why are my ppms going up now?

forest42

forest42

Well-Known Member
every day in both my systems the ppms are going up and the ph down.
to fix the ph i ad ph up if i check it right after i ad the ph up the ppms go up a little and that makes sense but when i come to check on them the next day the ppms have gone way up from that.


i posted the details yesterday but i guess i could have chosen a better section of the forum
if you want to read the details here is the link

https://www.rollitup.org/t/before-and-after-but-more-input-needed.834961/
 
forest42

forest42

Well-Known Member
i have been topping off every night and checking and adjusting.

so are they ok? then just keep doing what I'm doing?
 
MidnightToter

MidnightToter

Active Member
That is just showing u that the plants are up taking more water than nutes at this time. Topping off with fresh water is all u need to do. Once u learn ur plant u will be able to see just how much nutes ur plant is taking in and will be able to adjust accordingly. It will help save u money because u won't go through ur nutes as fast, because u know how much to give them without wasting nutes by adding more to the water than they need.
 
Sativied

Sativied

Well-Known Member
Silky Shagsalot said:
can't say i agree....
Click to expand...
And who the fuck are you? It's hydro basics... Rising ppm and dropping ph equals too high nutrient level. See first sentence in post above this one. It's not an opinion you can agree/disagree with. Learn what pH actually means, what it measures, how nutrient elements (cations & anions) influence that and what ph up/down is and you won't need the latter anymore.
 
Last edited:
4Dexter2Morgan0

4Dexter2Morgan0

Well-Known Member
Definitely agree with nute level being to high. When my levels are too high they drink more water then nutes. As water is depleting you are left with a higher concentration hints higher ppm and unstable ph.

If my ppm raises 80, I make a new batch of nutes using 80-100 ppm less then the previous batch and it will get me pretty close. You want them to drink equal parts water and nutrients. You know you have it right when your ppms stay the same. Some think ppm should decrease as a plant eats the nutes, but if its eating equal parts water then it keeps ppms pretty close with little fluctuations. This stablizes my ph to only need adjusted every 36-48 hours. I personally like to use as little ph down as possible. I start at 5.5, then add ph down when I hit 6.5 and reapeat every 48 hours or when I hit 6.5 again. My plants seem to love it, dont quote me on this but I think some nutes absorb better with different ph levels. This gives you a full spectrum.
 
4Dexter2Morgan0

4Dexter2Morgan0

Well-Known Member
Same goes for ppm dropping. If they drop 80ppms, I raise the total ppms 80-100 more then the previous starting ppm. It takes a little playing around with but not too hard to find the sweet spot. I notice amounts ajustments differ from different strains.
 
Silky Shagsalot

Silky Shagsalot

Well-Known Member
Sativied said:
And who the fuck are you? It's hydro basics... Rising ppm and dropping ph equals too high nutrient level. See first sentence in post above this one. It's not an opinion you can agree/disagree with. Learn what pH actually means, what it measures, how nutrient elements (cations & anions) influence that and what ph up/down is and you won't need the latter anymore.
Click to expand...
lol, well, unlike you, i'm someone who can get a point/opinion across without sounding like an ass. he said hiss ppm was 400 going in, seems ok, but then it started elevating, and his ph went down. that's pretty basic stuff there sativa. take away the medium, (the water) and the ppm naturally go up, and the ph will drop, amazing huh? just like when you first add nutes to a rez, i usually "always," have to add pro-tekt to raise the ph. and yes, i know what ph means, "potential for hydrogen." go away boy!
 
Sativied

Sativied

Well-Known Member
Silky Shagsalot said:
lol, well, unlike you, i'm someone who can get a point/opinion across without sounding like an ass.
Click to expand...
I wasn't trying to get my point across in my reply to you, I was responding to a pompous ass ("I can't say I agree" is not much of an argument) in a suitable way.

Silky Shagsalot said:
l
take away the medium, (the water) and the ppm naturally go up, and the ph will drop, amazing huh?
Click to expand...
Clearly you don't understand what you are talking about and I highly recommend you search my recent posts for ppm and ph and get a clue instead of spreading nonsense.

Fine, I'll be nice and spoon feed the clue: the reason the PPM rises is that the ppm of the water being take up by the plant is lower than ppm of the nutrient solution. This causes an imbalance as a previous poster already pointed out, resulting in more nutes than water being left behind in the rez. There's nothing 'amazing' about it, it simply means the nutrient level is too high. When it is too low, it will drop. A small drop however is good, because when it drops it's too low for the sweetspot, for the balance of water and nute uptake, but not too low for the plant. Less is more.
 
