plain water 7.6ph, after nutes is 5.8. how do I raise it?

[CF89]

does this seem right or is my shitty meter not accurate?

how do I raise the PH and is 5.8 really that bad?

plain water is around 7.6 or so, and after my nutrients it goes down to 5.8 and is only reading 120 TDS when I have quite a bit of fertilizer in the water. usually my TDS is around 780. I wonder whats so different.

 

[Chester13]

does this seem right or is my shitty meter not accurate?

how do I raise the PH and is 5.8 really that bad?

plain water is around 7.6 or so, and after my nutrients it goes down to 5.8 and is only reading 120 TDS when I have quite a bit of fertilizer in the water. usually my TDS is around 780. I wonder whats so different.

Ph up

 

[CF89]

oh wow, simple as that eh.

 

[Flexnerb]

oh wow, simple as that eh.

Add the ph adjuster before you add the nutes! It might take a time or two to get spot on. Best way is to do a gallon test multiply by how much total water you use. Lets say your res is 50 gls. Multiply how much you used by 50. My guess is your not going to need more than a couple if drops to a gal

Point here is water should slways be buffered b4 adding nutes.

Someone on here stated you can use potassium silicate to buffer water and bring the ph up! Check in to it

 

[CF89]

Add the ph adjuster before you add the nutes! It might take a time or two to get spot on. Best way is to do a gallon test multiply by how much total water you use. Lets say your res is 50 gls. Multiply how much you used by 50. My guess is your not going to need more than a couple if drops to a gal

Point here is water should slways be buffered b4 adding nutes.

Someone on here stated you can use potassium silicate to buffer water and bring the ph up! Check in to it

I am in soil.

why would I want to adjust my water first? my water is fine plain, then nutes brings it down, then add ph to bring it up?

or do I take my plain water, get it super high (to like a ph of 9) then let the nutes drop it down to 6 or so?

 

[Floodster31]

I am in soil.

why would I want to adjust my water first? my water is fine plain, then nutes brings it down, then add ph to bring it up?

or do I take my plain water, get it super high (to like a ph of 9) then let the nutes drop it down to 6 or so?

You want ph at 6.0 /6.5 in soil

 

[Aqua Man]

What is the ppm of your source water and where does it come from?

Take 1 litre of DISTILLED WATER and put 0.5grams of table salt in it. You should read 500ppm on you ppm meter. Check this first.

 

[Dr.B]

I am in soil.

why would I want to adjust my water first? my water is fine plain, then nutes brings it down, then add ph to bring it up?

or do I take my plain water, get it super high (to like a ph of 9) then let the nutes drop it down to 6 or so?

In hydro I believe that's the preferred course of action. Its called alkaline buffering and it helps prevent pH drift. I do it to a lesser degree in peat.

 

[CF89]

What is the ppm of your source water and where does it come from?

Take 1 litre of DISTILLED WATER and put 0.5grams of table salt in it. You should read 500ppm on you ppm meter. Check this first.

tap water: 170ppm

after all my fertilizers: 860-900ppm.

tap water + salt trick: gauge said 220ppm x10. so 2200ppm?

distilled water: too expensive/hard to get.

 

[Aqua Man]

tap water: 170ppm

after all my fertilizers: 860-900ppm.

tap water + salt trick: gauge said 220ppm x10. so 2200ppm?

distilled water: too expensive/hard to get.

That was 0.5 grams of table salt in 1 litre? Something is wrong it should raise the tap water to about 670ppm.

 

[CF89]

oops. I didnt see the 1L. that was in a red solo cup. will re do.

 

[Aqua Man]

What nutrients are you using and exactly how much of what are you adding? Please give an exact account of how you are mixing them

 

[Aqua Man]

next put 1gram in 250ml of wat of baking soda the ph should roughly be 7.9 ish.

These are very crude ways to check the meters and i suggest not relying on them but in this case better than nothing.

 

[CF89]

ok I cheated a tad.

half a liter of water and .25g of salt gae me 655ppm on my meter.

will post nute stuff in 2 mins.

 

[Aqua Man]

ok I cheated a tad.

half a liter of water and .25g of salt gae me 655ppm on my meter.

will post nute stuff in 2 mins.

Ok so ppm meter is accurate

 

[CF89]

ok I think youve seen these before... we are on week 3 right now, and im going to veg for 2 months. so I just keep repeating week 3 over and over. I use a baby medicine syringe to I can get the exact ml.

after adding all 7 or 8 or whatever it is, it brings my water to 5.8PH and 900ppm.

 

[Aqua Man]

ok I think youve seen these before... we are on week 3 right now, and im going to veg for 2 months. so I just keep repeating week 3 over and over. I use a baby medicine syringe to I can get the exact ml.

after adding all 7 or 8 or whatever it is, it brings my water to 5.8PH and 900ppm.

Ok so take that final mix and add tap water to bring the ppm down to 600. So basically dilute that by 1/3. Then check ph and report back. 600ppm should be in a good range for the plants.

 

[Aqua Man]

Also check ph meter as I showed above 7.9-8.0ish should result.

 

[CF89]

next put 1gram in 250ml of wat of baking soda the ph should roughly be 7.9 ish.

These are very crude ways to check the meters and insuggeat not relying on them but in this case better than nothing.

its reading 8.6ph. with 1g of baking soda

ive also got this buffing solution stuff that came with the ph meter. 4.00 and 6.86. I calibrated the meter twice and still shows the baking sods as 8.6

my fert mixture sat overnight and it 6.4 or 6.2 if I let it sit long enough.

it might be this cheap chinese meter :(

 

[Aqua Man]

its reading 8.6ph. with 1g of baking soda

ive also got this buffing solution stuff that came with the ph meter. 4.00 and 6.86. I calibrated the meter twice and still shows the baking sods as 8.6

my fert mixture sat overnight and it 6.4 or 6.2 if I let it sit long enough.

it might be this cheap chinese meter :(

How old is the calibration solution? It's it the powdered mix stuff and did you mix it with tap water?