How to get the proper PH levels

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wf8189

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I am having an extremely hard time getting my pH levels to where they need to be.

I have pH up and pH down and every time I need to use one or the other the levels always go way past where they need to be. I am getting very frustrated are there tips that I don’t know to follow?

I am growing in Coco and I balance my pH after my nutrients are added to the water. Is there a certain temperature the water should be at? HELP
 
How to get the proper ph levels
Habosabin

Habosabin

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Are you using RO? That needs to be stabilized if you are.
Maybe you can dilute your up it down if you find your self over correcting. A pump in the res stirring constantly helps.
 
Aqua Man

Aqua Man

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I am having an extremely hard time getting my pH levels to where they need to be.

I have pH up and pH down and every time I need to use one or the other the levels always go way past where they need to be. I am getting very frustrated are there tips that I don’t know to follow?

I am growing in Coco and I balance my pH after my nutrients are added to the water. Is there a certain temperature the water should be at? HELP
Check these 2 out but elread the watering first


 
phxazcraig

phxazcraig

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First off, how are you measuring? Second. are you keeping track of what you are doing? (Writing down the amounts you add so you can adjust from there.)

Third, if you are measuring with an electronic pH pen, which one is it, and how much did it cost? Cheap pH pens (under $75 or so) are notoriously inaccurate.

Fifth, what are you mixing into your nutes, and what sort of water are you starting with? (RO, tap?) What is the EC of your mixes.

Sixth, what is the size of your reservoir? (I assume you have a reservoir feed system, but it would help to now how you get you water to and from the plants.)

I am also growing in coco, and when I mix my nutes, I tend to end up at pH 6.1, with a goal of 6.0. I use a Bluelab pH pen to measure when I mix. (I mix 10 gallons at a time in a big tub, then pour into a 30 gallon reservoir. I mix strong, then add some RO water into the reservoir to get my EC where I want it

Once in the reservoir, I have a Bluelab controller hooked up to pH DOWN to keep the pH from rising. I have noticed when the reservoir is about 1/4 full that it tends to have the pH move lower, to 5.9. I then add a half-capfull of pH UP into the reservoir. AND I WAIT 10 MINUTES before trying to adjust further. I also have a pump stirring the water and a bubbler in the reservoir to ensure it stays mixed up.

My reservoir is at 72F, which is supposed to be a bit high, but that's what it is. I don't try to cool it from there. The evaporation from the bubbler cools it to the level it is.

I'm thinking you are not measuring and dosing consistently, not waiting long enough for a stable result, and possibly have a dodgy measurement system. More than anything, I suggest waiting longer between adding doses, and adding half the amounts you've been adding.
 
Guiltydwight

Guiltydwight

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Use a big plastic food grade tub that holds say 30 litres you will b able to ph your nutrients more acurately without going over..View attachment 1240284
If you don't have a pump and a bubbler, how long would you suggest mixing your nutes in water to achieve proper ph , I tried 12 hrs prior to use and worked well any longer the ph was going way up ,I'm guessing because it's not constantly stirring
 
Aqua Man

Aqua Man

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If you don't have a pump and a bubbler, how long would you suggest mixing your nutes in water to achieve proper ph , I tried 12 hrs prior to use and worked well any longer the ph was going way up ,I'm guessing because it's not constantly stirring
It goes up because tap water is in a closed system under pressure. So co2 formed as a chemical reaction from chlorine/chloramine with organics or microorganisms will be dissolved into the water forming carbonic acid. Acid will cause oh to drop.

So after it comes from the tap over the next 12-24 hrs without aeration this carbonic clacid will be released back into the atmosphere as the water tries to reach equilibrium with the air and thus your ph will continue to rise until it has.

To soeed this up aeration or agitation of the surface water will greatly help. Further doing this before mixing will remove alot of the guess work or you just need to re PH as needed when directly adding to a system.

IME you can roughly gauge the increase to be about 0.4 from what its at comin out of the tap. You can test this yourself simply by testing Ph immediately then aerating a glass or bucket of water for approx 4 hrs and testing it again

Probably more info then needed but personally i feel you will gain a better understanding and be more likely to graps what you need to do and how to handle it in the future
 
Guiltydwight

Guiltydwight

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It goes up because tap water is in a closed system under pressure. So co2 formed as a chemical reaction from chlorine/chloramine with organics or microorganisms will be dissolved into the water forming carbonic acid. Acid will cause oh to drop.

So after it comes from the tap over the next 12-24 hrs without aeration this carbonic clacid will be released back into the atmosphere as the water tries to reach equilibrium with the air and thus your ph will continue to rise until it has.

To soeed this up aeration or agitation of the surface water will greatly help. Further doing this before mixing will remove alot of the guess work or you just need to re PH as needed when directly adding to a system.

IME you can roughly gauge the increase to be about 0.4 from what its at comin out of the tap. You can test this yourself simply by testing Ph immediately then aerating a glass or bucket of water for approx 4 hrs and testing it again

Probably more info then needed but personally i feel you will gain a better understanding and be more likely to graps what you need to do and how to handle it in the future
I also have a 5gal bucket where I keep tap water that sat for a least 48 hrs with gives me a ph 6 , I use that water to mix nutes and then let that sit 12 hrs stirring often , when I use it my ph reads between 6.4 to 6.6 am I ok doing it like that?
 
