another ph question

been lurking here in the threads reading up on everything but i am confused a bit regurding ph. in a soil grow.
when i water ive been checking its ph. i have been using ph down to get it in the range. my concern is not having a soil ph meter, the water is good but whats happening in the soil with the nutes? from reading here i might be doing the opposite of what should be done... does the soil/nute combo lower the ph regardless of my ph down? should i be using ph up to counter act the downing effect of the soil/nutes?
ive been using ff with castings, and a go box combo from gh. soil is a combo of ff and jungle growth.
i know i need a soil ph tester to answere this correctly but there is always someone with insight here who can tell me what is natural for soil/nute contributions to ph.
i also am growing inside and they are looking great although not as fast and big as the grows i see on here..i am using good quality bagseed. i am too scared to order through the mail and i know no other growers in my area. besides you guys nobody knows i grow. not even my friends. they just know i always have weed..lol

If you want to know what is happening in the root zone, collect the runoff from the holes in your pot and test it's pH.
Really, with organic soil, you shouldn't even worry about pH.

thats a great idea ! i never have watered these to the point of run off coming out the holes. next time i water i will try that. but the water running through has not had any real soaking time in the soil. it will still be a good indicator to show if the ph swings up or down on the way out.

Yes, the pH will change when it goes thru the soil. Don't stress too much over pH in soil. Especially if you are going organic. Using chemical nutes can cause drifting, but once established, organic soil is stable as hell.
You wanna check the run off pH. Unless you have exceptionally high alkaline water, the pH of your tap water should be around 7 or so.
When I started out, I checked the pH of the water going in, then the pH of the water coming out. I figured that it would give me a good idea of whats going on inside the root zone.
One thing you can do to have absolute control over both pH and nutrient levels is to start out with nute free soil. Usually any nursery or garden center will have a good "house mix" potting soil with good structure, and no added nutrients. I add my nutes to that when I don't mix my own soil.(Yeah, sometimes I'm lazy)