I’ll check it out, even though their probably won’t be a thing I can do about it but at least ill know! I’ll just have to Ph up in the mornings. You said you would clean up more underneath as well. You referring to some more branches on side? I was thinking about that but in 21 days couldn’t they grow bigger and make it reach the canopy on the sides? I just didn’t want to get to choppy on it.
I’ve also read that cold brings purples out in weed, so I guess I should see some nice purples. Cool!!
Ok Ph drops while temp rise! So if at higher temperatures the ph lowers and at cooler temperature the ph varies slightly. So temp on floor should not be throwing my ph in a dive if anything up a little helping me maintain Ph?
Must be something else making my Ph dive when I change water and in mornings. I thought the cold could be it but apparently not.
As long as it doesn’t jack up my plant. I’ll just ph adjust in morning and hope for best!
The more I learn about growing the more confused I get! So many variables to consider
At least I know what I can rule out!
My Ph Has slowly been going down all day!!
I thought plants you should only have to control Ph down? What a pain in the ass! My plant has been drinking a decent amount though! Really nice big stalk, I would say one of the bigger plant stalks I’ve had. Well I’ll post more pics in a few days and probably slowly just trim some underneath away.
Looks like I just can’t go below ph 5 because you develop magnesium issues. So I should be ok
Number 1 reason for ph swing is bacteria in the lines / water… how clean is your system? Is there a lot of buildup (slime)
Well I will say this. When I emptied reservoir I had to wipe down outside of tubing because they were coated with build up. The sides of reservoir also had salt build up I also had to remove.I then filled my reservoir back up with water and turned my chiller back on to see what looked like a bunch of flakes of chemicals shooting out of it?
I wonder if this was build up when I had issues earlier? I used Slf 100 before because it claims not only is it great for plants but also a great cleaner for your system.
I to was thinking that could be an issue but my water was stable for awhile and it wasn’t until I did water change when I saw that debris come out. It wasn’t a lot of debris and just figured with the amount of water I put that it wouldn’t make much of difference? Maybe it does!
When I’m done with grow I was planning on taking scorching hot water and run through system with just SLF 100 for awhile and them empty it to clean system.
Ok hmmmm
Smart idea or really bad? So I was thinking of switching my controlling from down to up until tank becomes stable and starts rising. Then at this point just switch it back. This way it can still dose in small amounts instead of adding one full plunger of one of these (as pictured) to give me .1 of difference. So if I’m at 5.7 and I want to bring it up to 5.8, yeah I’m adding 1 at least. So in morning I’m adding 7-8 full syringes worth. This could be normal though, this is my first go at the RDWC. I just did DWC so I’m learning as I go…
But wanted to throw that out and see what you think. I won’t mess with it if you think it’s a bad idea. Couldn’t find much on internet about pros or cons on this, thanks.
I guess my fear would be that the ph could get away from me at night and cause other issues? If I dose up I won’t have to mess with it nearly any and just admire my shit instead!
I guess I should add that I use 24 gallons of water to start.
That’s why I waited so long to purchase mine waited to hear 
everyone’s version an a lot of reading 
up on different things weighed out my options an made my choice that’s y this place is so cool 
what u didn’t know u gonna learn for sure 
Yea, I wouldn’t know what I know if it wasn’t for this site!
I would say over kill would be to get 2 meters, one dosing up and one dosing down and that’s just crazy talk… fuuuuuck I see myself doing some stupid shit like that though in the future. Just don’t tell my wife!
See what it is, is the unknown screw. Once you think you got things figured out and buy a meter to realize, oh I guess we have to deal with ph up as well. So when I hear people in forums saying that you only have to deal with down, that’s obviously not true and it’s so convenient that I couldn’t find one with two pumps, one for up and one for down. 
I’m gonna do my best to try to help answer some of questions you have.
