It seems that ph is the biggest issue people struggle with in hydro. It is usually one of 2 issues. Either nutrients that don't run stable or bacteria breeding causing an unbalanced environment in your reservoir. To rule out the bacteria issue add 2 tsp per gallon of 3% hydrogen peroxide to your reservoir. This will kill any bacteria and add oxygen to the water at the same time. I always run it in my system week 1 just to be safe. As for the nutrients I use maxigro and maxibloom. They buffer pH great and will run stable all week. It is also really cheap. Those 2 things will solve your pH issues and make life a lot easier. Good luck
Did you soak or wash off your hydroton before using? If not that will cause your PH to rise quite a bit.. not to mention all the dust that will be in your reservoir.
In my DWC experience, veg always rises pH and flower lowers it. If your reservoir smells funky I would redo (and clean ) it and add some beneficial bacteria like hydro guard and increase the oxygen and try to stop any light from leaking