PH flux

[mazda3234wd]

Hey guys,

just got a quick question, will post some pics of current grow soon, I had a mate give me some Skunk1 clones and Uk cheese and there looking great. apart from some PH probs again...
Ive looked and looked and cant find anytihng...
So the problem is.. the last time i did nutes on 2 seperate systems my ph now does this on my meter, 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7.5.8 blah blah and repeats it.. in other words my PH is all over the place.. one system is flood and drain coco and the other system is DWC, totally different and both of them are doing this after adding PH down to them last night after nute changes... I use growthtechnology PH down..

can anyone maybe give me a clue to wat ive done wrong here? been doing nutes for years and ive never seen this.

 

[pcduck]

If using city water most likely has buffers added to the water to stabilize it at what the government standard is for pH. To counter act these buffers try aerating with air for 24 hrs after adjusting pH, then readjust if needed or use R/O water. Before adding to main reservoir/buckets.

 

[Greenhead]

Recalibrate your PH meter and as said above as well. Water temp can cause some meters to read funny also.

 

[mazda3234wd]

I probably should have explained better.

i use tap water, have to over 10 years soits nothing new.. Ph is always fun and games... but wat i have been seeing last few days has spun me right out and keep in mind i run 4 different type of systems so would take a while to run you through them.. Where the problem lies is on my flood and drain coco table.. the last nute change, did as normal.. fill it up with water thats sat out over night bubbling.. 30L and then i add bottle A nute and mix like a mad man, and then add bottle Band mix mix mix, and then add a bit of super thrive and silicon if im feeling happy..

Now this change i did and stick my ph meter in and it just goes mental,, it reads from 5.2 to 6 in about half a second.. it does not sit on a number, jsut keeps going from 5.2 to 6 in 1 second then repeat... and does not ever settle down.. batterys are fine.. i put meter in the system next to it which is not using cana coco nutes and it reads a nice 5.8....

has anyone ever seen this?

 

[pcduck]

sounds like it needs re-calibrated or is broke.

My new meters do this until I calibrate them.

 

[mazda3234wd]

ok fair enough... I stated that i have another system right next to this one and it reads fine... so it is not the ph meter... I have 2 anyway, 1 as a back up and there both doing the same thing....

So im guessing no one has ever seen this before... Ill email canna and ask them... WIll post when i get a reply, id say the nutes have had light hit them and there off

 

[DonJones]

Regardless of what you say about it not being the meter, there is something causing the meter to not read properly. If the meter is reading okay, then you have something very weird in the solution. Have you tried bubbling the solution for a little while to see if that helps?

I will be very surprised if Canna owns up to any possibility that their nutes can be causing this and I will almost guarantee that SuperThrive will blame it on either Canna or the silicon additive.

My suggestion is this, start another batch and check the PH at each step of the way before proceeding to the next step. That way you can narrow down what is triggering it. For instance, if the water alone works okay, then you can pretty well eliminate it as the cause. If the part a doesn't cause it, then that alone isn't the cause. If adding part B doesn't cause it then it probably isn't the nutes and so on. When it starts acting up, probably the last thing you did is where the problems is. Are any of these things new batches of nutes or additives? Maybe you just got a bad bottle of something.

I'm guessing that you meter is reading weird due to something in the solution because it is impossible for PH to go up and then back down over and over again that fast. It could move one way fast, but not up and down both that fast without something in the chemistry being changed to cause it oscillate like that. Even then it would eventually settle at some point.

Good luck and please let us know what you find.

Good smoking.

 

[mazda3234wd]

hey champ.. thanks for the reply.. I actually did exactly what you said yesterday... emptied res again and filled with just normal water and then checked with Ph meter and guess wat.... its going crazy again, so ive put this down to either... something has grown in the res, either on air stones, water pump or its the fact that there is a white lining of stuff around the top half of the res, where water doesnt touch.. also where this grow room is its all sand stone around it,, wondering if that could have anytihng to do with it... so anyway, about to pull res out and clean, see if i can figure out where this is coming from...

Rather strange i thought

 

[DonJones]

I agree that it is strange. You might also contact the meter manufacturer's tech department and discuss it with them, because the meter is doing something weird.

Try running some water in a clean bucket and see if it happens there too or just in the rez.

Good luck.

Great smoking.