PH Drift

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JASONBROTHER

JASONBROTHER

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I think my issue is I am tackling a different problem than other people with ph drift.

Most people have hard water with a lot of bicarbonate in it. They don't need to add any pH Up they only add acid and the bicarbonate in their tap water acts as their base buffer.

My tap water is under 40 PPM so practically RO water. My issue comes from there being no base buffer present naturally. So I need to choose an up-and-down that will compliment each other.

Perhaps citric acid will drift a lot with most people's hard tap water but maybe with the right base buffer mixed in citric acid will work with my water.

It's pretty cheap so I'm going to buy some and test it out at least.

My city water report if curious. Turtle creek. So little sodium.
Then you can treat it as RO. In fact, Personally I think Tap water is relative to RO water, Its pH will be more stable, so I suggest you use the method I said yesterday, because my method was used to test RO water at the beginning, and I only started to use tap water at present,
but believe it or not, tap water is definitely better than RO water, especially the size of fruits.
 
Glassdub

Glassdub

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Then you can treat it as RO. In fact, Personally I think Tap water is relative to RO water, Its pH will be more stable, so I suggest you use the method I said yesterday, because my method was used to test RO water at the beginning, and I only started to use tap water at present,
but believe it or not, tap water is definitely better than RO water, especially the size of fruits.
Mine pH at 9 so no, right now I use dehumidifier runoff water pH a bit acid at 4.9 ppm 20-25, tap is about 100, tons of lime, use it in my tent humidifier & it leaves limecicles everywhere.
 
threatco

threatco

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Then you can treat it as RO. In fact, Personally I think Tap water is relative to RO water, Its pH will be more stable, so I suggest you use the method I said yesterday, because my method was used to test RO water at the beginning, and I only started to use tap water at present,
but believe it or not, tap water is definitely better than RO water, especially the size of fruits.

I think it depends on your tap water. Some people simply can't use their tap water without RO.

Lucky for us we can.

Further to the argument that hard water is what makes citric acid particularly bad. The bicarbonates will react quickly with citric acid to form carbonic acid and then carbon dioxide (which will leave as a gas !)

If you can avoid this either by doing RO or having clean tap water to begin with and also not using the wrong PH up, that could be the key to using it effectively as a buffering agent.
 
JASONBROTHER

JASONBROTHER

206
43
Mine pH at 9 so no, right now I use dehumidifier runoff water pH a bit acid at 4.9 ppm 20-25, tap is about 100, tons of lime, use it in my tent humidifier & it leaves limecicles everywhere.
If you use the dehumidifier water . it is recommended that you keep using it. Do not change the water frequently. and u mentioned that pH is 4.9,
but I feel that pH 4.9 has a lot to do with your water temperature. You can do an experiment and put it under the sun or the light. In a few hours, the pH will reach about 6.5-7.0
 
Glassdub

Glassdub

1,293
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If you use the dehumidifier water . it is recommended that you keep using it. Do not change the water frequently. and u mentioned that pH is 4.9,
but I feel that pH 4.9 has a lot to do with your water temperature. You can do an experiment and put it under the sun or the light. In a few hours, the pH will reach about 6.5-7.0
It's warm about 70-75f my medium is pretty high right now as I had added DE so runoffs are mostly in the mid 6 range.
 
JASONBROTHER

JASONBROTHER

206
43
I think it depends on your tap water. Some people simply can't use their tap water without RO.

Lucky for us we can.

Further to the argument that hard water is what makes citric acid particularly bad. The bicarbonates will react quickly with citric acid to form carbonic acid and then carbon dioxide (which will leave as a gas !)

