soil aeration questions

Went to a CVS pharmacy and bought the only type they had, their brand for $1.87. Went there because I never go there and hoped it would be different from my last gallon. Tested in a vial, a glass and a plastic cup. All three look like 6 to me. Tested my tap that is always 8 to check the drops and it looked like 8.
Had the pool drops avail so I checked with those since they are within range and it looked like 6 and again my tap looked like 8 with the pool drops.
Here is the test with and without a flash using the hydro store drops.

In that case, your drops are not giving you an accurate reading, just that simple. Sigh, guess I'll have to dig out the Ol Milwaukee SM-101, make sure the battery's still good and re calibrate it. I do have calibration fluids.

If all that happens, I'll snag a gallon of distilled when I do my beer run and we'll see.

But, MR explained it very well why that reading of 6 is a false reading. Being a hydo guy, I'm really surprised im4satori doesn't have a meter. Thought you had to have a Blue Lab at least to join the club.

Wetdog said:

In that case, your drops are not giving you an accurate reading, just that simple. Sigh, guess I'll have to dig out the Ol Milwaukee SM-101, make sure the battery's still good and re calibrate it. I do have calibration fluids.

If all that happens, I'll snag a gallon of distilled when I do my beer run and we'll see.

But, MR explained it very well why that reading of 6 is a false reading. Being a hydo guy, I'm really surprised im4satori doesn't have a meter. Thought you had to have a Blue Lab at least to join the club.

Click to expand...

I stopped buying meters years ago

ive had the same water source and in hydro I ran drain to waste and mix my own raw salts so I didn't get the ph swing youd expect to see in a recirculating reservoir ... ph stayed flat at set point at all times

I new just how much pek acid or sulfuric acid to add to the concentrates so I didn't have to worry about checking it after so many years mixing the same way with the same source water

im sure I have a Myron pen around but I don't think itll be any good

that's plain distilled water from the jug just opened 1 minute before test

4 drops

looks 6 to 6.5 ish

likely closer to 6

I wonder if the duration of time it sits in the plastic jug affects the ph?

sometimes I can taste the plastic in the water from bottled water

Buba Blend said:

Went to a CVS pharmacy and bought the only type they had, their brand for $1.87. Went there because I never go there and hoped it would be different from my last gallon. Tested in a vial, a glass and a plastic cup. All three look like 6 to me. Tested my tap that is always 8 to check the drops and it looked like 8.
Had the pool drops avail so I checked with those since they are within range and it looked like 6 and again my tap looked like 8 with the pool drops.
Here is the test with and without a flash using the hydro store drops.
View attachment 4014233 View attachment 4014234

Click to expand...

are you happy to know its not just you?

I hear the voices also....

took another test after allowing the water to breathe a few minutes

looks even more yellow so a solid ph 6.0

another thing I might add

my tap water has been ph 7.3 to 7.5 for years and ive tested it with several pens countless times over years so im sure of its range

the dropper test does provide the ph 7.5 result I would expect from the well water

just for shits and giggles

i had an old old bottle of ph drops that was about empty and im surprised i hadn't thrown it out

but it has a few drops left in it so i went ahead and tested the distilled water with the old bottle of drops and it was still ph 6.0

the old bottle of drops would have been purchased likely a year or more ago

so it doesn't appear to be an issue with the drops

i need to search for my EC pen and see if it reads anything on the distilled

copy and paste;

The pH of distilled water that is kept out of contact with the atmosphere should be approximately 7 (the actual pH depends on temperature).

If the water is exposed to air, carbon dioxide (CO2) in the air will dissolve in the water (and you, in fact, no longer have distilled water). When this happens, the CO2 reacts with water to form carbonic acid:

CO2(g) + H2O (liquid) <-> H2CO3(aq)

Carbonic acid is a weak diprotic acid that dissociates into hydrogen ions, bicarbonate ions, and carbonate ions. The presence of hydrogen ions is what makes the solution slightly acidic. At 25 C, the pH of a water (with no other solutes) in equilibrium with air containing ~350 ppm CO2 should be about 5.65.

H2CO3(aq) <-> HCO3- + H+

HCO3- <-> CO3-- + H+








so apparently its not always going to be a perfect ph 7.0

did a search and found that distilled water isn't ph 7.0 for very long

after it comes into contact with air is begins to acidify slightly and can get as low as ph 5.5

I was curious so I heated some distilled water up to what im guessing was 100 degrees

the tempature change made no difference in ph test results

so I think the current question the remains is

is it a myth that you need distilled water to do a ph slurry test

if the ppm is irrelevant and the ph of distilled water un predictable then whats the point

I did a slurry test with the well water (ph 7.5) and the distilled water (ph 6) and both yielded the same result +/- a degree

im4satori said:

so I think the current question the remains is

is it a myth that you need distilled water to do a ph slurry test

if the ppm is irrelevant and the ph of distilled water un predictable then whats the point

Click to expand...

I haven't given up on ppm's being irrelevant or not yet, I'm accepting other opinions but haven't been sold on that yet.

I'm reaching here but to my limited understanding it is not the PH that affects the soil slurry test in a negative way it is the ppms.
Why does it take so much more fluid to adjust the ph with ph up or down of high ppm water yet it only takes a couple of drops to affect distilled water? I think others can explain that better than I if I'm on the right track or I'm off base, not the 1st time.

Buba Blend said:

I'm reaching here but to my limited understanding it is not the PH that affects the soil slurry test in a negative way it is the ppms.
Why does it take so much more fluid to adjust the ph with ph up or down of high ppm water yet it only takes a couple of drops to affect distilled water? I think others can explain that better than I if I'm on the right track or I'm off base, not the 1st time.

Click to expand...

I hadn't noticed that to be true

if my reservoir ph is 7.0 it takes the same amount of acid to bring it down to ph 6.0 with or without nutes added

perhaps its the mere presence of the potential for lime aka calcium carbonate in the water could throw out the readings and less to do with EC

meaning you could have mineral in the water provided its not derived from a lime source or something like that idk...just thinking out loud

maybe its more about the particular elements and the chemical reactions than it is about the specific ph or EC

im4satori said:

I hadn't noticed that to be true

if my reservoir ph is 7.0 it takes the same amount of acid to bring it down to ph 6.0 with or without nutes added

Click to expand...

Yeah, I could be off. This is not something I can debate, it is something I'm trying to figure out.
Later I'll try to find some of the science to what I'm trying to explain.

let me give another example

if I took distilled water and added 128 grams of Epsom salt... the ph of the water wont change and likely have no affect on a slurry test despite the added excessive EC

but if I add something with high levels of calcium derived from calcium carbonate there could be an issue with the test results

again this is all guess work here

I just created this thread. Lets see who has PH 7 distilled and what brand it is.
https://www.rollitup.org/t/what-is-the-ph-of-your-distilled-water.949713/