PH up not working, but PH down works fine

[Drizzle]

so we are like 3 months in to vegg...and the last week or 2 the PH up has been acting weird. it has been taking literally like half a cup of PH up to get up like .5 to .6 with 5 gallon drums... while PH down still just takes 6 drops or so. It use to just take 6 drops for PH up to. I'm not sure why this is happening. we have well water...maybe its something with our water softener? we just started using the pre evolution filter with our Evolution RO 1000 we have always used. anyone have an idea

i calibrate our ph meter so thats not it

 

[Cort]

Next guess: PH up is bad or contaminated somehow. Try fresh bottle or borrow a squirt from a friend to test. Or maybe try a 5 gal mix using some other water source if you think your water has changed.

 

[Haggardass]

get a new bottle mine did the same thing ended up hurting my plants using that much to bring it up. mine was pretty old used it for about 5 grows over the course of a year and it was weak.

 

[Drizzle]

well I got a new bottle of PH up. still the same reaction.

 

[catdaddy]

hmm could you be using ghs ph up? i have been having same issue, but not as bad as yours. from the time i open the bottle up until now (on my second one) i have always had to use much more ph up then down.
when i asked the hydro guy he said "it's because ph down is very acidic and it it doesn't require as much as ph up to be effective". at the time i just wrote it off as he was right due to the fact i use all gh solutions and from what i read gh products are very acidic.
for those in the know, does this sound right to you?

 

[Drizzle]

I suppose. But this only started like 2 weeks ago. For months it wasn't like this. It would be...tops...20 drips to go up 1.0 now its like 55 drips for .3

 

[Lowman]

I would suggest you quit wasting money on ph up and get a bottle of humic acid and a bottle of silica. Both are better ph up and good for the plant.

 

[catdaddy]

I would suggest you quit wasting money on ph up and get a bottle of humic acid and a bottle of silica. Both are better ph up and good for the plant.

depends on which company you go with. i have both and by the time you add all your nutes in, my ph is down to 5.8-5.9. like i said gh products are very acidic.
and damn 55 drips is a lot. i thought you meant something like 10-12 as oppose to just 1-2 of ph down.

 

[Darth Schwag]

Sounds like you have an acidic buffer with a conjugate base that is augmented by impurities like iron or sodium in your water. Most well water has iron in it and water softners tend to add salt to the water. Get a TDS meter and have a look at the PPM number. If it's above 100 then get a RO/DI system and use better water. But don't use that caustic crud on your ladies or you'll have a bad case of salt lockout.

 

[squiggly]

Sounds like you have an acidic buffer with a conjugate base that is augmented by impurities like iron or sodium in your water. Most well water has iron in it and water softners tend to add salt to the water. Get a TDS meter and have a look at the PPM number. If it's above 100 then get a RO/DI system and use better water. But don't use that caustic crud on your ladies or you'll have a bad case of salt lockout.

Was just going to pop in and say this.

You have created a buffered solution somehow--the buffer has been depleted on the acidic end and so addition of more acid effects pH. As you're adding base you are starting to re-form the buffer. get a small sample of your water--a cup or two and add, slowly and in small amounts, a pre mixed solution of lye+water. When you have raised the pH by about 1.2--start to add pH down (or a strong acid).

Do this dropwise. If the solution is resisting pH change then you have your answer--you're working with a buffering issue.

If this doesn't happen, its possible you still are--but you've got funkier-than-usual chemistry going on.

 

[Cort]

Squiggly said it more scientifically and gave reasons for it, but like I said... try water from a different source. A 5 gal test batch from the water machine in front of the grocery store is sufficient to test.

Dude, you make my brain hurt.