insight on general hydro nutes and ph tests

[cracker]

I don't trust myself or my test kits. My new dwc setup has been running no plants for a week now . Today I added general hydro 3 part nutes for the 1st time I tested tbefore adding the hydro for ph it was 6.9 then carefully followed the tables for a very mild 1/4 strength. Tested the ph several hours later and it seems the ph is higher. I thought the nutrient solution would lower ph not raise it. Am I just freaking out here? This is my 1st shot at this and don't want to start dumping chemicals in that it doesn't need. The system is pretty big at 70 gls. What am I missing here? I used my best Selifert test kit and can't figure this out. would it take over night for the nutes to mix completely? If this topic has been run into the ground please refer me to info on this. Thanks!

[everest]

yea sometimes gets to you the old ph lark eh !

 

what i found to work wonders was first a truncheon ... yep accuracy is critical ....the rest is easy .

 

i got a 60l tub along side my set up , filled with tap water and 2 air stones , let bubble overnight , next ph test the water and adjust to almost right .... nxt throw your required nutes in , let bubble overnight , nxt day check ph & nute level , last adjustment , leave bubble for a few hours then check again ....

 

should be good to go , start with weak nutes in dwc

 

ev

[pipeman]

yeah not all brands of nutes will lower ph. and if they do change it, you should see the difference in the reading almost immediately after a good stir. and balancing again after a few hours as everest said is always a good idea.

 

don't worry about using ph down to get your ph right thats what they make it for...

[cracker]

Thanks Ya'll I guess I got beginners jitters . Real easy for me to complicate the most simple situation ! I have a tds meter is this a truncheon? Problem was I smoked a hogleg and started testing I went from room to room and each light gave me a different color HAHAHA. One more confusing topic. Is dissolved solids or tds. and nutrient levels. What do I use as a starting point? I assume You use the TDS of a new solution as the standard. Or is there a chart or graph of sorts? It's right in front of me but I don't see it! I'll have faith in my work and test/adjuts in the morn . If I fry a plant or two no biggie, I worked out a germination system and I got these old bag seeds poppin left and right!

[pipeman]

truncheon is just a specific type of tds meter nothing special.

 

I'm not sure what you mean by starting point. Start at about 1/4 strength nutes and gradually work it up and your plants will tell you if they are happy with what you are doing or not. Use the TDS meter to keep your nute mixes consistent and also record how the plants respond to different nute strengths.

[cracker]

OK Pipe man the TDS is to have consistant nutrients for separate batches . I thought there was a TDS chart or graph to follow. It took a couple capfulls of ph down today the system is 70 gls. All is well at this point The ph of my might have been higher than I thought. I hung my 250 watt lights and added cubes with sprouted seeds today!

[cracker]

I Ah found the General Hydroponic feed charts. Where were they? right in front of my dumbass on their website Gave average dosages and suggested tds levels! instructions even I could understand!

[maxgrow]

Ity is critical that you follow the PH ballance instructions from the manufacturer of the nutrients, several brands of nutrients are aimed at different PH base levels.

 

For example if I use Dutch Master grow products and stasrt with a PH level of 5.8 - 6.0 before adding nutes then I find the PH will stay the same. If however the PH ballance is higher say 6.3 or so then by adding ther same nutes I can see a drop in PH sometimes close to the required 5.8 or so.

 

Much of this depends very much on the water you are using and its contents, my water remains stable at around 6.3 most of the time however every now and then it jumps around like crazy, it can go as high as 8.5 or so.

 

Apparently the local council fuck about with the dosage of "flouride & lime" in the system, I have it from a very reliable scource. It depends who is on weekend duty "one guy is slack as shit apparently and just dumps a load of lime in the mixer so he can slack off somewhere else.

 

anyway it pays to use the nutrient manufacturers recomendations for PH ballance to start with and see how things go.