questions about ph

A

amparillo

Member
I am new to hydro and am very concerned that I have been unable to get my water to an acceptable 5.5-6.5 range....my tap water is about 7.5. I used a combo of super thrive 2oz or so in 20 gallons of water, general hydroponic nutes in half doseages of bloom groom and micro also a lil fish mix and even some lemon juice for good measure. My ppm is 860 so not too high but Ph seems to have gone down from 7.5 to 8+..did I do something wrong or does anyone have some advice for a simple solution ...was trying to stay away from Ph up but if that's my only choice
 
A

amparillo

Member
I have noticed different readings when I test with the bubbles running versus not...can anyone explain? I am using a electronic meter and am pretty sure its accurate
 
L

Lewtwo

Member
I use both aerogardens and bubbler systems. The water tends to settle a little if the system has been off for a while, therefore it's a good idea to mix up the water before testing or you won't get an accurate result. I tried using vinegar at first to adjust my ph but in the end I ended up buying some "general hydroponic" brand ph ajuster. It's cheap and works really well, only a few granules for a 1-5 gallon bucket so it lasts a while. I use an HM Digital ph meter btw. I personally use 5.5. for my ph levels.
 
W

wiseguy316

Well-Known Member
lemon juice and vinegar do not last very long, I have noticed cfls too close the meter will give false readings. Just buy some ph down and be done with it, it lasts a very long time, little goes a long ways.
 
BeaverHuntr

BeaverHuntr

Well-Known Member
amparillo said:
I have noticed different readings when I test with the bubbles running versus not...can anyone explain? I am using a electronic meter and am pretty sure its accurate
Click to expand...
Dont do a PH read with the bubbles going get a clean empty glass/cup and pull a sample and test that way. Did you wash your hydroton ?? Buy some PH down try that and let us know how it goes.
 
BeaverHuntr

BeaverHuntr

Well-Known Member
wiseguy316 said:
lemon juice and vinegar do not last very long, I have noticed cfls too close the meter will give false readings. Just buy some ph down and be done with it, it lasts a very long time, little goes a long ways.
Click to expand...
Wise guy is right. PH down lasts a long time. I buy a small bottle and it lasts a whole year or two - three grows. Buy some PH up too.
 
A

amparillo

Member
Thanks for the input guys ....bought some general hydroponics Ph down today, I put about a table spoon of it in about 20 gallons of solution (water, grow, micro, and bloom) ppm is 725ish and Ph was 8.5! After an hour or so it is still well over 8, I will wait and check throught the night and again in the morning before adding anymore. My question is, the powder takes awhile to break down right? How much would u recommend I add if my Ph is still high in the morning? Thanks!
 
Neumann

Neumann

Active Member
I'm geussing you're using tap water, right? Have you tried filling a 5 gallon bucket and aerating it for 24 hours and checking your pH? Do that and see if it drops at all and post your TDS from the tap if you are using tap water. Town and cities do some really funky stuff to water.
 
ThaConspiracy

ThaConspiracy

Well-Known Member
i wouldn't recommend using powder anything in a reservoir. it can settle at the bottom if it doesn't dissolve or in my case it clogged up my feeding pump. If you absolutely have to use powder use a teabag cut the top and dump the tea out and put the powder in the teabag and staple it shut then hang it in the reservoir. Or you can get a 1 gallon jug fill it halfway up with warm water and the powder and shake the powder up so it dissolve and then add cold water to the jug to get it to at least room temp shake again and then add it to ur reservoir.
 
pwizzle

pwizzle

Well-Known Member
I need PH down for vegg and PH up for flower. It takes a good bit to make the numbers change in a big res.
If you're using powder you will need to disolve it in water before adding it to res. I use liquid ph kit, but my nutes are powder(MG).
testing the ph in a cup is a good idea, rather than turnin off the bubbles.
the bubbles will get to the leads and cause a false reading.
same way with digital tds/ppm too.
 
A

amparillo

Member
Tap water readings....Ph 7.8 tds 1020 ppm 510
current solution readings (after3-4 tbs Ph down) Ph 7.2 tds 1860 ppm 960
Ph is nearing comfort zone but now are the others a lil high for small clones in a veg stage?
 
C

CHUCKTYLAH

Active Member
Not optimal. Did I read you are using hydroton? If you didn't soak it over and over in 5.5 PH water it will bring your PH up. If you have light in your res algae can bring your PH up. Micro organisms in your res can bring PH up (too warm). I would empty the resevoir and run 5.5 PH tapwater through all the medium fill the res up and empty it a couple times then as the last of it drains test the PH keep flushing till it comes out to 5.5 PH. Then get new water for the res add nutes and PH it to 5.9 and refill this should stop major ups in PH but it is normal for PH to fluctuate, just not all the way to 8. It is probably a combo of the listed above because hydroton is typically PHd to 7 so thats where it tends to take the res PH to. This may not be the problem but it is one you can try without a chance to harm your plants and rules out a few things.

Totally missed the 512PPM tapwater...........thats very hard and you have no way of knowing what the 512 PPM consists of. Make sure you let water sit for 24hrs before you add anything to air out chlorine.

