Ph keeps trending back to 7...ppms too low?

Started growing in aero about a month ago & started giving them nutrients about 3 weeks ago. Growth took off quickly and near the end of last week I had to keep adding ph down to regulate it but figured since nutrient levels were very low -300ppm-maybe too lo for ph buffers to help much. Changed out the reservior Friday night & mixed up nutrients to 500ppms and it's the same thing- I read that aero growers like Stinkbud use very high ppms as compared to DWC grows like I am accustomed to but worried about nute burn...should I jack it up to 1000+ ppms now that the plants are getting a bit larger? Do plants in aero use up the nutrients really fast due to the abundance of o2 they receive? Or could there be some other issue affecting ph?

I never go over 500 ppm on my grow, most of the time im at 300-400 ppm with 5.8 ph at 65 deg in the res.

not sayin it is, not sayin its likely, but make sure you ain't got that gray rot....

The roots are healthy and white- the plants are only 3 weeks in veg still only about 8" high. When I did DWC I would keep ppms to 400 or less at this point but even at 500 it doesn't seem like it's enough- I adjust the ph and 6 hrs later it's ok then the next day it's 6.8. I adjust again it's fine for awhile and then it's headed north again wtf. Still thinking maybe I need to up the ppms to allow the buffers to do their thing...

Ok well fuck it the ppms that were 500+ this am is already down to 425 ph from 6.2 to 6.8 in 10 hrs so I'm upping the ppms- not that anyone should care or like I need permission I'm just declaring that I'm going to 700ppm & maybe higher. Maybe also I'm asking the wrong question- if I am growing 6 week old plants started from seed in early veg in an aero sprayer tube system with an 8 gal res how high can I run my ppms without burning them?

if your plants are 3 weeks old from seed, then your ppm's should still be around 4oo or so. how many plants you feeding out of your rez? sounds like your rez is too small. if you have more than one plant, then that could very well be the cause of your unstable ph. 5 gallons per plant should keep your ph a lot more stable... ph to 5.8 in hydro.

stinkbud was/is using botanicare nutes....I've found you can push the ec much higher with those.

if you are running synthetic nutes like dyna or something similar you need not go that high. In fact lower is better with salt based fertilizers imo.

Personally, I'd rather use less nutes to achieve the same results. Pushing ec to 1.8+ can get quite expensive for a grow of any size.

PPM is too low.

pics would help...

Was thinking the same thing. Believe me I wouldn't be posting newb ph Qs if I was not both amazed and confused about this. Was growing in DWC for a year before and already been through the wringer on ph issues. I added 4 more gal of water and upped ppms to 600. Ph was back to 6.0 so I left it. I'll check again in the am but I think we are both right.
Aero is new to me but it seems like once roots and upward growth takes off they seem to want more like way more than used to which is odd. The ph was relatively stable up to the last week when the topping & Fim-ing was healed and growing out strong in all directions. The roots are hanging lower than I expected and growth is fast so I think it will be an even shorter veg than I planned. This is the first aero run in an all newly built system but I can already see how fast they grow in aero compared to single res DWC. All the new growth is a pale lime green and the tips on top are almost yellow; they look hungry. I agree with you on the proper ppms that's why I started there but it seems like they keep wanting more...fuck it gave it to them

Where should I be at snaps? Working in that hang on silk

Pics as requested

They weren't this big 10 days ago growth exploding

the growth in nft systems is quite amazing. I ran one for a while too. and at the levels stinkbud recommended with the botanicare nutes.

never tried synthetics in nft myself......would like to try them sometime, as the botanicare nutes and liquid karma and shit seemed to foul up the rez pretty quickly and led to ongoing root problems for me.

midnitetoak said:

They weren't this big 10 days ago growth exploding

Click to expand...

they don't look starved for nutes to me. Pretty dark really. how much light do you have on em?

^^^i agree, they don't look like they're lacking in the nute dept.^^^

starved for nutes is a bad way to put it. the pic is dark i see now. the tips are much lighter than they look

They are definately not starving but they are using up what I put in there really fucking fast..beyond expectation but Im leaving it at 600 for awhile really dont think that will burn them. The main issue was not enough water to regulate the res im betting thanks for all the help yall

the one in the top corner has a lighter top...other than that your leaves are pretty dark from what I see.

if your ph is swinging that much from too few nutes they wouldn't be that dark.

the one on the bottom looks pretty good really.

how big is your rez? and how much light do you have on them?

midnitetoak said:

They are definately not starving but they are using up what I put in there really fucking fast..beyond expectation but Im leaving it at 600 for awhile really dont think that will burn them. The main issue was not enough water to regulate the res im betting thanks for all the help yall

Click to expand...

then maybe your rez is too small???

which would seem odd regardless of size for only three small plants though

how big is your rez again?