Why is Water ph rising?

KambleFrost · Jun 9, 2021

My RO water mixed with Aloe Vera flakes went from 6.1 up to 7.0 overnight?
Now I’m worried my ph is off on all my feedings... wtf is going on?

OldManRiver · Jun 10, 2021

WTF are you adding aloe vera to your water, and how do you expect your nute manufacturer to anticipate that as they are designing the buffering? They do the best they can to buffer the pH correctly, but when y'all start emptying the remains of your salad bowl in, well, that's hard for them to plan for. You pay good money for those nutes, suggest you start by following the label on the bottle, and I'll bet it doesn't start with "two tsp (level) of aloe vera flakes". Also, start at a third or half strength first, some plants are more sensitive than others.

The common issue with RO water is no calcium. Read your nute label, see if it lists calcium. If it does, just work with that. If it doesn't augment with cal-mag FROM THE SAME BRAND, again start at half strength. Cal-mag can be made different ways, nutes need to be formulated anticipating that, or the NPK gets locked out. Pick a good brand of nutes, and stay in brand to let them manage that for you.

airedog · Jun 10, 2021

Maybe it's H & G nutes and they meant Aqua Flakes?

KambleFrost · Jun 10, 2021

OldManRiver said:
WTF are you adding aloe vera to your water, and how do you expect your nute manufacturer to anticipate that as they are designing the buffering? They do the best they can to buffer the pH correctly, but when y'all start emptying the remains of your salad bowl in, well, that's hard for them to plan for. You pay good money for those nutes, suggest you start by following the label on the bottle, and I'll bet it doesn't start with "two tsp (level) of aloe vera flakes". Also, start at a third or half strength first, some plants are more sensitive than others.

The common issue with RO water is no calcium. Read your nute label, see if it lists calcium. If it does, just work with that. If it doesn't augment with cal-mag FROM THE SAME BRAND, again start at half strength. Cal-mag can be made different ways, nutes need to be formulated anticipating that, or the NPK gets locked out. Pick a good brand of nutes, and stay in brand to let them manage that for you.

First of all I never said anything about adding nutes?
I said just RO water and aloe Vera flakes... they are freshly planted seeds that were germinated a day ago. So I’m aware that the ph isn’t necessary.
my concern is that the RO water is fluctuating in ph over the course of a day or two and with my recent grows I’m curious if that’s been happening and why?

Steveystrappa · Jun 10, 2021

If I let my extra water sit out I always test it again before using because I noticed the ph always climbs up when I let sit. This is even with regular tap water.

airedog · Jun 10, 2021

Is this (or something similar) what you're talking about?

airedog · Jun 10, 2021

KambleFrost said:
First of all I never said anything about adding nutes?
I said just RO water and aloe Vera flakes... they are freshly planted seeds that were germinated a day ago. So I’m aware that the ph isn’t necessary.
my concern is that the RO water is fluctuating in ph over the course of a day or two and with my recent grows I’m curious if that’s been happening and why?

Ah, but you said;

"Now I’m worried my ph is off on all my feedings..."

If you don't define your problem in terms the community can understand, you won't get a relevant answer.

pop22 · Jun 10, 2021

KambleFrost said:
First of all I never said anything about adding nutes?
I said just RO water and aloe Vera flakes... they are freshly planted seeds that were germinated a day ago. So I’m aware that the ph isn’t necessary.
my concern is that the RO water is fluctuating in ph over the course of a day or two and with my recent grows I’m curious if that’s been happening and why?

I can't remember clearly but I believe i read that RO water, all water actually, will absorb CO2 from the air, which will affect PH. Guess I need to look this up again but I'm fairly certain it's something along this line.

Farmer88 · Jun 10, 2021

@OldManRiver is correct. And for further refernece if you are using RO water and letting it sit out the pH will generally rise or fall based on several factors. Natural bicarbonate in the air, ionic activity, water tempreture fluctuations, and evaporation rates of any additives relative to water evaporation. These are the reasons why water fluctuates it's pH. Stop thinking about it so much and just trust the tester tool as long as you are responsible with your calibration maintenance. If not, just guess cause it's basically the same at that point.

growsince79 · Jun 10, 2021

RO water doesn't need to be phed. Because it has no buffers, 1 spec of dust or anything else will drastically chang it. It doesn't matter one bit what the pH is.

Edinburgh · Jun 10, 2021

You may have a build up of food or are overfeeding, flush plant, get a proper ph reading if high take a 16oz cup of water put a small splash of white vinegar in stir and give plant, go slow you can allways repeat, once your ph is straight let it alone till next watering if ph is good start feeding again, a bit of baking soda done the same way will raise ph. Just go nice and easy.

Keepitgrowing247 · Aug 15, 2021

KambleFrost said:
My RO water mixed with Aloe Vera flakes went from 6.1 up to 7.0 overnight?
Now I’m worried my ph is off on all my feedings... wtf is going on?

200x Aloe Vera flakes or powder is meant to be used immediately anyways so I wouldn't let it sit.. Just mix up what you're going to use and nothing more. Just my 2 cents

Why is Water ph rising?

Why is Water ph rising?

KambleFrost

OldManRiver

airedog

KambleFrost

Steveystrappa

airedog

airedog

pop22

Farmer88

growsince79

Edinburgh

Keepitgrowing247

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