quick pH question

[primitive]

try using gallon distilled water....adding a few bubble wands weighted down in the rezz and that should help alot- the ppm from the tap water and the water sitting stale in the rez is prolly the culprit. what nutes did you say you were using? if the nuteline is cheeper it may not have the needed buffers to keep the ph stable...something to keep in mind.

is the meter calibrated?

The meter is brand new and calibrated, I got 12in airstones for each 40g rez a few days ago, and as I said I'm using RO water from a unit I just got too. My nutes are mostly AN; sensibloom A/B, sensizyme, carboload, big bud, cal/mag, sweetleaf, plus a dash of superthrive. I also use piranha, tarantula, voodoo juice, bud blood, oregonismXL, barricade and overdrive when they're appropriate but none right now.

 

[BuddyLuv]

The small jumps in pH, like .03 is not really a jump but more like the meter correcting itself. I see you use some powdered nutes which will account for this small fluctuation. If you see jumps like 5.5 then 6.0 I would be worried. Unless you paid 500 bucks for the meter alone they are only acurate to .1%. I would just adjust your pH in the res and then check it about 8 hours later. I let my pH drift from 5.5 all the way up to 6.2 before dropping it back down (sometimes this take 2 days or so). This allows all the nutrients available to the plant since some are absorbed better at low (like N) and some are more available up high (like P). I also noted that you are using carboload. I use it and it will do some whacky stuff to your pH. When I first started using it I barely ever used my pH up, now when I first change my res my pH rises as normal for the first 5 days. On days 6-7 my pH starts dropping. The only thing I added different to the solution is Carboloald so it must be the culprit. However, I have seen a good increase in yield since introducing it to my feedings so having to deal with pH swing will just have to be tolerated.

 

[primitive]

It's not just .03 jumps though back and forth though, it's .03 -.08, changing every few seconds, for a total of sometimes .3 overall change over the course of minute. Could using powdered nutes account for a change like that?

Interesting about the carboload too, thanks for noting that. I've been using the liquid, just because no store around here seems to carry the powder, which are you using?