Water PH

[RottyRzr]

I have well water that is acidic. 5.2ph today. My water also has a fairly low alkalinity @ 23.3 ppm. i understand 20ppm-200ppm is normal. (I had the water tested by a lab) From what I understand, alkalinity has to do with waters ability to buffer ph.
I mixed up some maxibloom today @60grams/15gal to give me 1.1ec in my reservoir and this dropped the ph to 3.94! It took 43ml of GH PH UP to raise the ph to 6.0.
PH UP is potassium carbonate so I would like to know if this 43ml of ph up added to the maxibloom potassium level of 14% gives me too much total potassium. Will a program like hydro buddy work for figuring this out?
Hope this is enough info.

 

[rkymtnman]

I mixed up some maxibloom today @60grams/15gal to give me 1.1ec in my reservoir and this dropped the ph to 3.94! It took 43ml of GH PH UP to raise the ph to 6.0

one thing you can try is mix it up again and don't touch the pH. see what happens after 12 hrs, 24hrs, etc. will it rise back up on it's own?

if not try RO water from walmart and see what that does with the maxibloom.

 

[RottyRzr]

one thing you can try is mix it up again and don't touch the pH. see what happens after 12 hrs, 24hrs, etc. will it rise back up on it's own?

if not try RO water from walmart and see what that does with the maxibloom.

My first thought was I cant wait 12 or 24 hours without feeding from my res but then it dawned on me that I could hand water. Good suggestion. I got the bulletproof today. Hoping it works.

 

[RottyRzr]

As a follow up, I've given up on Maxibloom for now. I wound up getting a brown sludge in my reservoir. I drained it and cleaned everything and started fresh but still got the brown sludge stuff. I don't know why but I guess there is a reaction with something in my water. I drained the reservoir again, cleaned everything and went back to Jacks and everything is staying crystal clear. Even with the Bulletproof SI so that wasn't the cause.

 

[Rurumo]

It can be tough running Maxi series in acidic or RO water both. One money saver is to purchase potassium bicarbonate powder in bulk and use that to raise the ph/buffer the solution. Plus, it's nice to have on hand as a foliar antifungal if needed.