I am having a problem maintaining pH in a Dwc system (5gal bucket).
My pH has always drifted up. But now it appears to drift faster and further than before. Running well water where pH is normally 8+.
Now what I am wondering is there a product (other than a pH perfect product) that maintains a lower pH longer
Some nutes are more pH stable than others, and it also depends on what’s in your water (especially if using tap, not sure about well water).
What’s happening with your EC? Is it stable or going up/down?
Is it still 8? Well water’s pH, ec, ppm’s, and Total Alkalynity are not static… new fissures open up, and old one’s close.
I have a well, and can’t use the water for growing inside. Can’t keep a stable pH, have to use RO. Well water works great in the gardens outside, and is great for drinking.
I’ve also seen some growers that have a hard time with pH perfect nutes… seems they’re not always perfect.
Good luck
Are you in flower or in veg?
Properly maintained, ph should naturally go up in veg(plants eat more N than PK which raises ph) and naturally go down in flower(plants eat more PK than N which lowers ph).
Regardless, if it’s increasing ph really fast, like overnight, it could be bacteria in the water. Bad water increases ph very quickly. Usually able to smell it too, like dirty socks. Healthy roots smell spicy. I usually run my reservoirs sterile using calcium hypochlorite, or bleach in a pinch.
Airstones can speed up ph drift too
Not me 
, the fact is that your tap water pH must be in a “sweet spot” (not too high or too low) to make it function, guess pH 8+ would be too much, mines 7,4 and works fine …
@Cybersmib Hope this chart will give you some clues … 
Try using sulfuric acid as your ph down. It’s stronger so it lasts longer. I had problems using my tap water in dwc. I wasn’t using sulfuric acid at the time though either.
Thank you all for your responses. Seems like I need to do a little more research. Seems to be a little more involved than I anticipated.
Use sulfuric acid, probably need it anyways.
Mine didn’t work at all
I’ve heard they work OK but need “recharged” regularly.
If your gonna be recharging it all the time you may as well just make normal ph adjustments 
Yeah it was obviois from day 1 it didn’t work and I tried multiple channels to get in touch with the manufacturer but got crickets
I’ve seen those advertised on Facebook usually with a few hundred comments about how they don’t work.
I’ve got a few dwc runs in individual non recirculating buckets under my belt. keeping shit stable in a small reservoirs a pain in the ass even with optimal inputs. Ended up switching to soil and organics it’s kind of a cake walk now. Were I to run hydro again it’d have to be in either recirculating or dtw with a big res
Last time i ran DWC i ended up needing to use distilled water to avoid dramatic shifts like this. I switched to RDWC and then it was super easy to keep stable as there was much more solution therefore less chance of a dramatic swing.
All this was kept stable with weekly changes and daily PH checks at the time of topping off the res and adjusted simply with PH up.
Best of successes friend!
Dwc is generally unstable because you have gallons of roots sitting in only ~5gallons of water, constantly. The bigger reservoir, the more stable it will be.
It’s why I switched back to flood and drain. I have a res that holds 20 gallons and since the roots only touch the water for 1 minute every 2 hrs, I can leave for days at a time without touching it.
Again tho, if you’re in flower doing dwc and ph is raising, likely need to go sterile.
To be honest have never checked or maintained “proper PH” and have never had an issue with in 50+ years. It can be another thing to confuse novice or intermediate growers. But there is some very good infor mentioned by members concernig subject
I’m finding Morbloom or Dyna Bloom, drop PH like perfectly for my reservoirs.
I started to use my dehumidifier water, as I noticed, I use that same volume of water, topping up the Tubs and tray grows. as I fill the 10 g tote. Running a water pump is cheap, but using humidity water, as it’s a waste product, I got to run anyway.
My Truncheon will not blink, as it’s zero PPM’s. It’s 7.0 ph value. 4 table spoons of morbloom or Dyna Bloom, brings the 10 gallons of huye water to 6.0 ph. So I can save my powdered PH down.
Wicking is keeping my pot tops gnat free. Lots of winning on this run!
MorBloom by Alaska thay have a good Veg “Fish Fertilizer” also kelp (but can’t find it anywere)