Last edited:
Squidbilly

Squidbilly

Well-Known Member
^Now gentlemen, be nice...

I use to think that if my ppm was raising and my ph was drooping that they were drinking water and I needed to top my resevior off with ph'd water. That will work, and that's exactly what many growers do, but it isn't the best way to do things. You would think at such a low ppm you couldn't possibly be feeding them too much, but the number don't lie. Plants take what they need and leave the rest behind, so if the ppm is raising your feeding them too much and they are trying to tell you they are 'full'. Dropping your ppm is a better solution and the proper thing to do in this case, IMO.
 
Dr. Who

Dr. Who

Well-Known Member
Well, interesting answers to be sure. BUT, not exactly correct either! The rule of common sense does not work right here. Just because the plant is using more water then nutrient does not mean that the nutrient would keep on rising as he added water to top off....

Whats really going on: As your plant uses both water and the nutrient. It puts back "waste" into the res. THIS is what is causing the continual rise in ppm as the meter "reads" the waste products also (it doesn't know the difference).
This can, in time, become a problem as the waste can "poison" the plant. this is why you need to dump and refill the res from time to time.

Here is a method that is simple to do and VERY effective in solving your problem. The easiest way to remain in the "sweet spot".

The 33% add back method.

You fill your res with 100% ratio mixed nutrient solution.
As the res needs to be refilled to top it off. Add back with a 33% nutrient ratio solution. (Make 1 gallon of 100% solution(pHed) and add 2 gallons of straight (pHed) water and VIOLA, you have a 33% solution)
Keep topping off the res with the 33% solution UNTIL the TOTAL amount you will have added back equals the TOTAL amount the res would hold.
Now, simply dump and refill the res with 100% solution and repeat the process! Same thing for Vegging or Flowering....
Your problems will now go away.....The pH should still be monitored and most likely you may be adding down every now and then.....If my hydro's start needing up. I start looking for problems other then those listed if it's more then a whole point in pH value....In reality, I almost never have to use an "up" to balance my pH!

Good Luck
 
BenFranklin

BenFranklin

Well-Known Member
This is what I think is going on, your to far ahead in your feeding schedule, your feeding them "Full bloom" when they're only still in transition stage.(Using this as an example. For you, it might be that you're in vegetative growth and feeding them to strong at a younger age)

The water is being evaporated off by the heat from your lights, and a little to keep the plant from dehydrating.

Therefore it is leaving more nutes in the bucket, and less water, which equates to a more acidic PH.
 
Squidbilly

Squidbilly

Well-Known Member
We know they are drinking more water then nutrients, meaning the ppm and ph go up. I just looked at the op's original post on the matter and it looks like his ppm are raising by about 100ppm in 3-4 days. That doesn't seam to bad to me-from the op I thought it would have been a bigger difference.

OP-keep you ph between 5.5-6.0-I see you were adusting it up to 6.5, that's too high. I don't even like 6.0, tbh but it works for many people.
 
Dr. Who

Dr. Who

Well-Known Member
That's a good call too Ben!

Oh shit, I just looked at the first post......The Kitty is very correct! Get those res temps down!!!!!!!!!!!

We all seem to like something different on pH,,,,what ever.
I get the best results keeping it twixt 5.8 and 6.2 with 5.9 as my "home" point.

Soil has pH swings and this allows for an even nutrient uptake. The same should be considered for hydro.....I start at 5.9 and let her rise to just over 6.1 and adjust back down......I also have found over the years that low pH is worse then high pH in overall plant health.
 
BenFranklin

BenFranklin

Well-Known Member
Squidbilly said:
We know they are drinking more water then nutrients, meaning the ppm and ph go up. I just looked at the op's original post on the matter and it looks like his ppm are raising by about 100ppm in 3-4 days. That doesn't seam to bad to me-from the op I thought it would have been a bigger difference.

OP-keep you ph between 5.5-6.0-I see you were adusting it up to 6.5, that's too high. I don't even like 6.0, tbh but it works for many people.
Click to expand...

That's interesting, I can't let my buckets go 4 days... They'd be BONE dry. =) They go through a whole 5 gallon bucket in 2-3 days depending.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top