Madmax

Madmax

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I usually do mine a couple hrs prior, mix nutes then come back in half hr or hour then ph.then check again before watering.it doesnt move even the nxt day.sometimes i even do it a day before.when i do the ppm i ppm 10ppm less cause most times it will climb over a day...i use tank water so most chemicals have evaporated .pretty much why my ph stays stble..dang...i was gonna pass the mic to aqua but hes already done it...you will get booked for speed typing
 
Aqua Man

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I also have a 5gal bucket where I keep tap water that sat for a least 48 hrs with gives me a ph 6 , I use that water to mix nutes and then let that sit 12 hrs stirring often , when I use it my ph reads between 6.4 to 6.6 am I ok doing it like that?
So you can mix you nutes and let it sit right from tap then ph adjust just before use. But judging by your ph your in soil and thus no need to ph adjust if your nutes are staying in the range acceptable to mixing nutrs. Depending on the chelates used id say under 7 is a safe number to account for lower quality chelates that are used in some nutrients.

The soil (if buffered and almost all is these days unless tou making your own) will ph adjust the water added to it so you dont have to
 
Guiltydwight

Guiltydwight

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So you can mix you nutes and let it sit right from tap then ph adjust just before use. But judging by your ph your in soil and thus no need to ph adjust if your nutes are staying in the range acceptable to mixing nutrs. Depending on the chelates used id say under 7 is a safe number to account for lower quality chelates that are used in some nutrients.

The soil (if buffered and almost all is these days unless tou making your own) will ph adjust the water added to it so you dont have to
Without going crazy about it I was just making sure what I was putting in was in that general range . An old buddy suggested to let my mixed water settle before adding ph up or down because he knows I'm not that experienced yet and he's trying to teach me patience and prevent me from going crazy and adding all kinds of crap in my plant, everyone in the cannabis world is so helpful and I'm thankful
 
mysticepipedon

mysticepipedon

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Without going crazy about it I was just making sure what I was putting in was in that general range . An old buddy suggested to let my mixed water settle before adding ph up or down because he knows I'm not that experienced yet and he's trying to teach me patience and prevent me from going crazy and adding all kinds of crap in my plant, everyone in the cannabis world is so helpful and I'm thankful
Commercially purchased pH Down is often stronger than pH Up. That is, you need a lot more pH Up to change the water's pH from 6.0 to 6.5 than you would need pH down to change it from 6.5 to 6.0. pH Up is sort of for fine tuning.

At least this is the case for the products made by General Hydroponics and one other brand that I've used. It drove me nuts until I realized this.
 
Lockeboxgrows

Lockeboxgrows

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Sorry it's an old thread and perhaps a silly question but is ph up or down safe to use for seedlings? I only ask because I know at the seedlings state nutrients will burn them so Im just curious if anything in the ph up will have the same affect while also adjusting the pH level
 
X

Xs.Vyper

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Even in seedling stage and you are not using nutrients yet, you still need to ph your water. Slightly acidic water encourage the root to grow.
 
Aqua Man

Aqua Man

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Sorry it's an old thread and perhaps a silly question but is ph up or down safe to use for seedlings? I only ask because I know at the seedlings state nutrients will burn them so Im just curious if anything in the ph up will have the same affect while also adjusting the pH level
Ph up or down is fine to use. Here is some information on PH for you.

 
X

Xs.Vyper

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Well since I'm here. id like to share my way of phing my water/solute.

Doesnt matter my water source (RO/Tap) but using hard water such as tap water, I normally let it sit for at least 24 hours.

Before adding my nutes. I ph my water first to around 6.3-6.4ish then let it sit and come back later to check the ph. With hard water, I have to do this a few times until I have my water fairly stable at 6.3-6.4ish. At this point, I consider my water as effectively buffered at my desired ph range. In other words, Im fairly confident that my water will not be the cause of any wild ph fluctuation.

Once the water is ph stable, this would be the time I add my nutes, NPK first then whatever I like to add. At this point i dont use "ph down" but rather use the nutes (fertilizer are acidic) to lower the ph no lower than 5.5ish.

I find this approach works for me. I figured no matter if the plant absorb all the nutes or just partially, my ph will never go out of range and will only go as high as ph 6.4ish. There are couple of times, it went out of range but has nothing to do with water or the nute which I was able to identify and rectify immediately. I used to mix my water and nutes then ph it down but a lot of times i ended dealing with wild fluctuation and have to monitor my ph several times a day.

Cheers
 
Madmax

Madmax

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Sorry it's an old thread and perhaps a silly question but is ph up or down safe to use for seedlings? I only ask because I know at the seedlings state nutrients will burn them so Im just curious if anything in the ph up will have the same affect while also adjusting the pH level
Nutrients wont burn them at low levels.soon as my girls are up in coco/perlite i feed them straight away .i ph the nutrients.
 
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