What does your RO water ph at?

[Max Frost]

Single out an affected small plant and isolate her to a small floro lamp and area away from the others, and go get yourself a fresh gal of store bought water...use it on this 1 plant only for a couple days...it'll help you gazillions in your diagnosis...it should perk right up...my opinion is that it would have to be some kind of shit up ph to achieve them issues...at that stage of growth...especially with no feedings...ck very close for pest and disease...you mentioned gnats..may be a sign...lower the intensity of your light a bit maybe...til ya get a handle on it..I bet it's more than ph...Happy Frog...Floro...seed...water..will easily get you to that stage...of course you know that...look closely Maxx..single it out first, get back to the basics of growing...you'll then correct it...I'm guessing you are over-thinking your issue...that's easy to do sometimes...take a deep breath...this is not over your head or skills by no means...you'll win..I just know it...B

Thanks all! I REALLY appreciate everybody's responses!! I dont know what happened...but somehow I missed getting back to this thread! Never had that happen! So sorry I'm so tardy getting back!

Well...fast forward a little over a month... & the issue has been cleared up! Apparently, it was the bad meter...AND 2 bad bags of soil! The meter that was taking longer to read has proven to be the accurate one. Also, my guy at the store where I got the soil, said he had gotten complaints from others as well. He replaced my bag. Problem is...he replaced it from the same pallet/lot that the first bad bag came from and no surprise...it was bad too! pH was way off, and it's full of gnats and springtails!!! I also noticed some kind of white-ish substance forming on the soil...especially on the bark and chips and around the holes in the pots. (Mold of some sort?) The guy at the store apologized all over himself and gave me a nice little store credit to help make it up to me.

Since replacing all the bad soil, and going with the other meter, I'm pleased to report that my probs have cleared up and everything is looking good again! Again...thank you so much to everybody who helped out! Best, -Max

 

[Danksgiving]

that white mold is hopefully mycelial mats that are feeding your plants as they break down those wood chips

 

[Thane]

Hey Max, hows you'r crop going? :)
I had to create an account because, I could use a liitle help, I'm facing the exact same issues, I have that BlueLab meter, which at first was super fast, but after 4 readings its now very slow. Calibration is spot on but takes time, my Osmosis water is shown as slightly acidic. I've been using Biobizz Light mix from my local store, White spots on top soil (But I do believe they are beneficial too as Danksgiving mentioned). But oh
man .. - Do you still have a fly problem?

Im switching to Hydro, however I dont really trust this meter to do the job for that matter :/

I Did complain about it, but I have a pretty good relationship with the guy at the store and his boss , they always throw some extra my way, and give great discounts everytime, asked if that meter is supposed to take some time for a stable reading to show., Had the same issues with my
previous martini ph55 meter :-/

Regarding my soil issue, his boss just gave me some Oil based indecticide, which barely didnt work for my persistent problem and another package against all kinds of pest and diseases i never put to good use

 

[Thane]

Hi again :) Sorry if it seems I'm hi hacking your thread, but I can't find anyone with the exact same problems when it come to the BlueLab pH meter.

My Readings are so unstable, whats Is supposed to be RO water, shows at 5.9, but using my EC it seems to be pure?
Its so frustrating to say te least, I tool some pictures for you guys to see what I mean.. Not sure if my younglings are struggling more that me at this point :)
Good Weekend

 

[Seamaiden]

That's the thing with low to no EC water, it has zero alkalinity. What's alkalinity, you ask? It is resistance to pH shift. So what you're observing is water that has no resistance to pH shift and thus it will shift with changing CO2/O2 levels (CO2 drives pH down, O2 drives it up).

Bluelabs come highly recommended, assuming yours is properly calibrated, then that's what I think you're observing.

 

[Thane]

Of course that makes sense, my last PH meter from martini pH55 did however show the OS water as 7Ph, thats why I thought the BlueLab was indicating a wrong number :)
I have no problem with my water, its just me and my curiosity ;)

 

[tangiekosher]

SUPER informative guys!!! I've been having a pH issue I'm hopeful you scholars can help me solve! I have the Blue Labs pH pen.

View attachment 367633

http://www.amazon.com/Bluelab-pH-Pen-Plant-Germination/dp/B005POOJHG

When I bought it, I got two so I'd have a back-up. I've been using only one of them for about 9 months now. I've been having pH problems which have worsened over the last 2 months or so. The problems are most apparent in early veg. The plants become stunted and get what I had thought was burn (but no feedings have been given at all, and I'm using straight Happy Frog soil -- shouldn't burn). Here's an example of what I'm seeing...

View attachment 367627

View attachment 367628 View attachment 367629

I cleaned my probe with the Bluelabs probe cleaner and recalibrated. Then I put the meter in the 7.0 solution, it goes right to the "7" number. When I rinse and put it in the 4.0 solution, it goes right to 4.0! I calibrate and get a check mark indicating a successful calibration.

