My hydroponic plants are dying. ?

Question

I am new to hydroponics and have a 4 site drip feed system that i built my self. My plants are wrinkling up and drying out, the roots are getting completely wet and i have a timer to come on for 15 minutes every hour . I add the nutrients as directed on the labels, which is General Hydroponics Flora series. Well when i add the nutrients i check the pH and set it to about 6.5-7.0, and like after a day or so the pH goes high on it's own to about 8.5-9.0 and the water get a dirty brown color like rusty. If anyone has any help for me in fixing this problem i would really appreciate it.

Thanks, BIG RED

Answer 1

Sounds like your water could be contaminated - have some sort of microorganism growing in it that's messing up the pH.  That, or you're adding nutrients too often.

Did you add something to bubble air through the water?  Maintaining oxygen levels can be important.

If you can't figure out what's wrong or how to fix it, you may want to find a hydroponics-specific website.  I'm not sure how many people here do hydroponics (I don't, my dad does, so I'm just going off what he's had trouble with before).  Good luck.

Answer 2

....idk