The first thing I’d like to say is I’m a big fan of automation. Now that being said I’m not a total fan of a pH controller for this reason. (I know you spent a lot of money on it ) A pH controller is going to not allow your pH to drift if your pH is always drifting up do you want to start off at 5.5 and let it drift up to 6.5 by allowing this drift to happen you’re going to make all nutrients available to the plant throughout the pH range. Once you hit your maximum or minimum adjust at that time only back to 5.5 and let it drift back up)
I don’t believe getting a second controller be beneficial because what is going to end up happening is both controllers are going to start fighting against each other and you’re going to end up dosing a lot of pH up and down. Which isn’t good for the plants. Grobo does this with 1 sensor and has a built in range so it doesn’t over dose. Also there is a risk that your probe fails then doses your plant incorrectly.
Don’t take this the wrong way I believe your thinking about this all wrong you’re thinking about how can you make your controller solve your problem I think you need to look at it more along the lines of what is the root cause of the ph problem. I still believe that bacteria is what is giving you your pH issues. (One of the reasons also why I’m not a fan of recirculating nute water) I prefer drain to waste overall it’s cleaner. Not saying it will solve ph problems just takes dirty water out of the equation.
If you’re willing to do an experiment which really needs to be done anyways by the sounds of it I suggest you disable your water chiller from your feed water get a bucket of fresh water put A good amount of hydrogen peroxide. Let your pump keep recirculating that through it overnight. I bet you money you’ll you will see foam on the top of your water that you are recirculating that foam you see will be bacteria being killed. Now you must run fresh water threw the chiller after to get rid of the peroxide.
Just a FYI Also I disabled my water chiller I don’t really have a use for it during the winter season Water stays cold without it. Just more hydro and more things to clean. You don’t seem to have high temp problems.
Let me know your thoughts on this and depending on the direction you go I will try to help you either way but the answer shouldn’t be more ph up or down.
Other possibilities could be
1). nute water is too old not stable anymore
2) your concentrated fertilizer is contaminated with bacteria (double dipping syringe or just older than six months opened)
3) run base min see if ph is stable without extras.
4) replace or clean your all feed lines
You really shouldn’t swing more than 0.2 per day.
Let me know your thoughts
I think that’s a great idea! I setup my cooler with a shut-off valves just in case some thing were to fail I could service it without being screwed if it got to warm! I fortunately do have spare parts to hook what you want up with no problems and h202 for that matter! Wow imagine that!
I’ll have to do it next water change though but that’s easy. Does nutrient build up happen in chillers would you say more than the lines themselves?
I do agree with you as well that something else has to be causing this but I just don’t want my plant to get out of ph range or run into magnesium issues. Last thing I want is to kill my plant just because of ph range when I have a ph meter for that! 
If your watching it you should be ok.
I would start with cleaning the chiller. If you see foam / whitey on the top of the water then you know you have bacteria.
How does the water smell?
If chiller is confirmed bacteria buildup then your system (lines) has the same problem.
Since you have setup your chiller correctly with valves. After clean it try running without it. If you see your water temps hit 68 turn it back on
If your going to store your chiller and not use it make sure it’s clean (h202) and drained.
I’m Under the impression your system from the chiller to the pots is a closed looped system correct?
Yes, it’s a closed system. I did a test yesterday and shut off valves to chiller and turned it off to see what happens overnight. My Ph I set to 5.8 and when I checked this morning it was at 5.6! So definitely better results without chiller! I’m going to leave it off until Monday which is water change day to see if last night was just a fluke. If I have better results consistently then I will clean chiller! If results vary and I have ph drops still then I can assume that it is with plant and lines in system. If that’s the case even if I clean chiller I feel like that I’ll be right back to where I started and I might as well just adjust ph till grow is finished because the lines and plants will just muck up chiller again and not fix the underlining problem!
What are your thoughts?
That seems normal to me
Good idea but don’t leave nute water in there to long it will become bad without movement…
Yes you are correct if you clean the chiller and you use it back in again without cleaning the rest of the system it will become dirty again faster than normal…
Sunlight will also make bacteria. Any of your lines clear or light leak?