If you can avoid this either by doing RO or having clean tap water to begin with and also not using the wrong PH up, that could be the key to using it effectively as a buffering agent.
The test I did at that time was that RO water would make citric acid very bad after i mixed nutrient solution.

but later I found that if I used RO water, if I needed to reduce my pH after mix nutrients, I'd better add some pH stabilizers, such as GH. Because the main ingredient of GH ph down is citric acid,
 
JASONBROTHER

JASONBROTHER

206
43
It's warm about 70-75f my medium is pretty high right now as I had added DE so runoffs are mostly in the mid 6 range.
If it's winter now, it won't be a big problem. The point is that when we are in summer, especially those hydroponics, the water temperature in summer is generally 25 ° C, plus the illumination of light, the water temperature can generally reach 28-30 ° C.

Whether it's watering or using water to mix nutrient solution,it is the best to keep the water temperature around 18 ℃, and the pH will also more stable than we think,
 
Glassdub

Glassdub

1,293
163
The test I did at that time was that RO water would make citric acid very bad after i mixed nutrient solution.

but later I found that if I used RO water, if I needed to reduce my pH after mix nutrients, I'd better add some pH stabilizers, such as GH. Because the main ingredient of GH ph down is citric acid,
The stuff I have is phosphoric acid.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FG0F9U
 
3 balls

3 balls

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If you use the dehumidifier water . it is recommended that you keep using it. Do not change the water frequently. and u mentioned that pH is 4.9,
but I feel that pH 4.9 has a lot to do with your water temperature. You can do an experiment and put it under the sun or the light. In a few hours, the pH will reach about 6.5-7.0
Does anybody know of a reason not to use the de-hue runoff? After many years of adding it to my filtered barrel (because why not), I recently stopped out of concern that the clear, odorless slime layer that builds up in the bottom of the collection buckets could carry some sort of disease. Is this paranoia and wtf is that film anyway?
 
MIMedGrower

MIMedGrower

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Does anybody know of a reason not to use the de-hue runoff? After many years of adding it to my filtered barrel (because why not), I recently stopped out of concern that the clear, odorless slime layer that builds up in the bottom of the collection buckets could carry some sort of disease. Is this paranoia and wtf is that film anyway?


Dehumidifier water gets mold easily.
 
Glassdub

Glassdub

1,293
163
Does anybody know of a reason not to use the de-hue runoff? After many years of adding it to my filtered barrel (because why not), I recently stopped out of concern that the clear, odorless slime layer that builds up in the bottom of the collection buckets could carry some sort of disease. Is this paranoia and wtf is that film anyway?
None that concern me, if it isn't broke don't fix it is a popular option I agree with.
 
Last edited:
Aqua Man

Aqua Man

26,480
638
I think my issue is I am tackling a different problem than other people with ph drift.

Most people have hard water with a lot of bicarbonate in it. They don't need to add any pH Up they only add acid and the bicarbonate in their tap water acts as their base buffer.

My tap water is under 40 PPM so practically RO water. My issue comes from there being no base buffer present naturally. So I need to choose an up-and-down that will compliment each other.

Perhaps citric acid will drift a lot with most people's hard tap water but maybe with the right base buffer mixed in citric acid will work with my water.

It's pretty cheap so I'm going to buy some and test it out at least.

My city water report if curious. Turtle creek. So little sodium.
I think your going to find the same thing I described about how fast it breaks down. Bicarbonate seems to be the issue but it's still a very weak acid. Apparently temperature plays a role also. I'm going to do a little research today on citric acid. I'm sure there are many elements at play
 
Jermamma420

Jermamma420

83
18
For years I've wondered wtf, more often than not when I mix a batch of nutes in the mixing barrel and set the ph if I don't use it all at once, by the next day the ph will be off. I always figured it was due to a temp difference but I recently read up about it and my bluelab meter adjusts for temp. Any Bill Nye types know whats going on here? I'm starting to wonder if up/down products aren't all created equal.
Phosphoric acid is the best PH down I have used.
I get the bottle from the hardware store for clearing out clogged drains. It comes in a plastic bottle, taped inside of a plastic bag, and will dissolve pretty much anything organic. 1 drop goes a long way!
It lasts longer than other acids, and the byproduct is Phosphorous, which is good for blooms.
 

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