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This whole grow, my pH has crept down. I started with the 1 pint pair of up and down and just recently ran out of the down. I've bought and extra quart of Up, though. I've burned through it much quicker and just canceled an order for another bottle after Anthem suggested to grab the Grow More adjusters instead. I haven't ordered any yet so I'll look into phosphoric acid before I do.
I go through a lot of down and only ever have to use up when I over do it with down.
I guess I never posted this in my thread...
We're on the home stretch, I believe, as a lot of the trichs are looking clouded and I see a tiny bit of amber coming on a couple of 'em
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Yeah!!
Yee yee!
Hey Grump- I know you have seen this chart.
This chart is what got me back on track too. But I think he is doing great already, I still don't get why his and some other people have to use so much ph up after res setup. It doesn't seem to add up when looking at the chartHey Grump- I know you have seen this chart.
Study this thing and begin to look at things a bit differently. You sound almost exactly like me when I was first starting out and I think I can help you figure this out.
First, stop looking at the pH as the root of the problem and chasing that around. Instead, start looking at EC/PPM FIRST. This is going to show you, according to this chart, where you are with your water. Is your EC static, falling, rising? That should be your first question. Make a note of where you are with that, then look at the chart and compare to what is happening with the plants on the pH side of things.
Rising EC always means that your nute mix is too hot. Falling EC, the opposite. THEN, look at the pH and determine what that is doing. The chart will tell you what to do. When it says change the res, I only do that if/when everything else is not working and I need a reset. If I just changed the res, I'm not going to change it again but rather, just dilute it down, or amend it up, whatever the case may be.
I know this works. @Anthem275 got me on this and hoping he can stop by and verify that I am understanding all this correctly. I have been steadily figuring this out and with every res change, I get a better handle on this. From what I can tell, the plant is affecting what is happening in the water. Heard Moe and A-man talk about this alot. We've heard about reading the plants, I think this is reading the water.
Case in point. I've been getting better at dialing in my reservoirs. Yesterday, I had to change out my 4 site system again and since this is the second time for this plant in flower, I have a pretty good handle on what these gals want, right around 500-550 ppm. Get much higher than that, and I mean 25-30 ppms and she starts to dive off on the ppm. I've found there is a definite sweet spot and once you find it, it just works whether you changed the res yesterday or 5 days ago.
Anyhow, I dialed in this res yesterday and it's been solid as a rock since with a very slight pH drift upward, nearly exactly what you want to see and all this less than 24 hours after the change. My buffer is 100% at this point and I did not have to chase pH for a week to get there by looking at the EC first.
Try this and see if you don't see results bro.
I need to be topping off with straight water to follow that chart, right?Hey Grump- I know you have seen this chart.
Study this thing and begin to look at things a bit differently. You sound almost exactly like me when I was first starting out and I think I can help you figure this out.
First, stop looking at the pH as the root of the problem and chasing that around. Instead, start looking at EC/PPM FIRST. This is going to show you, according to this chart, where you are with your water. Is your EC static, falling, rising? That should be your first question. Make a note of where you are with that, then look at the chart and compare to what is happening with the plants on the pH side of things.
Rising EC always means that your nute mix is too hot. Falling EC, the opposite. THEN, look at the pH and determine what that is doing. The chart will tell you what to do. When it says change the res, I only do that if/when everything else is not working and I need a reset. If I just changed the res, I'm not going to change it again but rather, just dilute it down, or amend it up, whatever the case may be.
I know this works. @Anthem275 got me on this and hoping he can stop by and verify that I am understanding all this correctly. I have been steadily figuring this out and with every res change, I get a better handle on this. From what I can tell, the plant is affecting what is happening in the water. Heard Moe and A-man talk about this alot. We've heard about reading the plants, I think this is reading the water.
Case in point. I've been getting better at dialing in my reservoirs. Yesterday, I had to change out my 4 site system again and since this is the second time for this plant in flower, I have a pretty good handle on what these gals want, right around 500-550 ppm. Get much higher than that, and I mean 25-30 ppms and she starts to dive off on the ppm. I've found there is a definite sweet spot and once you find it, it just works whether you changed the res yesterday or 5 days ago.
Anyhow, I dialed in this res yesterday and it's been solid as a rock since with a very slight pH drift upward, nearly exactly what you want to see and all this less than 24 hours after the change. My buffer is 100% at this point and I did not have to chase pH for a week to get there by looking at the EC first.
Try this and see if you don't see results bro.
Nope. Once I have the res dialed in and I know where I want my EC, I just look at the meter and try to mix my top off to match what is in there and working. I'll first adjust pH, then add nutes in the proper ratio to get the EC that is in the res at the time, then dump that in. Generally, I add about 100 ppm of cal/mag and the GH trio to finish it off. Later in flower, I stop adding the cal/mag as I think there is enough in the brown and green to get them to the finish line.
Yeah that makes more since. I could pretty easily added the same ratios to the top-off res to make them balance out. That also makes the chart make better since, as well.
