Does Bubbling your nute solution work?

[Jman]

I have been using a aquarium air pump & stone to bubble my FF TB solution and the PH is not coming up. It has been 2 hours and it hasn't moved.

 

[purplephazes]

if you were to use tap water and sit it in the sun for a day or 2 it drops in ph ..so i guess that if you are bubblng your nute solution it would drop in ph not rise.. is your ph tester calibrated and can you use another tester or kit ! even though most grows start to have N deficiences at week 5 -7 i feel that you will be fine to continue with your bloom nutes with no probs ..now that you have repotted into larger pots let them adjust to the new envioronment !! if you start to change a series of enviormental items i.e ph..nute strength ..lights.. you will find that you may have a series of problems give them time to adjust and don't panic ..they look sweet and will be fine ! test your ph run off to insure that your soil is ok as well 6.5 -6.8 is good ! remember that pot is a tough plant and can handle a fair amount of stress ...but try not to induce stress ... 1 thing at a time !! relax ! peace and take care !!

 

[Jman]

Thanx purp, I beleive you are correct. The PH in the nute solution is going down in PH not up. I feel pretty confident in the advice I have gotten. I would just like to get my nute solutions PH in check before I feed. I haven't done that and I am trying to not let it get out of hand thats all. The FF BB nute solution has good PH did not change at all when I added ferts. The TB is very acidic though and if I am going to keep using it I beleive it will eventually lower my soil PH below optimal range.

 

[dirtyolsouth]

I'm new to organic growing and didn't hear about bubbling nutes to raise ph until recently after digging around on several forums. I've only had to do it 2-3 times but each time it has really worked much to my amazement. I'm in soil and only need 2-3 gallons right now per feed but the more you have the longer it takes. I had to bubble 3 gallons about 6-7 hours to pull it up from 5.4 to 6.0... If you only have a gallon or so it will only take a couple hours. I suppose it would work for a large reservoir of organic nutes if you had enough airstones.

It works well with PureBlend Pro and Bio Biz nutes + additives but everything is organic and from what I understand it speeds up the activity of the organic matter which raises the ph. I bubble tap water 24+ hours to remove the chlorine. I do know that bubbling really speeds up getting chlorine and gaseous solids out of tap water. My ppm before bubbling is around 280-300 and after bubbling for 24 hours it's down around 95. Bubbling may not work with non organic nutes but I'm not sure about TB... I've heard Tiger Bloom is "organic based" but not organic... whatever that means? You should try it again for a longer period to see if it starts rising after 3-4 hours. Once it starts to go up keep an eye on it every 20 minutes or so because it rises pretty steadily and if it goes too far just unplug your pump and it will go back down in time.

Happy Growing!

 

[Jman]

OK the verdict is in. I bubbled FF TB overnight and the PH did not change. So TB is not a true organic fert. FF BB however did adjust accordingly with bubbling. Just a little info for anyone who needs it in the future.

 

[dirtyolsouth]

OK the verdict is in. I bubbled FF TB overnight and the PH did not change. So TB is not a true organic fert. FF BB however did adjust accordingly with bubbling. Just a little info for anyone who needs it in the future.

Hmmm.... When you bubble the TB it was only TB with the water...? or did you add the TB to your BB in the nute mix?

 

[Jman]

Just TB. Without any success, so I went and bought some aquarium PH up. Hope this works. Just not sure about it harming the microbes in the soil.

 

[blackwind]

I wonder if this is a true change in the PH or if the heavy aeration just affects the meters ability to measure the Hydrogen Ions?

 

[Jman]

I use three methods of testing when it is serious. Digital, drops, and test strips. They are all within .1 in ph of eachother.

 

[Jman]

If aeration was the cause then aerating it overnite would have acheived that. and it did not change.

 

[CoolAsAFan]

where are people getting this info on bubbling nute solution to raise ph? links please. if your promoting microbial activity, your ph will lower, not raise. if ph is rising from aeration, i believe that would be most likely due to evaporation of certain elements in your nutes/water. from what i understand FFTB is a true organic nute. get some ph up, its cheap. better yet, get some dolimite lime since your going organic.

