro. Hydroguard might be the best bet.
 
Fibbage3

Fibbage3

Member
polishpollack said:
If this is indeed a brown slime, then you have algae growing in the bucket choking your roots. Research how to deal with algae in hydro. Hydroguard might be the best bet.
Click to expand...
Here are pics as of a few minutes ago.. does that look like algae?

I’ve been using hygrozyme, and just read that may be the cause of the slime..
 

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5BY5LEC

5BY5LEC

Well-Known Member
shawnery said:
I agree about the air but if you add 2ml per gallon of h202 everyday, you'll have more then enough.[/QUOTE
I don't think adding h202 will raise dissolved oxygen very much, maybe for a very short time. I would not consider it any kind of alternative to a decent air pump. You need to start with more air, because that will help keep the rot away in itself.
Click to expand...
 
polishpollack

polishpollack

Well-Known Member
Can't tell in photo if it's water or slime. Only you can judge. It's possible for nutrients to stain roots and that's not usually a problem. If it really looks like slime then it's probably algae.
 
Fibbage3

Fibbage3

Member
polishpollack said:
Can't tell in photo if it's water or slime. Only you can judge. It's possible for nutrients to stain roots and that's not usually a problem. If it really looks like slime then it's probably algae.
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Have a feeling it’s algae. Any idea how I can get rid of it? I’ve been using hygrozyme and recently read that may induce algae growth?
 
polishpollack

polishpollack

Well-Known Member
best thing to do is make sure there's no light getting into the bucket because that's what algae feeds on. If you can't stop it you'll have to start over, clean everything to kill the algae and stop any light leaks. Use distilled or sterilized water too.
 
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