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Can anybody help solve this mystery?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Stomata
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Can anybody help solve this mystery?

Stomata 15 Replies 1,807 Views
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Stomata

Stomata

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#1
How do I get my RO water to be at the ph level I want but still have a TDS level of 0 ?
If the RO water from the tap has a ph of 7.6/8.1 and I need water to have a ph of 5.5/5.8
When I add ph down to 100 gallons of RO water to get my ph to 5.9 my PPMs go to 600
Do I have to ph the water before the RO unit ? If so, how is that done ?
Does anybody have the proper ph while maintaining 0 on the TDS meter ? if so, how
Is anybody else having this issue ? Does PH really matter that much ?
I have been trying to figure this out for a while now and no one seems to have an answer
thanks
 
#2
unless your using something very unusual for ph down, it shouldn't cause that much change in ppm. back when i used tap water with a ph of 7.2ish, i used maybe 5ml of ph down in 50 gallon and it would change ppm by 10-15ppm. could it be a meter problem??
 
#3
i agree that is really bizzare. i only mix 5 gals at a time but if i use r/o i cant even put a tiny drop into my bucket without the ph swinging out of control i have to dilute it first then add it in small amounts and it has next to no effect on ppm.

it really shouldnt be having a 600ppm effect. have you tried adding your nutes and seeing what effect the buffers have before you add PH up or down
 
#4
I would agree also with what has been posted thus far.

When you have good RO water it will have had ALL buffers or compounds that behave as buffers filtered out, so RO water has the nature of "assuming" the ph of whatever is being added.

What are you using for PH down would be my first question?

What are you using for nutrients?

I do not think you should even be trying to ph the RO water first anyhow. Mix your nutrients up and if they are decent nutrients, they will be ph balanced anyhow and you will not need to ph anything after mixing up the nutrients.

If anything most need to ph UP when using RO water......not down, so something seems "off" somewhere...

Be Well
HR
 
#5
Stomata said:
Does anybody have the proper ph while maintaining 0 on the TDS meter ?
Click to expand...
no, that's kind of impossible. with nothing in it to buffer, pre-adjusting ph of RO is useless. mix nutes first, ph last.

to avoid throwing off nute ratios i use dilute sulfuric for down. if you are adding soluble silica, an up adjuster shouldn't be necessary.
 
#6
You would be better off using 1/2 ro and 1/2 tap water that way you will not have Ph issues once you mix your nutrients. El Cerebro is correct ^^^^^

we were discussing this in the thread " Plants stall in the UC"
 
#7
like everyone else. dont adjust before. your ph is still high for ro water. calibrate your meter. i like to bubble waters before mixing to saturate with o2 and get some co2 as carbonic acid. then nutrients read tds; ph adjust. use. it sounds worse time and energy wise than it is.
 
#9
Stomata, I'm not trying to be a douche, but if you don't understand basic grow info such as pH, IMO you should not undertake a UC/RDWC grow. Have you grown before?? If not soil/soilless is a great place to start. Good luck on your grow.
 
#11
Sorry for wasting time, but thanks you guys' input, after reading over the replys I have recieved and checking everything twice I have found out that my blulab ph guage was blown -- due to the fact that the "old style cap" will blow out the node inside the meter because of the pressure when putting the cap back on. I am surprised that all is still alive after having my meter re checked and recieving a new meter I have come to fiind that it was blown, when I checked my system my PH was at 3.0 -- made neccessary changes -- all seems to OK now. 1 drop goes a long ways
PS,,,, I hate when Im stupid, I wasn too good in schoo.
If something seems wrong -- check your equipment I already knew that

thanks fellas

Stomata
 
#13
i've had meter crises like that too, even had two replacement probes in a row that were bad. took me weeks to figure out what was going on, fortunately nothing in flower..
 
#14
Stomata said:
PS,,,, I hate when Im stupid, I wasn too good in schoo.
If something seems wrong -- check your equipment I already knew that

thanks fellas

Stomata
Click to expand...

I hate to see this kind of self-deprecation. You're not dumb. You're basically taking care of an infant that doesn't even know how to breathe on its own. It's that helpless.

It's a tough job, especially in an advanced system like UC. I can personally name at least 3 people with master's degrees in biological sciences who would fuck this up thoroughly. Don't second guess yourself, sometimes shit doesn't go the way you hoped--you adjust and move on.

Stupid is a fake idea, it doesn't exist. There are varying levels of commitment to learning, and these can afford you more knowledge and what-have-you--but this doesn't make you smarter.

"Stupid" people get degrees all the time. The idea alone that you would call yourself stupid goes about 95% of the way towards proving that you aren't. Stupid people think they are awesome and infallible. The only true way to be stupid is to think you're too smart to pay attention to the small things.
 
#16
Stomata said:
Sorry for wasting time, but thanks you guys' input, after reading over the replys I have recieved and checking everything twice I have found out that my blulab ph guage was blown -- due to the fact that the "old style cap" will blow out the node inside the meter because of the pressure when putting the cap back on. I am surprised that all is still alive after having my meter re checked and recieving a new meter I have come to fiind that it was blown, when I checked my system my PH was at 3.0 -- made neccessary changes -- all seems to OK now. 1 drop goes a long ways
PS,,,, I hate when Im stupid, I wasn too good in schoo.
If something seems wrong -- check your equipment I already knew that

thanks fellas

Stomata
Click to expand...
I have a blulab PH Pen also. This "old style" cap, is it the one with the little silicone boot thing inside?

Mine was already returned for not calibrating once.
 
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