Are Using pH Up & pH Down Really Necessary in Hydro?

[Ganja Goblin]

For my past couple of grows i've been playing with not adding any pH up or down to my nutrient solutions. The reason for this, first and foremost, is simply that they make me highly suspicious. Both are extremely toxic to plant's roots, yet are also readily taken in by the roots, which will stunt the root growth, possibly even cause some stress to the plant above if the problem isn't righted promptly.

pH up is a particular one i really don't like using, but pH down is just as bad.

so is there a way to go through an entire grow without using any? If we take the fact that the safest or optimum pH range in any medium is between 4 and 7 we can feed a fairly high dose of nutrients in one go without needing to add any down, even if we use 5.2 as a low point we should still be able to get to a reasonable EC, somewhere in the high 2's or low 3's (2.8-3.4ec). this will be more than enough nutrients to sustain a small seedling for a while. and as the water evaporates or the plants transpire it etc, the pH of the res will become more acidic, at this point we add plain water to help bring the pH back within range while maintaining a high amount of available nutrients in the res. Once the concentration of nutrients drops below a certain point we then begin adding nutrients back to make up the shortfall... the trick being to maintain a specific amount of nutrients in the medium right the way throughout the grow and flower stages.

[greenacres]

i still dont get this. this is the only place i see you guys cant keep ph in ballance in hydro. have lots here do ti and all keep ph in check. maybe its the water>?
thats why i keep saying this with hydro cause here is the only place i relay see this much struggles. and is the main reason im not going over to the other side.

[greenacres]

use lime then..its organic

[kingkill]

Water quality plays a big role in how ph+/- works. Also the same product will behave differently at varying pHs.... or something like that. http://www.technaflora.com/phpBB2/vi...d6f0e24f8a9a3e

[greenacres]

ya i know all about that water info. i acutlay have or had a great post in here i typed out form a grow magazine. says same deal.....says how to solve it but i was told im a bit of an idiot to believe it just cause i dont run water dont mean i dont research it. it is a possibility down the road for me....seems to work here.
i know we have great water here at 7 ph and 20 ppm.

[sgtpeppr]

I think you may be on to something. As of now, my default range with my setup(DWC and Botanicare Pro nutes) is between 5.2 and goes as high as 6.4. I very rarely need to add anything.

[greenacres]

i see a huge diff in what nutes we use also. they mainly use lime as a buffer form what i know. holds good. so all depends on how that reacts with our water content to.
like when i make up say my feeding rez of 8 to 10 gallon once i set ph it never rises more than .3 to .5
also how bout lie some of us say...cant be stirring while checking ph..numbers bounce...so...why not it does same with bubbles stirring up and messing with that. maybe checkx with pumps off. and some have magnetic pumps and cause shit with hydro as well. we all know what magnets and metal does, and our food has metals in it....and our waters.

[greenacres]

hers the ph and water info i have....

http://www.skunkskool.com/showthread...H-of-raw-water

[TetraHyC]

Some education in chemistry is in need here me thinks.

I'm a terrible teacher, I'll try to find easy to digest info.

Where to start ??



The table, as you can see most elements are metals.
Metals will carry a + charge (cation)
Non-metals carry a - charge (anion)

The word ion, what does it mean ??

An ion is an atom or molecule where the total number of electrons is not equal to the total number of protons, giving it a net positive or negative electrical charge.

We know the # of protons determine what element(Lego block) we are dealing with, but it's the electron configuration that determines the chemical property, makes deadly elements harmless, and harmless elements deadly.
Examples, table salt's chemical formula is 'Na Cl' Sodium Chloride, each of these elements(Lego block) are deadly in elemental form.

Sodium, a highly reactive alkali metal, extremely toxic. Ionized it carries a +1 charge(cation)
Sodium reacts exothermically with water: small pea-sized pieces will bounce across the surface of the water until they are consumed by it, whereas large pieces will explode.


Choline,Deadly gas in elemental form.In ion form it has a negative charge -1(anion)

If either of these were consumed in elemental form, death would come very quickly, but in ion form it is a nutrient.

I'll add more.

[TetraHyC]

This is not too long.

http://www.wisc-online.com/objects/V...spx?ID=GCH6204