PH of water/soil question..

first timer here ...i was curious.. I'm currently using FF Happy Frog as my growing soil .. plus the ff nute trio. From what i understand, the soil's ph is usually neutral before using... However .. after watering with tap for a few months WITHOUT A PH TESTER ... i realized the ph of my soil is about 7.5 - 8. since about a month ago I started using a ph tester, and ph down for my water (tap was at least . I drop the ph to about 5-6 every watering but i noticed the ph of my soil is still at about the same... i have one of those home depot cheap analog meter testers. Is this normal and what are the drawbacks of having my soil at the level it is.. and is there any way to correct it if need be???

that ph tester is crap (I have one)
soil is a great buffer so without buying an exspensive tester (though you should consider it) you can get fish tank drops at wally world (test the ph of water for fish tanks) for $5

Tip; it comes with a color chart to compare the color of the water after you add the 3 drops, go for yellow to slightly yellow/green (even though it seems low) check water before adding things (nutes, mollases etc) then check again after adding (it will be lower) if not yet yellow add some ph down till it is,,,,,,water your plants till you have run off

test the run off (it will go up) as long as it is not above 7 your fine

i know theres a way, and im sure by watering with the water that you ph downed thatll bring the soil ph down with it. but as far as a ph of 5 thats way too low and a ph of 8 is too high. in soil the ph should be between 6 and 7.....you get a lot of different opinions on this but ive been growing things for a while and my ph stays at 6.5-7 ph all the time. and ive never had an issue
im now trying to look into the whole ph thing i never had an issue so i never really read up on it....im gonna keep checking this thread to see if i can learn something......i know this 7 ph is fine for soil. but 5.8 to 6.5 is good for hydro.......i dont really understand why though. im just lucky my tap water is perfect....o also i leave a 5 gal container out and i just fill it as i use it

If you are watering with 5-6 pH then yes it should be dropping. Are you making a soil slurry as I like to call it when you test it? Meaning you should only use that analog tester in a puddle of soil just after watering for it to work properly. The possible downside of having your soil that alkaline is that you could be locking out nitrogen, phosphorus, and trace elements such as manganese, iron and boron. Potassium however shouldn't be locked out at that pH. Next time, forget using the soil pH tester, and start out your grow with pH adjusted water to 6.5pH and you will never have to worry about testing your soil or your runoff.

i do have a ph water tester since i noticed i WAS having some lockout problems ..i test eveytime i water... I didn't realize i was going too low when i dropped the ph as low as 5. I assumed it would help the soil's ph drop (which it has) a bit. but i didn't realize i could be doing damage to the girls. Oh and thanks for the tip of testing the run off!! and the soil slurry effect! props