thank god for pH meters

i thought i'd avoid water troubles for awhile by getting a Walmart brand gallon waters: "Carbon Filtration, Reverse Osmosis, Distillation, UV Treatment, Microfiltration, and Ozonation"

but i started having nutrient lockout problems with mostly Phosphorous and also Nitrogen a bit.

you'd think the pH would be 7.0 wouldn't you?
just got my meter today, calibrated it with 7.0 buffer... this crap water is at 7.5

my city tap water is at 8.7 !!! takes 8ml of 5% acidic vinegar just to bring it down to 7.0 looking like i should deffinitely get a TDS/PPM meter as well.

8.7 .... man, this is how you can kill ur shite w/o ever having a clue as to why.

Glad you figured it out. 7 - 7.5 ph doesn't mean it is "crap" water. Most all tap, spring, and even RO water is above 7.0. Growers have to lower the PH of almost all water. Some lucky folks might have a stoner working at the water plant and then you'll see some 6.5 water, but that is pretty rare.

A TDS meter can be very informative as well.