So I’m typically doing experiments, breaking rules, etc. You might already know that. 
The only hydro thing i’ve done so far is move a clone from soil to a 5 gallon bucket of pure h2o because it was flowering. high pH rainbow. 
I moved this 3gal soil container into a very hot & dry place and discovered it drying out daily…not something i want to manage. So I put it in a “reservoir” 5 gallon tub, filled with water(80ppm, 6.0), and “mulched it” with breatheable white plastic.
The only way i can measure ppm is with swimming pool test strips, but for pH i use the GH liquid tester.
My acid is white vinegar but i could use citric acid powder diluted.
She seems happy but shows a little yellowing from “overwatering” because it is nearly full. I could drain each morning or night but am eager to see if I can pull this off.
The pH is doing it’s typical gradual climb, and I adjust to the high 5s daily.
The PPM reads between 2-400 TA
Given my testing constraints, what would you do? Manual flood & drain or let it soak all the time? Get battery acid? 
I’ll get a photo soon.
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First - what do you mean by “PH rainbow”, and “mulching it” with breathable fabric? Im having trouble picturing the system and how , or exactly what, you are doing, so its going to be hard to give advice - but I’ll give you some anyway 
I would not let it soak all the time. If you are using any kind of soil or grow medium that absorbs or wicks water, it needs to be allowed to dry out enough for the roots to get 02.
Its not that over watering gives the plants too much water, its that all that water keeps the roots from getting enough oxygen.
As far as what type of acid to use, I tried citric and vinegar and neither worked very well for me and my well water. I like battery acid much better even than PH Down - mostly because of the price. I mix aprox 1 cup of acid to 1 gallon of tap water and use that as my PH down. I got a small container of acid from the local auto parts for $7. Its enough to make about 5 gallons of PH down.
Be sure to poor the acid into the water - NOT water into acid when you are mixing it up.
Edit: dont know how I missed this before now.
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I figured it out the hard way when the signs of “over-watering” showed and the temperatures cooled… so I abandoned the idea (but not the plant). I’ll get a picture in the morning of my tyvek/woven plastic cover/etc.
By “pH rainbow” I meant the typical yellow & purple leaf colors that can show up when pH goes wacky or at the end of flower with flushing/depleted nutrients.
When I find a good example pic I’ll link it.
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