just started my hydro grow, a few questions...

hey guys as most of you know i'm switching to hydro and have just recently put one of my seedlings about a week or so old into my coco grower and mixed up 1/4 strength nutes, when i added this nutrient mix the ppm was 165 and the ph was 5.5. not even 24 hours after i added this mix i went to check and the ppm was 470 and ph was 6.5. i don't understand why these levels could jump so much...? also i wanted to know how you guys keep your water in the res warm? i heard the water in hydro systems is supposed to be between 65 and 80 degrees farenheit. i dont have a temp right now for my water but i warmed it up the best i could inside a 5 gallon bucket and then ran the bath full of hot water and let it sit in there. i am really dumbfounded at this moment because i thought hydo was gonna be alot easier than this.. any help would be much appreciated..thanks, nugz

 

Hey Nugz, I don't know to much about hydro, but I have watched a video on it and they used a fish tank heater to heat the water in the sump. Later

 

nugz, not sure about the temp of the water, but for ph concerns i have one suggestion. you might try the "Supernatural" brand nutrients for soil-less mediums (supernaturalbrand.com). their powdered nutrient mixes are "pH smart" meaning even a half-teaspoon will ph balance your water to optimal range. in fact, if you use their powder and then try to use pH up or down, it will just fuck things up more. give it a try, takes the guesswork out of pH consistency.

 

well camp i paid over $250 bucks on the canna aqua line of nutrients so i'm not really planning on spending any more besides these nutes are supposed to be ph buffered already. besides the rhizotonic which raises the ph slightly, i just dont understand how the ph and ppm could move that much in that little of time. oh and greenjeans thanks for the heads up. if any hydro experts could give me a clue as to why this is it would definetely help alot. later. nugz

 

how well was the mix stirred the first time i could have been that things wern't mixed well and then you waited and the nutes mixed themselves up.


and wow 250 for nutes i use the general hydroponics 3 part and spend 70 for 3 gallons


make sure that you have an air stone in yer rez to keep it airated and more importantly stirred up

 

Nugz, I think that the lower you keep your temp in the res tank the more oxygen your water will hold. I don't under stand why the PH and PPM went out of wack. My PH,PPM meter reads high when my light is sucking power from the same outlet. When the light goes off it reads normal again.

 

trust me the mix was stirred up very well the first time. why would i need an air stone for a coco grower? it is a complete system so u shouldn't have to buy anything else...this hydro is really starting to confuse me..i'm using RO water which is supposed to be the best. someone help please. later. nugz

 

Nugz, is COCO GROWER one of those grow cubes?

 

here is what a coco grower is royal, check this link out...


http://www.bghydro.com/BGH/Itemdesc.asp?ic=HGSBSCGC

 

Nugz, Took a look at that system. Looks pretty solid to me.


I'm using a flood and drain system. The bottom of my tray has a one inch thick coco mat to let the roots spred out along the bottom of my flood tray. My media is rookwool but I'm going to try coco cubes on the next grow.


Can't wait to see some results from your setup.


Hydro takes a little work at first, but once you get going it will get easyer.


Good luck!!

 

Nugz,


I don't know about the CocoTek medium, but I have a drip hydro system similar to yours. I use Lava Rocks and have the same problem of the PPM and PH going up when I first start a new grow. I think what is happening (to mine anyway) is that when I pour the rocks in they break off little bits creating dust and this dust gets washed into the reservoir while it is running. I can see a pile of red dust in the bottom after the first week. I think this is raising the PPM and PH. I then rinse it out the reservoir and mix up a new batch of nutrient solution and everything is stable for the rest of the grow. This may or may not be happening with yours, but just add some PH Down for now and after a week or two, mix up a new batch of solution and see of it is stable after that.


I don't think you need an air stone. You already have the air pump running all the time and the water (solution) is already constantly being mixed.


The aquarium heater is a good idea. That is what I use to keep my solution at 72F.


I hope that helps.

 

thanks alot alien i hope this is the case with my grow too. there is dust in the bottom of my bucket too but i use hydroton not lava rocks. this is making alot more sense now, i will definetely look into those aquarium heaters, how much do they cost alien? thanks alot for the help, you definetely eased my nerves. peace. nugz

 

Glad I could help.


As to the heater. I don't know how much they cost now because I am using one that I already had from a fishtank I bought 15 years ago. The fish are long since gone....:sad10: .


Anyway, the heater should cost less than $10.00. If you go to a pet shop, just tell them your fishtank is only 5 gallons and you have guppies (the fancy ones). With winter coming on, the water is getting too cold.


Good Luck!


AB

 

i have the waterfarm wich is what yours is based oon.. looks the same... i dont bother with them water temp.. just add water nutes adjust ph and dump it in.. random ph checks it does jump up a little bit but nothing crazy.. i keep ph at 6.4 plant is out of control buds everywhere and growing to damn fast... i do a complete water change every 10 days..


this is not only my first plant but first hydro grow as well... plant is about 2 and a half months old and 4 foot tall... been in flowering like 7 days... plant looks healthy as hell


hope that helps

 

You will find that dust from the hydrotron rocks will give you all crazy readings no matter what you do.. The worst thing you can do is to keep dumping PH down in your mix to try to correct the problem. That stuff is acid and you really shouldn't need that much if all is done right from the beginning. Starting with the rocks rinse rinse and rinse until you see 0 red film. Prep the rocks over nite in Ph balanced water for 24 hours. You will find your readings staying a lot more consistent and not all over the place doing this.. Hope this helps.

 

6.4 is a little high isn't it? i thought ideal ph for hydro was like 5.2-6.2 but don't quote me on that...hydro guys what is the ideal ph level for best nutrient uptake? later. nugz

 

5.8 is ideal. but it should drift from 5.5 up to 6.4 in a healthy system. Not all nutrients are available at 6.4 though so I wouldn't recommend having it at 6.4 all the time

 

thats good to know i read 6.4 to 6.8 is what you want on thr free MJ Library site


Although i couldnt imagine my plant doing any better....its a monster and has never droped below 6.4

 

if i'm not mistaken there's a air pump with the unit. oxygen need to be pumped to the roots. and i found that the ph being off a little didn't hurt as much as you're probably thinking. i had the same problems and mine still grew like hell. i know they could have been better, but i wasn't unhappy.


the ranges you're looking for are the optimal. but they will grow well in less than ideal conditions.


so don't give up on the hydro just yet.


peace, CG

 

Those numbers are for growing in dirt. Hydro should be lower like Smarmy says.


It is possible that your plant could be an even BIGGER monster with the PH where it should be.