pH rising?

Hi all quick question. Been using filtered tap water with ppm of 220, pH of 7.3( no nutes) and leave out for 24hrs. I then pH down to 6.3 as plants don't require any nutrients yet. I watered yesterday and for some reason decided to pH what was left in the jug today and it had risen to 7.2. is this normal? Will it cause my soil pH to rise? I'm using bio bizz allmix.

From what I read and researched the ph in tap water tends to rise a lot mine does the same

zagreengoblin said:

From what I read and researched the ph in tap water tends to rise a lot mine does the same

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Will this make soil pH rise though

Yeah it will cause the soil ph to rise. My tap water is around 7pH when i add more water to my already leveled out ph water it makes the pH rise. So I have to use some ph down.

And from what I learned usually when adding something whether it be nutrients or water that’s not balanced It will increase ppm or pH. I just adjust accordingly

zagreengoblin said:

And from what I learned usually when adding something whether it be nutrients or water that’s not balanced It will increase ppm or pH. I just adjust accordingly

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So pH down slightly more ever other water? I always do pH it and it's rising over night even once phd

Soil or whatever can be funny!

1st test 7ph
2nd test 6.5
3rd test 5.4

This is on the same plant and all 3 readings are within half hour, 3 different areas of the pot.

Jenko said:

Soil or whatever can be funny!

1st test 7ph
2nd test 6.5
3rd test 5.4

This is on the same plant and all 3 readings are within half hour, 3 different areas of the pot.

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What kind of meter are you using?

You can always add some distilled white vinegar to bring it down just a tad. Also with soil meters you might want to hang out, burn a j or something for about 5-10 minutes and recheck your meter. Mine spikes at 7 and then settles at about 6.5 when i do my daily checks.

jensen71 said:

You can always add some distilled white vinegar to bring it down just a tad. Also with soil meters you might want to hang out, burn a j or something for about 5-10 minutes and recheck your meter. Mine spikes at 7 and then settles at about 6.5 when i do my daily checks.

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I don't actually measure my soil pH, I always pH the water going in. But my concern is if the PhD water that has been left on the side rises over night, will the soil pH rise once watered?

Greenthumbgrower1986 said:

I don't actually measure my soil pH, I always pH the water going in. But my concern is if the PhD water that has been left on the side rises over night, will the soil pH rise once watered?

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You are supposed to check the PH of the runoff water if you are using felt pots, air pots or planters. Because you are just diluting it with new ph'd mix. That's when you will know for sure if its too high or too low. That's where a digital ph meter comes in handy. I've always gotten bad readings with them so I opt to use the soil PH meter after 5-10 minutes of letting it sit. Ideal ph readings are between 6-7 with soil vs hydro applications.

jensen71 said:

You are supposed to check the PH of the runoff water if you are using felt pots, air pots or planters. Because you are just diluting it with new ph'd mix. That's when you will know for sure if its too high or too low. That's where a digital ph meter comes in handy. I've always gotten bad readings with them so I opt to use the soil PH meter after 5-10 minutes of letting it sit. Ideal ph readings are between 6-7 with soil vs hydro applications.

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I usually check my ppm in run off, but I was told it's unreliable to get an accurate pH reading of the soil unless you do the slurry test or buy a very expensive soil probe like the bluelab

Your ph should naturally rise, you ph down then it will go up to about 7.8 by the time you water again. If it doesn’t then you will have problems as lockout is occurring.

zagreengoblin said:

Yeah it will cause the soil ph to rise. My tap water is around 7pH when i add more water to my already leveled out ph water it makes the pH rise. So I have to use some ph down.

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Yes. Your tap water likely has lots of Calcium in it, do your faucets/shower heads get scaling on them? If so, your water has too much Ca and is messing with your pH.

Water with a pH of 7.0 exactly is almost always a sign of having Calcium in it, you're effectively dumping Dolomite Lime in your soil every time you water which is fucking with your pH.

You'll have to finish the grow with pure RO water. Then in the future, omit amendments with Calcium in them from your soil mix.