 

[Jman]

Cool, I beleive that you may be correct. However I have heard many different things about TB. This is only my second grow so I by no means am an expert. Is it organic or not. That is the question. I got my info from mrwakenbake. I do use the bubble technique on my already low PH water and it works beautifully. Not only for raising PH but for aerating my water. I got some PH up.

 

[dirtyolsouth]

Hi Coolasafan...

I only recently began growing organic and researched the best ways to adjust ph organically when using soil. Tiger Bloom is an "organic-based" nutrient but is not considered a "true organic" fertilizer... whatever THAT means. I'm thinking that Jman not having any success with bubbling his TB confirms that it doesn't react organically to aeration. Here are a few links to discussions on organic ph adjustment but there are many more out there, especially in the Organic FAQ links on some sites...

http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/showthread.php?t=14481

http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/showthread.php?t=34693

http://forum.grasscity.com/organic-growing/354699-nute-useage-earth-juice-grow.html

I don't know about the scientific theories as to WHY it works but IME it works... I alternate between Pure Blend Pro and Bio Biz nutes and they usually mix up at around 5.4 ph. After bubbling my nutes in a bucket for about half a day the ph starts to climb and I've noticed it will go right past 6.3 if you don't keep an eye on it and will go back down slowly when you stop the bubbling. I have noticed that smaller amounts of organic solution react faster so if you do it to 5+ gallons it would probably take many airstones and more time.

It may seem goofy but it works great for me... Jman... Why don't you try mixing up a full nute solution: BigBud + Tiger Bloom together adjusted to your desired ppm and bubble the nutes to see if it reacts with BigBud in the mix...?

Also... From other posts I've seen that Earth Juice makes an organic "Natural PH Up" and a "Natural PH Down" that's in a crystal form to mix into your nutes for adjustment. I plan on picking some of that up sometime to see how well it works for when I don't have the time to bubble for a day.

Happy Growing!

 

[docfishwrinkle]

Just TB. Without any success, so I went and bought some aquarium PH up. Hope this works. Just not sure about it harming the microbes in the soil.

no the microherd in soil will not be harmed by the ph up. there are many bacterias in aquaria that are beneficial in assisting in waste breakdown & if it destroyed them the tank would crash & fish die.

 

[Jman]

one thing doc, if I have to use the ph up everytime I feed TB. Won't it build up in the soil and eventually leed to high soil PH? The products website states that the ph up does not contain phosphates.

 

[CoolAsAFan]

yea u guys are right about TB not being 100% organic (along with alot of others in there line up)

Ingredients: Calcium Nitrate, Magnesium Nitrate, Ammonium Nitrate, Ammonium Phosphate, Potassium Phosphate, Potassium Nitrate, Earthworm Castings, Norwegian Kelp, iron EDTA, zinc EDTA, manganese EDTA, copper EDTA, chelating agent, Disodium Ethylenediamine Tetra Acetate (EDTA), sodium borate, and sodium molybdate.

Ammonium Nitrate, Potassium nitrate, EDTA's= chemically synthesized

jman, you dont need to worry about the ph up building up, you need to worry about the salt building up as most of the ingrediants are salt based= lower ph.

 

[Jman]

Would it be a good Idea to flush my soil 1/2 way through flowering, Or would that do more harm than good?
Have you seen pics in GJ these plants are crazy flowering.....http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/showthread.php?t=41308

 

[CoolAsAFan]

flushing is definately a plus, you might even go more then once in flower...hopefully someone with more flushing experience will chime in. im sure if you do a search you will find some good info.

p.s. your girls look lovely!

 

[Jman]

Would a nice flush be beneficial for them during flowering. My runoff is good PH. its varies a little from plant to plant but it is between 6.6 and 6.3. a little acidic but not bad by any means.

 

[CoolAsAFan]

im an organic guy so im not too familiar with salt build up. after a quick search i found these threads, havent read them but im sure they will point you in the right direction. that search feature sure is something

http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/showthread.php?t=42620
http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/showthread.php?t=42048
http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/showthread.php?t=26595