Stabilizing your PH

I drain to waste but I make several days worth of feed and it's on timer multifeed 3x per day. I ordered a ph controller. I'll post up what I think of it in a week or two. 120 bucks plus I'm guessing 20 bucks for the delivery system. Hopefully it does the trick. I've heard some folks talk these up.
 
so I'm going to revisit this soon. i have the equipment but i went too wimpy on the pump and it won't lift and stay primed set up the way i want. its just a matter of getting back into the aquarium store and getting a next size up pump. either that or get a solenoid. but heres how it works. that ph controller is a switch to a female extension cord end. you plug a pump into it. it turns on the receptical relay to the pump cord and then it pumps diluted ph down into the rez through a simple 1/4" in line petcock valve on spaghetti line. dialed down to a light drip or trickle depending on rez size. the controller acts like a thermostat for ph. theres a probe and when ph goes out it kicks on the pump. when it ghets back in range it stops.
 
xxxstr8edgexxx said:
so I'm going to revisit this soon. i have the equipment but i went too wimpy on the pump and it won't lift and stay primed set up the way i want. its just a matter of getting back into the aquarium store and getting a next size up pump. either that or get a solenoid. but heres how it works. that ph controller is a switch to a female extension cord end. you plug a pump into it. it turns on the receptical relay to the pump cord and then it pumps diluted ph down into the rez through a simple 1/4" in line petcock valve on spaghetti line. dialed down to a light drip or trickle depending on rez size. the controller acts like a thermostat for ph. theres a probe and when ph goes out it kicks on the pump. when it ghets back in range it stops.
Click to expand...

Nice ...bet it will need some fine tuning ....but I aerate my res which messes with sensor readings ..So that might mess things up lots .
:2c:
 
I am running DWC system and you have to aerate the water or the plant's roots will drown. It is the entire reason for doing it as oxygen keeps things from drowning.

I know the ph will drift higher after letting the mix set 24 hours and aerate at the same time, but as I have increased the strength of the mix I need some ph upper, not much, but a bit. Now need to find it local if I can.
 
In DWC and running flora series at Lucas I never really had bad PH fluctuation that I can recall and I am or was with hydro very anal about PH I hate it so much that with now running soil until I can get set back up to run DWC or coco I have for the most part hoped to get away from PH worries and stress but that didn't work out to well.

What are you running DWC, Passive, tables? Possibly with more volume in DWC or maybe even with ebb and flow with a large reservoir having that volume might help keep things more stable? But as crazy as PH makes me I never really struggled with it in DWC or coco for that matter but that might be because coco everything was made fairly fresh water and nutrient wise and what went in basically came out?


This might help some or reinforce your gut thinking.

https://www.maximumyield.com/perfecting-ph/2/1212


What Causes pH Fluctuations in a Garden?

In a healthy, well-run hydroponic system, pH fluctuations are normal and in some instances, such as recirculating nutrient film technique with a large crop of mature plants and small nutrient volume, pH changes can be quite rapid and require frequent adjustments to stay within a narrow range for optimal nutrient uptake. As plants remove nutrient ions from the solution, the solution’s pH drifts up or down. If left uncontrolled, the pH will often drift downwards for several days after planting a new crop, after which the pH will steadily increase. This is due to the differential uptake of ions from the solution, with the release of hydrogen (H+) or hydroxyl (OH-) ions from the root system. As positive ions such as cations Ca2+, K+, Mg2+ are removed from the solution, hydrogen ions (H+) are released from the root system to equalize the ratio of anions to cations in the root zone and this lowers the pH of the solution. When the crop begins an active growth phase, anions such as NO3 are taken up, which increases the pH through the release of hydroxyl ions (OH-) into solution. Once plants are well established, most hydroponic systems tend to see a gradual and continual increase in pH over time, which is countered with doses of diluted acid.
 
I've gone back to using RO water, and a re-circulating nutrient system. I have also cut my nutrients, and most additives in half. This way I don't get any precipitation. With a highly aerated system, like DWC, or Aero/NFT, I don't need to use as much nutrients, and I still get amazing growth rates. I've gone from running up to 1200ppm, to a high of 500ppm, and I'm really happy. To stabilize my PH I add 4ml of Pro-Tekt per gallon of nutrient solution before I add my nutrients, then add the nutrients, and the additives. Then I adjust my PH from 5.7 to 5.9. My PH still drifts for the first 2 days after a rez change, and needs daily attention, but not beyond acceptable parameters. After 2 days the PH becomes very steady. When I do have to do a ph adjustment, I only use a fraction of the PH adjuster I used to have to use to make that adjustment. I buffer my ph adjusters well with about 100ml of RO water before I add them to my rez.
 
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