i am currently having this problem with advanced nutrients as well. i am using r/o water too and all i can do is add ph up bc of the severe drops. i i dont think its the nutes bc i only water once a day, mix my nutes 12 hours prior and after i water then the ph steadily declines. hope somebody can chime in and let us know whats up

KushMaster707 said:

i am currently having this problem with advanced nutrients as well. i am using r/o water too and all i can do is add ph up bc of the severe drops. i i dont think its the nutes bc i only water once a day, mix my nutes 12 hours prior and after i water then the ph steadily declines. hope somebody can chime in and let us know whats up

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hope you get that prob fixed. your ph is dropping and mine is rising, i wonder what the hell is causing this

I know this may sound stupid but did you check your meter? Maybe a new battery would help.

revolutionseeds said:

I know this may sound stupid but did you check your meter? Maybe a new battery would help.

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doesnt sound stupid at all. i have 2 meters and they are both saying the exact same thing. i also make sure they're calibrated before i use them

I mix my 400 ppm 7.4pH tap with my ro until it is around 125-150ppm. This will offer you some buffering. JK

House and garden sell a PH stabiliser that guarantees a stable ph for 7 days,
some nute companys do there own brand specific ph up and down.
I had the ph rising prob as well so now i use a res for dechlorinated water and a bucket to mix just enough nutes i need each watering.

Beezie said:

Salt Softened water will kill your plants and f'up your ph bad. Also if you have salt softened water you have to get it from the line before it gets to the softener. (The Hose)
But if you have city water not a problem.
Try mixing the two R0 and hard water or city water at different ratio's. Also try a different brand of ph down. I have had this problem with RO before. It bounce's around because it's so clean and there arnt any buffers in it after you clean it. I just use hard now but when I did use my ro I think I used a ratio of 3/1 1 being the ro and it worked. Also it could be the ph down I think the earth juice ph down might not work well with gh.

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great advice man, thanks - i dunno how you pinpointed that im using earth juice(you must be physic, lol) but i just bought gh down to go with the gh nutes i also purchased. i just changed the tank today so ill know in a few days when i go back if it worked or not... also quick note i didnt use the r/o machine yet

Jalisco Kid said:

I mix my 400 ppm 7.4pH tap with my ro until it is around 125-150ppm. This will offer you some buffering. JK

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thanks bro!!

Trillion said:

House and garden sell a PH stabiliser that guarantees a stable ph for 7 days,
some nute companys do there own brand specific ph up and down.
I had the ph rising prob as well so now i use a res for dechlorinated water and a bucket to mix just enough nutes i need each watering.

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ill keep my eye out for that stuff, thanks for the advice

hello all, Im f#@*#! poor,and the hydro shop is too far and over f#@*#! priced!!! is ther a cheap PH down method ?? Im thinking apple cider vinagar? just need to be sure befor i try it.thanx {love your soil} TLO

If you are using tap water you need to let it sit for 24 hours this will help you get an accurate reading when you first mix. It also allows the ph to stabilize in the water.

With that said ph in the resevoir is going to ebb and flow. The plants use the water and nutrients for feeding. So if they use more nutrients than water your ph is going to go up. If they use more water than nutrients than the ph will drop. You should check ppm's when your resevoir is fluctuating. ppms go up ph goes down. ppms go down ph rises. So if your ph is rising your plants need more food. Ph is going down back off the nutes some.

Excellent thread for me since I'll be attempting hydro for the first time. Doing two buckets at the start. Good luck getting that ph down, GrowBot and keep us posted.


Happy

thanks alot guys!! i fixed the problem by switching nutrients and changing out the ph down formula. i guess i got a bad bottle of nutes or something
:fixed:

Hope that fix's things for ya bud
my buddy useless posted this up a while back and is spot on. It the way i do things for the past year and no bubbles no troubles.
Now- how to control your PH...
There are a couple factors that cause your PH to drift. The most common is running the nute solution too strong or too weak. If it's too strong, your PH drops. If it's too weak the PH rises. You have to find the balance point. If you find that the formula above is say, a little strong, and say you have a 20 gallon ressy, mix the nutes for 18 gallons. If it's a little weak, mix it for 22 gallons. You follow?
The other common mistake is mixing your nutrient solution and trying to adjust the PH right away. You have to allow time for the ph buffers in the nutrient solution to do their job. Mix the nutes up, and bubble or circulate for 12 hours before even looking at your PH. You will find the PH to be almost right on target.
I use little or no ph adjusters. (Except during flush). I use tap water, with a starting PPM of 300-400 and a starting PH of 7.4-9.0 (Thats crazy you say! The water is too hard, you will never get stable PH and you will have too much Ca, causing a lockout of Mg!) Bollocks I say.
Every week, on Friday I drain the ressy and fill with plain water. I let that run overnight giving the plants a little flush. This also allows the chlorine and ammonia to evap. On Saturday morning, I mix the nutes into the ressy. I DO NOT adjust ph at this time. Let that run as is overnight. On Sunday morning, I check ph and adjust if needed. Usually don't have to.
Doing things this way has saved me from constant PH drifts, and using about 150 ml of ph down every ressy change, and a little here and there throughout the week to keep it in the desired range. Now, the most I ever have to use is about 30 ml.if any at all. (I have 2 100 gallon ressy btw) My Ph stays at a constant 5.5-5.8.

the ph of my well water fluctuates throughout the year...

not sure if this is the issue.