But I’m using RO water. Ph at 6.5 before I add Hydroguard and Recharge
Thats odd, did you calibrate the Grobo pH probe prior to starting your grow? You shouldn’t need to adjust pH if using RO Water with only those additives. Do you have your own handheld pH meter? If so, I would check the water in your reservoir and see if the pH is off.
Going to check now and I do have a Ph meter
Let me know
Strange, that it’s still reading high. You have calibration solution by chance?
Yes and calibrated when opened
Got you, I would submit a ticket and get it worked out with support before it becomes an issue. It’s not like it’s crazy high but it is almost out of range which is not right as your Grobo checks hour but hour to ensure that it is perfect. Out of curiosity, do you have any of that RO water on hand? If so, what is it’s pH?
The recharge is probably raising the pH which is causing grobo to want to lower it.
Their (real growers) website mentions that this will happen and not to adjust for it. My guess as to why they say to not do that is that once it’s working it should level out on its own – the bacteria will eventually bring the pH down or otherwise get the plant to eat (or at least, that’s what happens in soil when recharge is applied) as they do their natural functions.
pH’ing it down yourself after adding the recharge might avoid using up grobo pH but I’d wonder if that isn’t good for the bacteria itself, or even just the ppm levels. Less stuff in the water is usually better, and if the pH down kills the bacteria then that wouldn’t be very useful either.
I’d dial down the amount of recharge, big time – it’s only day 10 (?) and there’s already that much sediment… I see (deep) cleaning in your future.
If it’s like the products I’ve used then the suggested amounts are meant for soil (not hydro) which is anywhere from 5x-20x the concentration we require. This can be considered a smaller grow (single reservoir, single plant, space-constrained environment) so the nutrient/additive needs are even lower than the typical or average which is what the guidelines are for (general use).
When using any soil additives in grobo, I have been using 1/5th to 1/20th of the recommended dose, and even then that could be too much. So far I have tried great white mycos powder, root rescue powder, big bud powder, and dr marijane probiotic powder. The first two (when combined) are basically the same thing as recharge.
@vegetato is absolutely correct. When using Recharge, in order to not diminish it’s effectivity you should be pHing your RO water and hydroguard mixture, allowing it to sit for an hour or so and then adding Recharge. If you just fill the reservoir with non-pHed solution the grobo will adjust the pH and inhibit the benefits of using Recharge.
This was what the water looked like going in:
This is what the res looked like in the end:
It does come clean, though:
Yikes, I’ve got that to look forward to . I’ve got a pretty significant flow in my reservoir due to through-reservoir wall water chiller tubes. My water is constantly stirring. Hoping that helps with keeping the “settling” at bay. Thanks for sharing that!
Not sure what flow will be like when reservoir is jam packed with roots like that however
Here’s another set of cleanup pics! I didn’t use as much as that prior grow but it was still probably 5-10x too much.
The stuff caked to the bottom of the lid was really hard to get off:
It’s hard to see the roots through it after long enough:
Super-gross looking roots!
It was my best grow to date, though (here’s right before chopping):
Incredible!
that’s a nice before and after clean up!
@a_e_Trujillo, I believe you were Using recharge in your grow right and you might be in flush right now. How did you use recharge? Did you ph right before a new fill?
I used the recommended amount for 3 gallons which the Grobo only used 2 and half gallons to fill…maybe need to cut back a little since it didn’t take the whole 3…and you right the Ph is a little high because like I say I didn’t do a check before fill and could’ve added some Ph down to lower it…know next time…and the clean up won’t be bad just gotta do a thorough clean corner to corner…personally how do any of you growers store your probes when not in use or what’s the best way?
You mean the recommended amount per the instructions on the bag? If so, that may be a bit strong, I started out with 1/4 strength and recently bumped up to half. Also, you’re doing the right thing by mixing into 3 gallons, how much the Grobo takes in is irrelevant. That aside, your Grobo should be checking and adjusting pH to perfection, regardless if you pH the water or not prior to filling. I’d calibrate the probe while your plant is still in these early stages, it’s a pain to work “under the hood” once they “grow up”. The best way to store your probes is in a bag of TAP water as pictured above by @vegetato (do not store the pH probe in distilled as it could cause damage).