Grow Mediums Maintaining a good ph level in rdwc

[Roodels]

Hi all

I have built my own 4 bucket rdwc with an additional bucket acting as a res. I'm busy with my first grow and it's been a constant battle to maintain the ph in the 5.5 to 5.8 range.

Any advice or tricks would be appreciated.

I am using RO water
Growing COP from Durch passion
They now on week 11 in flower stage.
I have used more than a liter of ph up compared to hardly touching my ph down on this grow.

I am now considering buying an automated dosing pump with probe just to keep the ph more balanced as I have had to adjust the ph daily morning and night.

 

[Animatey]

I am doing ebb and flow and it's similar as far as pH maintenance though not as intensive since the roots are not constantly in the solution.

I notice that a fresh rez is harder to keep in range, but after a couple days of pH down it doesn't drift as much. I also noticed that the better I rinsed and soaked my hydroton the more stable the pH seemed.

If your tap water isn't bad, it might not hurt to cut your RO water with some tap, as tap pH is usually above 7 and seems to buffer better than RO.

 

[Simplicio]

Hi all

I have built my own 4 bucket rdwc with an additional bucket acting as a res. I'm busy with my first grow and it's been a constant battle to maintain the ph in the 5.5 to 5.8 range.

Any advice or tricks would be appreciated.

I am using RO water
Growing COP from Durch passion
They now on week 11 in flower stage.
I have used more than a liter of ph up compared to hardly touching my ph down on this grow.

I am now considering buying an automated dosing pump with probe just to keep the ph more balanced as I have had to adjust the ph daily morning and night.

It's difficult to keep pH and ppm correct with small buckets, and the smaller they are, the harder it is.
You can make some difference by keeping the pH of the storage bucket higher than the plant buckets.

Air dissolving in water produces small amounts of acid that need pH up, but if they need too much, it could be a microbe problem.
I use clorox every day (2 drops per gallon per day), and if pH flucuations happen, I up the dosage, which seems to help. But I don't consider this proved.

Switching to a bigger, single reservoir would help keep fluctuations smaller.
A single, big, reservoir system amounts to a continuously circulating RDWC system, because all the plants are getting the same conditions in the same reservoir.
The heaviest eater can easily thrive on the food that the lightest eater wants when growing multiple strains.

 

[Animatey]

One other thing, if you are not already using Silica, people say it moves pH in the upward direction and is generally beneficial for your plants.

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

 

[KsjAuto]

keep your ppm/ec stable,and your pH should stabilize..


Get to know your setup. before starting making changes is my recommendation.

If you start to automate your ph.. you have no clue about what's going on in your system.

I have the pleasure of using the same system for 6 years now..
If my ppm goes down 40-60 ppm in 24 hours.. my pH ain't moving 1 digit..
Running a 5L res.. 1.5 gal ore thereabouts..


Maybe this will be handy

My 2 cents
Stay green

 

[Muddy]

Hi all

I have built my own 4 bucket rdwc with an additional bucket acting as a res. I'm busy with my first grow and it's been a constant battle to maintain the ph in the 5.5 to 5.8 range.

Any advice or tricks would be appreciated.

I am using RO water
Growing COP from Durch passion
They now on week 11 in flower stage.
I have used more than a liter of ph up compared to hardly touching my ph down on this grow.

I am now considering buying an automated dosing pump with probe just to keep the ph more balanced as I have had to adjust the ph daily morning and night.

If your pH is constantly falling it's a good indicator that your nutrient solution is too strong. Ideally you should see a slight rise in pH and a drop in ppm daily when your plants are feeding correctly. Generally speaking, less is more in RDWC. It's much easier to start at a lower ppm and raise it than it is to try and lower a high ppm. In my 8 pot UC system, I rarely get over about 400 ppm, depending on the strain. My last grow, Tangerine Kush, never got over 300 ppm. Since you are using RO, are you adding any cal/mag to it? If not, you should. Add enough to bring the starting pH of your RO to between 125 and 150 ppm. Then add enough nutrients to bring your ppm to the desired level. Straight RO, without added cal/mag, is pretty unstable and can contribute to pH/ppm stability issues.