One more thing lol. Make sure you dilute your PH up and down because in concentrate it can damage your nutrients when you pour it in.
 
legallyflying

legallyflying

Well-Known Member
Other important ph adjuster info: you should be dilluting your ph adjusters before adding them to the rez. I mix them at about 10:1 with tap water in a seperate jug. this way, your not zapping your nutes with extremely acidic or basic solution (see those white clouds when you dump in straight ph up? not good. Also, you don't have to measure the amounts with a fucking hypodermic needle. just glug some into the rez, check again, put a couple more glugs in there.

the GH ph adjusters work well. They are a little pricey given what the are but I'm not going to get into a chemistry debate. Lets just say I have a little container of lye (ph up) and a jug of sulfuric acid (ph down) sitting on the shelf and they will make about 4 years worth of ph adjusters. total cost = $70 (chemical grade sufuric acid is spendy but still WAAAAAAY cheaper than "ph adjusters for hydro people"). I go through allot of adjsuter solution but I have 100 gallons worth of Rez water going.

Lastly,let that ph fluctuate around for even absorption of nutrient potential. I let mine swing between 5.6 and 6.2. happy growing.
 
BeaverHuntr

BeaverHuntr

Well-Known Member
legallyflying said:
Other important ph adjuster info: you should be dilluting your ph adjusters before adding them to the rez. I mix them at about 10:1 with tap water in a seperate jug. this way, your not zapping your nutes with extremely acidic or basic solution (see those white clouds when you dump in straight ph up? not good. Also, you don't have to measure the amounts with a fucking hypodermic needle. just glug some into the rez, check again, put a couple more glugs in there.

the GH ph adjusters work well. They are a little pricey given what the are but I'm not going to get into a chemistry debate. Lets just say I have a little container of lye (ph up) and a jug of sulfuric acid (ph down) sitting on the shelf and they will make about 4 years worth of ph adjusters. total cost = $70 (chemical grade sufuric acid is spendy but still WAAAAAAY cheaper than "ph adjusters for hydro people"). I go through allot of adjsuter solution but I have 100 gallons worth of Rez water going.

Lastly,let that ph fluctuate around for even absorption of nutrient potential. I let mine swing between 5.6 and 6.2. happy growing.
Click to expand...
I just drop my PH up/ Ph Down into the res and check PH again in 10 minutes. I dont see any white clouds in my reservoir,
 
legallyflying

legallyflying

Well-Known Member
^ huh what nutes are you using? 9 out of 10 times if you add a really strong base to a nutrient solution you will see white precipitate forming which is your nutrients fallling out of solution. They will quickly re-suspend themselves when the mix with the rest of the rez water but you are "beating up" your nutrients. beating them up in terms of fucking with their respective charges. Calcium is the biggest concern here but anywho, there are many many sources on the internet that state you should dilute your ph adjusters.

Like here:
http://www.simplyhydroponic.com/yield-busting-blunders.php
http://www.simplyhydro.com/ph.htm
https://www.rollitup.org/hydroponics-aeroponics/266882-dilute-ph-down-before-adding.html
https://www.rollitup.org/hydroponics-aeroponics/416598-ph-raise-causes-brief-cloud.html
https://www.gardenscure.com/420/plant-food-nutrients/133212-do-you-dilute-ph-adjusters.html
https://www.greenpassion.org/index.php?/topic/18579-ph-adjusters/

but anywho...do as you do
 
BeaverHuntr

BeaverHuntr

Well-Known Member
legallyflying said:
^ huh what nutes are you using? 9 out of 10 times if you add a really strong base to a nutrient solution you will see white precipitate forming which is your nutrients fallling out of solution. They will quickly re-suspend themselves when the mix with the rest of the rez water but you are "beating up" your nutrients. beating them up in terms of fucking with their respective charges. Calcium is the biggest concern here but anywho, there are many many sources on the internet that state you should dilute your ph adjusters.

Like here:
http://www.simplyhydroponic.com/yield-busting-blunders.php
http://www.simplyhydro.com/ph.htm
https://www.rollitup.org/hydroponics-aeroponics/266882-dilute-ph-down-before-adding.html
https://www.rollitup.org/hydroponics-aeroponics/416598-ph-raise-causes-brief-cloud.html
https://www.gardenscure.com/420/plant-food-nutrients/133212-do-you-dilute-ph-adjusters.html
https://www.greenpassion.org/index.php?/topic/18579-ph-adjusters/

but anywho...do as you do
Click to expand...
I'm using a wide variety of GH Nutes. I just found out today that you should be adding micro first to prevent lock out. I have had successful harvests and I never add micro first usually gro then micro then bloom and then all the other shit. Anyways heres what i do:

1) I add R/O water to res
2) Add gro, micro, bloom , florablend, floralicious plus, liquid kool bloom ( in flower ) and last but not least cal/mag
3) I then plug the hoses into the air pump let the nutes settle and mix up a bit.
4) I take a brand new plastic cup take a sample of my water and check PPM & PH
5) I then add my PH up / PH down and let settle for about 10-15 minutes
6) I take another sample to check PH and adjust until I am as close to 5.8 as possible

I have been growing for quite a while and am really familiar with my system and GH nutes so I know exactly how much PH Up / PH down to add to get to 5.8
I dont see any white clouds nor have my plants suffered from this I mean I just put my plants in 12/12 on Sunday. In no way am I trying to call you out and say your claims are false just kind of puzzled.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top