I have the same issue, my well water is heavily calcified and also has a perfect 7.0 pH. I had tons of random pH issues until I removed all traces of Calcium from my soil.

kratos015 said:

Yes. Your tap water likely has lots of Calcium in it, do your faucets/shower heads get scaling on them? If so, your water has too much Ca and is messing with your pH.

Water with a pH of 7.0 exactly is almost always a sign of having Calcium in it, you're effectively dumping Dolomite Lime in your soil every time you water which is fucking with your pH.

You'll have to finish the grow with pure RO water. Then in the future, omit amendments with Calcium in them from your soil mix.

I have the same issue, my well water is heavily calcified and also has a perfect 7.0 pH. I had tons of random pH issues until I removed all traces of Calcium from my soil.

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Thanks alot, I don't have access to ro water at the moment, I do have filter jugs now which I have using to drop my ppm down to 130. Best I can do with what I have.

Greenthumbgrower1986 said:

Thanks alot, I don't have access to ro water at the moment, I do have filter jugs now which I have using to drop my ppm down to 130. Best I can do with what I have.

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And that is the name of the game with growing in general, IMO. Making due with what you have.

Less is more.

Do you not have water machines at grocery stores or the like where you live? Those water machines that you put $0.25 in dispense RO water, and most water in gallon jugs in a grocery store is RO water.

But, just as you said, the name of the game is making the best of what you have.

The water doesn't have to be perfect, but the fact that you're trying to grow something to your OWN standards will eventually provide success for you.

We all want different things in cannabis, and my thing about growing personally is just like you said, making due with what you have.

Like I was saying though, the PPM really isn't that big of a deal so long as you know WHAT the PPM is.

My water's PPM is between 400-450, but what makes the water so hard is the calcium content. So, rather than getting RO water constantly, I just eliminate Calcium from my soil entirely and my water is now the source of calcium.

Didn't try to change it, just found a way to work with it.

Try to find out WHAT the PPM is, exactly. Because it might not matter whether you reduce the PPM of your water from 200 down to 130, if you don't know what you're reducing in the first place. You might not even need to reduce your water's PPM and the issue could be something else entirely.

Any photos of the plants themselves? There may not even be an issue at all. Easy to love your plants too much.

kratos015 said:

And that is the name of the game with growing in general, IMO. Making due with what you have.

Less is more.

Do you not have water machines at grocery stores or the like where you live? Those water machines that you put $0.25 in dispense RO water, and most water in gallon jugs in a grocery store is RO water.

But, just as you said, the name of the game is making the best of what you have.

The water doesn't have to be perfect, but the fact that you're trying to grow something to your OWN standards will eventually provide success for you.

We all want different things in cannabis, and my thing about growing personally is just like you said, making due with what you have.

Like I was saying though, the PPM really isn't that big of a deal so long as you know WHAT the PPM is.

My water's PPM is between 400-450, but what makes the water so hard is the calcium content. So, rather than getting RO water constantly, I just eliminate Calcium from my soil entirely and my water is now the source of calcium.

Didn't try to change it, just found a way to work with it.

Try to find out WHAT the PPM is, exactly. Because it might not matter whether you reduce the PPM of your water from 200 down to 130, if you don't know what you're reducing in the first place. You might not even need to reduce your water's PPM and the issue could be something else entirely.

Any photos of the plants themselves? There may not even be an issue at all. Easy to love your plants too much.

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Plants are all fine at the moment, I usually experience issues around week 5 just as they go into flower. Then when I realised the water pH rising I thought it could be to do with that.

Greenthumbgrower1986 said:

Plants are all fine at the moment, I usually experience issues around week 5 just as they go into flower. Then when I realised the water pH rising I thought it could be to do with that.

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Nice I just ordered me a RO system and I must say it’s well worth it. my ppm/ec in my tap was around 130ppm/0.9EC and by the time I put nutes and everything the plants needed in the water it always would rise to around 800-1000ppm/1.7-2.1EC. Now with the RO system my ppm is 0 amazingly. Now when I add all my nutes the water levels are perfect and my Ph is more stable and easier to adjust. I’ll never go back to tap.