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Ph woes

JDU

JDU

New member
I'm gettin so frustrated I could scream & my lawn is gettin so green & full from all the nute water I keep messing up. My issue is how sensitive the ph up & down are. I can mix up a gallon of feed - comes out around 5.0- add 2 drops of up- little to no change. One more drop & git 7.5!! Science says don't add Ph down to Ph up.... has anyone ignored this & done it anyway? How did it turn out? I'm tired of wasting nutes & half my morning remixing them.
 
I'm reading that agitation & aeration can raise the water ph. I definitely agitate it dissolving the nutes... Does it go back to its norm if you let it sit for a while?
 
Sounds like you are using RO water. When it decides to swing it goes fast as there is nothing to buffer it. I use a mix of RO water and very hard well water and it makes the swing less dramatic.
Not sure if this helps but ...:doubtful:
 
Thanks for the reply- but Plain tap water. It hits the jug at 7.0 give or take a point or 3.
 
I grow in soil and haven’t had any issues relowering ph if I get it too low then too high. No idea if it makes a difference in a hydro setup
 
I am also in soil, end up mixing up/down at least once a week. I water at 6 am, so the sleep in my eyes sometimes betrays me. I am 2-3 weeks from harvest and have not noticed any negative affects.
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I’m not sure how often you water but I’ve found that mixing larger batches is more forgiving. I’m full hydro and my full reservoir changes are 15-20 gallons but I try to keep my top offs to 5 gal., so the adjustments are easier. If you’re already aerating your solution you can mix a 3 gal. batch once a week if your watering 3 times a week with 1 gallon, the nutrients will hold for 7 days under aeration. All added nutrients contain buffers that moderate pH, if you run higher EC/ppm you’ll need more PH up/down to adjust with the opposite being true if your EC/ppm is lower. For example, with my nutrients and tap water at 1.4 EC I need 2 mls. of pH down to bring the pH down .5 but I need 5mls of pH up to bring it up the same .5 on the scale. It takes some careful trial and error but you can get in a groove. If my target EC was higher it would require more and if it were lower it would require less. The more total dissolved solids that are in your solution, the more pH adjustment agent will be required to affect the pH.
 
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JDU said:
I'm gettin so frustrated I could scream & my lawn is gettin so green & full from all the nute water I keep messing up. My issue is how sensitive the ph up & down are. I can mix up a gallon of feed - comes out around 5.0- add 2 drops of up- little to no change. One more drop & git 7.5!! Science says don't add Ph down to Ph up.... has anyone ignored this & done it anyway? How did it turn out? I'm tired of wasting nutes & half my morning remixing them.
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You may consider trying a different brand of PH up? What brand are you using now? I've never had to use PH up, it's always down for me.
 
JDU I assume you are checking pH after you’ve mixed up your solution? Obi-Wan has great advice on aeration. When I was in hydro, I’d mix 2-4 days in advance and get a stable mix ... my base pH starts with 8.4tap water
 
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Yessir. Nutes n cal mag plus then check. I only know it comes out at 7.0 cause I tested it way back when I burned the Mango. I found an amazing fert. Granulated so i gotta really shake it up to dissolve it.
 
JDU I've just started aerating my water with a small fish gallon pump. The aeration can make my nute solution jump as much as 2 whole points. I don't know how long to run the pump for maximum effect. I nute water and run the pump for half an hour in a gallon. Then pH. If you wind up dropping the pH too much, you can aerate again.
 
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Some of them feed WAY faster than others. I can SOAK the Girl Scout Cookies & Mango every other day while the Jilly Bean & Holy Grail Kush can take 4 or 5 days to dry up. 1gal fabric pots.
I been mixin a milk jug at a time & sometimes need another quart (that's when it gits ridiculously sensitive) I was under the impression that it wouldn't keep so thank you profusely for that info.
 
Ph up is acidic and ph down is basic. When combined in a safe manner they neutralize each other. I believe water and salts are the byproduct of this interaction. The only thing you really have to worry about is too many dissolved solids in the mixture from the salts. So be aware of that.
water temp plays a huge role in ph fluctuation.
another thing to think about is pen malfunction. If improperly stored the bulb can become saturated with minerals. This can cause damage to the device itself.
lastly, make sure to allow time for the ph up or down to dissolve into the water. If you drop and test, come back 2 min later and test again you will see different results.
 
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Toker1 I'm picking up what you're laying down about malfunctioning pens. My tap water is usually over 8. Before I test anything I test my tap water. If it's 6, I know something is wrong. Usually, turning off the pen and rinsing it off helps.
 
The bulb in the ph probe is very sensitive to mineral content. At my old job, I saw a $3,000 ph meter turn into a paper weight because some one stored the bulb in spring water over night. Ooops.
 
I should probably calibrate my new pen & put the drops away. & this is all very informative stuff! Thanks!
 
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