You gotta remember, and I always used to forgot this too, Moe and Smoke do auto top offs. This small detail changes everything.
Yeah I think that's why Aqua stepped in and helped with my watering regimen. Moe got me going and off on the right foot, for sure, but Aqua has been my go-to guy for nutes, so far. Next run, I'll add nutes after I fill up my top-off resevoir. I wanna get another bluelab guardian so I can have one in each res.
I think the goal is to get the ratios right so that plant uptakes it all evenly, but I see your point. I think that's where that chart comes in handy.
They probably are not taking in everything equally. But I have to top off daily and if I do not amend each time, things get more out of whack every day and its cumulative. If I can top off each day with what I know is working in the res, the ratios may be off a bit every time I top off, but refreshing that I think will bring them back in line with suggested ratios, albeit not 100% perfect. This may show itself over time and require another res change but again, let the water tell you what you need to do, if anything.
Notice my title of "Wingin' It"
I was a Hydropidiot there for a while. I've since graduated to Student of Hydroponics.Notice my title of "Wingin' It"
I'm learning myself for real. Didn't expect such a different approach from DWC to RWDC, but I def found out the hard way. Going from 5 gal buckets with 3 gal of water to an RWDC with 50+ gallons has been a challenge I wasn't expecting. The best thing I've found so far is to leave them the fuck alone and go with about half the EC I had in DWCI was a Hydropidiot there for a while. I've since graduated to Student of Hydroponics.
).
Hey tobh, yea Grump has been using Agsil 16 I think but what we have discovered is that in flower, it's adding too much Potassium and throwing off the ratios. For me personally, I'm using the Agsil during veg and very sparingly in flower if at all and having success that way. You are right though. The Agsil is much more stable in its buffering capacity and we have yet to figure out how to use it in flower without having excess Potassium.
I started these last few mixes with about 40ml of ph UP which did bring me above 9 and then around 15-20ml of DOWN brings me to right around 6.0. I was using Agsil16 for the first few mixes but quit using that about a week into flowering.
i'm not sure if that conversion actually happens, but potassium silicate is fantastic for buffering capacity. MSA is different iirc but i'm not 100% privy to the chemistry that happens when you drop the pH back down after adding potassium silicate. what i do know, is you HAVE TO drop the pH otherwise other minerals from your nutrient additives will precipitate (crash out) of the solution and become useless powder in your res. same thing will happen if you mix up your nutrient solution then add potassium silicate.
I've lessened my CalMag and added epsom salts for that extra special sulfur kickOh, also on the topic of acids to use. switching to sulfuric acid after flowers have set and stretch is done can help bump up that micronutrient and make more terps. can pick up clean acid at any auto parts store. it's used for filling motorcycle batteries, so it's not like it's a suspicious product to be purchasing (no more so than the ether and drain cleaner you'll need for other projects
sure i need to humidify my 80% RH basement
Worth a shotsure i need to humidify my 80% RH basement
Maybe leave him a small care package?
maybe i'll buy him a box of donuts. he didn't seem to be a fan of cannabis when i asked him wtf happened at my house before i bought it. at least he answered the question i had about how the front door frame ended up split top to bottom and why the drywall was poorly patched next to it.Maybe leave him a small care package?
I wanted # 17 but it's taken so therefor, I'm disqualified.
Great idea but make them medicated. We need to start upping this guys tolerance!
Yep. In conjunction with the staters. Raided three grow houses that morning, my place being one of them. This time last year the very room I'm sitting in was a sea of green, along with just about every other room in the house.Great idea but make them medicated. We need to start upping this guys tolerance!
I'm guessing your doorframe/drywall mismatch came at the hands of your local LEO'S?
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Looks like they're gonna get a repeat!!
haha they shouldn't. unlike the previous owners i know what a carbon filter is and have absolutely no desire nor need to run at the scale they were. i got a copy of the police report. the power consumption alone was something like 17k KWh/month. the average for the neighborhood is like 1200 KWh/month. if it weren't for the fact they were dumping the exhaust out the chimney (and thus the entire neighborhood knew someone was growing), and that they blacked out all the windows, the power consumption would've tipped off LE. when it came to getting the warrant issued the smell and the power consumption were the major reasons listed for getting the warrant authorized.Looks like they're gonna get a repeat!!
In Socal the power thing does not get you tipped off. SCE could care less as long as you pay your bill.
sometimes it's so obvious when people are being "hot".... blacking out windows... like wtf were they thinking?
I spoke to one of their techs when I had something going in Murrietta. He said their thinking was "Not our job. Plus why would you want to rat out your best customers?"
what was real wild back before LEDs was that digital ballasts had a certain signature the power companies could identify. they'd first look for excessive usage, then when the spikes happened, then dig deeper to figure out if it was worth tipping off LE. of course if LE asks them they'll oblige but they were never really in it to fuck with the smaller players.