I still would clean the chiller we want to see how much foam / white film comes out of it (take a picture for me)… Just to see if we are on the right track… If you clean the chiller and it ends up being not that dirty then I think the core problem is somewhere else. Once you believe you solved what the cause is then I think your in a good position to come up with the correct plan going forward. With the balance of the system… Hope this make sense what I’m trying to say…
Note : I use high % H202 if you do also make sure you protect your hands it will burn your skin…
Here’s a question for everyone who uses a chiller. The inside of the unit where the cooling takes place, is the piping plastic, stainless steel, copper, or something else? Reason I ask is hydro nutes are high in salt content, and if the chiller has any metal parts inside that come in contact with the nute solution it could be causing the metal to break down/rust. The oxidation of any metal could be causing the pH issues, O2 levels in the nute solution would drop as the oxidation would be removing O2 from the solution which could theoretically cause a shift in the pH.
I would imagine that most water chillers do not use any metal components that would come in contact with the nute solution, but cheaper models may have cut corners. That being said, the condenser and anything that contains refrigerant is probably metal, plastic could crack and leak if the coolant gets too cold.
Just thinking out loud here. I don’t use a chiller, so I’m guessing. You may want to put some H2O2 and an enzyme cleaner in your system and let it run for a couple days in between grows. The H2O2 will kill the bad stuff, and the enzyme will help clean out the pipes of gunk build up. With that said, I would definitely replace all piping for the nute system along with the pump. I found that the pump is where a lot of shit builds up, and if you have a mesh filter on it anything that can become a solid will more than likely build up on the filter and create a nice habitat for bacteria.
When I started having issues with cloudy and smelly water I stopped using several different things. I stopped using Hydroguard and Orca, these two were causing a significant amount of the gunk build up. I then stopped using Cannazyme, it was causing the same issue as Hygrozyme with cloudy water. I then started using ZeroTol HC at 0.2 mL per gallon and have had zero issues with cloudy smelly nute solution since.
If I may suggest something, instead of using beneficials such as hydroguard, switch to an H2O2 product such as ZeroTol HC. Not only will this help keep any bacteria in check, but it also delivers more O2 to the plant roots as it is breaking down. I usually add a couple drops after 4-5 days.
Edit: One thing that I do like about H2O2 is it naturally brings the pH down, so all I have to do is add pH up. I did some research and found that most pH down products don’t interact well with nutrients, especially during the bloom phase.
I’ll clean chiller then on Monday. My plan is to run h202 through system for at least an hour. (I’ll take pictures) i will wear heavy gloves and be careful with this h202. I’ve used before and if I remember it got real hot! This won’t mess up chiller will it? After cleaning I’ll run hot water through it for an additional hour, then hook it back up to system.
As far as light getting into reservoir from outside. Doesn’t happen, the only light the reservoir sees is from grow light when I open tent to check plant and reservoir at same time so I can see. But reservoir doesn’t show signs of foam rather just build up of nutrients on hose and pump lines.
Let me know if there is anything else I should check or do while checking system. Been brainstorming over here and I think that what you guys have said are pretty helpful and a good start to getting to bottom of issues!
I’ll keep you posted! Here is a pic today.
All quality water-chillers on the market use cupro -nickel or titanium heat exchanger. They are designed to handle salt content…
You will get mixed reviews on killing all your beneficial bacteria… Remember they are there to protect your roots… I prefer having beneficial bacteria but I do know growers use H202 on a regular basis like your suggesting end of the day you just have to pick what direction you want to take.
If or when I hookup my chiller again I plan to install 1 or 2 inline washable filters… (I haven’t tried this yet but I already know I’m trying it if I need my chiller installed again)
H202 doesn’t get hot but if you use a higher % like I do… Mine I think is 35% if it touches your skin it will burn and turn white… If you get 3% it isn’t hard on the skin…
It will not hurt your chiller… I bet if you call the manufacturer that is what they will recommend for cleaning. For very dirty systems 1 hour may not be enough time… More like 12 to 24 hours for very dirty system… You will have to see how it looks after you add the H202 after 20 min… Keep the pump running with the bucket of H202 water reusing the same H202 water…
Note some pumps may have problems priming with using H202 but once it’s primed your good