SO...I hydrated and calibrated my back-up unit thinking it was time to put it into service. Well..it seemed to take a long time for the meter to get to the 7.0 number. Then, after rinsing and placing into the 4.0 solution, the meter never did get all the way to 4.0. It only got to around 4.5-ish, and it took forever for it to get there! I hit "CAL" and again got a check mark indicating a successful calibration.

My problem is that the two meters now read differently and I'm not sure which to trust! The "old" meter still settles in on a number pretty fast, while the newer back-up meter is still taking a long, long time to get settled on a number. In fact, the auto shut off hits several times usually before it's done. The readings are several points apart with the newer back-up meter reading a higher pH in any solution. Example: When the old meter is reading 6.5, the newer back-up meter will be reading 6.7-9.

Common sense is telling me since I've been having unexplained pH problems (I've been suspecting my soil up til now) I should start using the newer back-up meter which is reading higher. However...something in my gut is telling me not too. It may just be my lack of confidence due to it's slow reading and difficulty calibrating.

I would really appreciate some of you all-knowing pH gurus lending me your advice! Would you trust the new meter or stay with the old? Do my problems in the pics look like they might be caused by higher pH or a lower pH? This would help me in deciding too.

Thanks so much in advance!

Best,

Max

Looks like a nutrition burn . Even though more than likely your getting wrong readings with blue lab. Try HM makes great PH testers.

 

[scubascrog]

my r/o comes out at 5.8 but my water is only 17ppm but a ph of over 8.5 in the first place, I use it to dechlor.

 

[cemchris]

I didn't think you were supposed to put ph meters in plain RO water. Thought it messed the probe up. Lol rip your pens :P

 

[Seamaiden]

Thus! Colorimetric drops. :D

 

[Thane]

Im stunned, from what I remember, there was no indication In my manual for the BlueLab PH pen not to rinse with clean water distilled/ro:de-mineralized, actually, the manual for my EC pen from Martini recommends clean water, if im not having a bad memory :)
However, I had a faulty BlueLab PH pen, and since I accidently broke the first martini, I'm already at my third ph pen, hopefully my luck aint that bad :D
It matches the ph 7 & 4.01 solutions when calibrating the probe, & i do forgey to put the cap back on every now and then over the night, also, I sometimes only add Storage solution 1-2 times a month, still havent seen it changing when calibrating :)

 

[DrMcSkunkins]

Why would you measure the ph of your water before you put nutrients in it, when it will change afted you add fertilizer?

 

[MeJuana]

It's crazy this was an old thread that has been revived twice. By the way I like my Oakton PH2 a lot it doesn't lose calibration and it was inexpensive. Oh and it's very fast

 

[Seamaiden]

Im stunned, from what I remember, there was no indication In my manual for the BlueLab PH pen not to rinse with clean water distilled/ro:de-mineralized, actually, the manual for my EC pen from Martini recommends clean water, if im not having a bad memory

My Hanna says very specifically not to use distilled water, which is the closest thing to pure water you can get.

 

[tangiekosher]

My Hanna says very specifically not to use distilled water, which is the closest thing to pure water you can get.

I just use straight from hose. Really hard water too . But not bad results with great genetics. Og kush reserva privada.

 

[MendoAdome]

First thinking you have a calcium/magnesium deficiency. The r/o filter is taking it out and you need to put it back in. Next I never try and test straight r/o water. There is nothing it it to test. I will add something so I get a reading. Before I test r/o water I add cal/mag and some molasses so the meter can get a more accurate reading. I know sea is going to jump in and tell you exactly what your problem is but for me that works.

Pretty sure your referring to the fact that there are no TDS so there would be a TDS of zero. This is not true for pH RO should be 5.0-6.0 depending on how old your membrane is.

Yep it looks ca related. Make sure you add calmag into your water, even if it is flush day.

 

[MendoAdome]

I love my blue lab pen.....i read all directions and dont put it in ro water. Therefore my pens usually last several years.

ya always use KCL storage solution. There is some salt in that and if you use anything but KCL storage solution you will leech out the reference solution and get innaccurate results.

 

[MendoAdome]

I just use straight from hose. Really hard water too . But not bad results with great genetics. Og kush reserva privada.

You got straight natures goodness there natural sunlight baby!

Use distilled water all you want just never store your probe in it. Your probes reference solution will leech out and you will get inaccurate readings.

 

[MendoAdome]

I love my blue lab pen.....i read all directions and dont put it in ro water. Therefore my pens usually last several years.

You mean store it right?

 

[MendoAdome]

Max you have potassium burn. which in turn will cause calcium and magnesium problems.

should probable flush with some dechlorinated PH'd tap water. Then hit with fresh batch of nutes with a bunch of runoff.

also your happy frog looks weird not used to seeing such big chunks of bar on top.

You will also need to rid the water of color imines which is only able to be removed from a KDF filter.