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pH down is making my water smell bad/rancid...any ideas?

bobsakamoto

bobsakamoto

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hey all. ^ happens within i'd say 6 or so hours of correcting. i first noticed it because of the smell but i thought it was the soil. then i tracked it to the water i had been using to germinate and water. i had only mixed it up the day before. so i threw it out and chalked it up to ? then just now i noticed it smells again. and i only mixed that smaller batch up a few hours ago... please advise. thanks.
 
What sort of water are you using.? What's your ph down/ phosphoric acid? It shouldn't cause any trouble. May be the water itself. Are you sure you need to ph the plain water? What is the ppm of it?
 
hey weasel. thank you for responding. i am using tapwater that has had only the chlorine and chloramine removed. ph after that is 8+ so i have to use the general hydroponics product ph down to lower ph. i am open to other products of course. just picked that one bc it was recommended by nebula. it's not the water itself because it's the same water i drink, bathe in, use all day, so if it smelled like that--well, it would be noticeable... i mean, this water REEKS... the first time it happened i figured it was some weird thing. but the second time i wrote down what time i added the ph down and 6 hours later...STINK. i am really really puzzled. the only possibility that makes sense to me is if the ph down product itself is expired but it has no expiration date. otherwise i got nothin.... :(
 
Ph down is just acid. Usually diluted phosphoric acid. It should say on the bottle.
Have you left plain water to sit, without the ph down? Oftenwell water will come out clear looking and nice but have iron or sulphur in it which starts to stink over time as it oxidizes.
 
see that's why i wasn't really feeling the expiration explanation...how could acid expire? but it was the only reasonably plausible thing i could come up with... i really am fairly confident it's not the water itself...i have stored the filtered water, especially more so since starting a grow, and i checked my stored jugs when this first happened, thinking like you that something was the matter with the water itself...water stored for over two weeks (checked my journal to make sure) doesn't smell....water i've used the last several days...doesn't smell.... only water that smells is all and only the water that i ph-ed down and let sit in an open glass pyrex cup and also in a spray bottle....they each smelled and were cloudy (so i was able to rule out container causes)...approx 6 hrs after adding ph down.

thank you for your help. i really really appreciate it. so weird...
 
Hmmmm. Not much help. Do you know the ppm of your water?
I'll google what acid is used for GH ph down- since you don't seem to have found any info on the bottle. The most common ph-down acids, Phosphoric acid and Nitric acid are both nutrients to some extent, but I'm not sure that the ph down could have caused a slime type outbreak within six hours- seems awfully fast.

Edit- its phosphoric acid. How much do you add - say per gallon, or five gallons?
 
it is truly an uninformative bottle, i have to say. i've been over it 2-3 times now, literally w/a magnifying glass, in case i missed something. am now in the process of using google to see if this is A Thing.

i add only enough for the amount of pre ph-ed water i need at the time...so since i'm in germination it was 1 cup in the pyrex measuring cup and i'd guess a little less in the spray bottle; i divided them evenly when i "made" the batch.

you don't have to google for me, i can do that...although i appreciate very much that you're trying to help... and apparently are the only one that has opinions and info to offer on this particular topic, which i find....curious.
 
They're all watching tv and stuff.
I edited it in right after I made the comment. Phosphoric acid.
I don't understand your answer about how much ph-down you're using. A cup full??????!!!!!! No...
 
sorry, i see now the confusion..... i mean i use the final amount of ph-ed water i need for say the next 24-48 hours as the constraint and just add ph down accordingly with a pipette until i arrive at desired ph. so if needed amount is 2 cups i'd say i added 1/2 a pipette so approx 2 ml. but i just stand there and add and test and add and test until i get within .10 either way.
 
hey weasel. i appreciate all you have done tryin to help me. ima go to bed now bc i have not had a lot of success googling and so i'm just gonna let it sit until morning. worst case scenario is i've effed up these seeds/germination irrevocably, and that's not the terriblest thing ever.....either way i think i'll go to a pet store tomorrow and get some alternative acid and order some non ph down product in the a.m. thank you again.
 
So you use about 2ml to balance a cup of water? So about 32ml for a gallon? That's a lot.
I'm not sure what you would need such a tiny amount of water for- but why not just use rainwater or buy distilled water?
 
thanks, MATE. love that expression...always have. seriously Weasel thanks for all your help...really REALLY appreciate you...*handing you all the rep points*....
 
I use tap water too and general hydroponics pH up and down and have not had tht issue but remove wht chlorine I can by letting the water sit for a few days. How r u removing it?
 
One time I bought a gallon of drinking water from 7 11 and had it at work I think the second day after I took a few drinks I realized the water smelled awful dnt no if it was the bottle or the water
 
Bobsakamoto, I was noticing a rank smell in my water jugs as well, usually when I was going to fill them up for the next feed. I was keeping the GH pH down in an air tight clear jar until I read the label and it said "to keep away from light". I changed it to a light proof container and that seemed to lessen the smell but not git rid of it. I now, add 2 ml per gallon, of the GH Florashield as a preventative against algae, fungi, and mold in my reservoirs. This has helped control the 'off' smell and kept the reservoirs relatively clean.
 
Has anyone tried vinegar instead of Ph down?
Tap here comes from a deep aquifer, smells like a damp cave, and has a Ph of 8.5. I've been using vinegar to adjust water for years and it seems to work well.
 
DW2 thank you!! that was incredibly helpful!!

when i was going over the bottle with the magnifying glass i saw that, and wondered if that could be the problem...although i wasn't storing it in a really well-lit place (bathroom cabinet)...

last night when this all arose i put it in a dark, cool cabinet in a storage bin. maybe i will cover the whole bottle with foil....what do you think?

also, re.the florashield...i grow in soil so will that really help me in this case?

finally, and this is not directed just at DW, alternatives to phDown the product would be greatly appreciated.

thanks again.
 
I plan to sanitize my whole system between grows. I will add Peroxide and water diluted mix into end of grow empty res. I then pump the solution throughout my system for 5 min. After rinse plain water and dry!.
 
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