Got pH meter today, found out something weird.

[Guest]

Hello, couple weeks ago I used some dropper pH kit, and it was registering my tap pH around the 7 mark, and i tested water inside a 18gal rubbermaid that was just tap water bubbled using an air pump and 1in. stone and it was registering about 8 so I thought it was weird, well I got my digital pH pen and my tap is registering 7.4 like the dropper said and my bubbled water is 8.4, like the dropper test was saying. Is this right? What would cause plain bubbled tap water to raise a whole point? Is it the plastic rubbermaid? maybe the air being pumped through the stone is dirty? I dunno...just seems weird anyone have any ideas?

 

[chongsbuddy]

it happens to me every time.I wouldnt worry.

 

[Guest]

Well the thing is, I'd like to know my pH before I make up soilless mixes, I mean if my pH is that high should I add any dolomite lime to promix(containers/bx/organics/hp)etc....or maybe 1tbsp per gallon compared to the 2tbsp that everyone suggest?

 

[vinivici]

why not just put a little bit of ph down, or poormans ph down (white vinegar) a little bit less than a tea spoon seems to drop the ph of 1 gallon of water down 1 point for me.

 

[chongsbuddy]

you should add dolomite lime to the soil mix at 1-2 tbsp per gallon of soil.It will buffer ph,and gives much needed calcium and magnesium.If you didnt adfd dolomite lime im sure you would hit a cal or mag def at some point.Its hard to give calcium to plants once they are growing already.Just do it now and save yourself a lot of trouble later.

 

[Guest]

Well I added lime to the mix already 2tbsp per gallon, but what i'm saying is that is effective if the ph of the water you are adding to the plants is at 6.5-7.0 right? Well if my water is 8.4 then wouldn't I add less lime to the mix? or keep it the same ratio.

 

[chongsbuddy]

A lot of organic growers just put in the lime and rely on the lime and the humates to buffer the ph.(hummus is found in worm castings ...im not sure what else)I add lime to my soil mix and i still ph my water to around 6.2-6.3 just to be on the safe side.Just another thing I dont have to worry about.I would suggest you do this too.Just keep it the same ratio,remember the lime is for calcium and magnesium too!Probably most important.

 

[rckymtnthuglife]

How many ppm's do you have in your water? Hard water like yours is full of Ca. and usually Mg too. If it's much over 200 ppm it's not very good for growing. I personally have both these problems. Right now I am lucky enough to use melted snow which is naturally 6.5 at least in my case and has less than 20 ppm. I killed off quite a few seedlings adding lime to the soil and using my shitty tapwater before I realized the problem. I collect water from a river in the summertime. I would look into these sources really I've found it much easier and healthier for my plants. Just my two cents. Oh just so you know I do use lime, but it can cause problems if your water is that high in pH.

 

[Guest]

Well that's the thing, my plants are doing very well right now in the mix with the water. I Just find it odd that the pH of the bubbled water is so high. I took tap water and bubbled it for 5mins and it was already at 8.5. Seems crazy but the plants are ok for now, i'm waiting til next watering in 2days to find the runoff pH.

 

[Guest]

See there's the thing, you say don't worry about pH but obviously you are, you are checking your water pH of 8 then counteracting that high pH with low pH Tea. Seems to me you are worried about your pH, I dunno. Whatever I'll go with it, figured it be a simple question. Adios.

 

[rckymtnthuglife]

I disagree with ya jiggy. If you feed your plants with plain water that has a pH of 8 and then come back a couple of hours later and feed them with nute solution with a pH of 3-5 (sounds like Earth Juice to me) you most certainly are adjusting the pH and you know that's a fact. No one on this damn thread will list specifics including you cansiban... like (crucial as far as pH is concerned) what is your damn soil mix. Fuck if you have a pH of 8 but use a little humic or fulvic acid every watering some lowering of that pH will occur. What pisses me off is that people won't tell you exactly what they are doing. Temps, nutes , soil , pH , humidity, light, cycle , stage of life, on and on.
I will agree that pH does not matter like it does in hydro.... but it does in a different way......pH will be High (hard water) due to alot of Ca....high ppm's and this is what is to be avoided. Basically, the cause of a pH problem, not the pH itself, becomes the problem in the form of a lockout. Here's some fuckin pics... wish i took some of the dead seedlings from using lime in a nonpeat potting soil, using lime and using tap water with a pH of 7.8 and a ppm of 238....if i remember right the Ca was around 100ppm's.

 

[Guest]

What's up rckymtnthuglife, You went alittle crazy on your last post Well this thread was originally about why my tap water ph was so high after bubbling it. So yes I did give all the information, tap water, air pump, rubbermaid. Then the thread went on a tangent about me asking about the amount of lime to add to my mix to see if it would be ok since my pH was so high(I didn't think you needed to know every last thing that goes into the mix, was just askin bout lime and pH). Also about not givin info, I stated above that I will know know my soil pH until I water which I'll probably do today. So calm down and thanks for the Help!

edit: Also I don't know my ppm's yet, i'm planning on getting a meter by next week. I'm sure my water has high content of something, because everytime I get a glass to drink there is shit floating on the bottom.

 

[Suby]

lost my cool. apologies to JW

rckymntthuglife

I disagree with ya jiggy. If you feed your plants with plain water that has a pH of 8 and then come back a couple of hours later and feed them with nute solution with a pH of 3-5 (sounds like Earth Juice to me) you most certainly are adjusting the pH and you know that's a fact. No one on this damn thread will list specifics including you cansiban... like (crucial as far as pH is concerned) what is your damn soil mix. Fuck if you have a pH of 8 but use a little humic or fulvic acid every watering some lowering of that pH will occur. What pisses me off is that people won't tell you exactly what they are doing. Temps, nutes , soil , pH , humidity, light, cycle , stage of life, on and on.
I will agree that pH does not matter like it does in hydro.... but it does in a different way......pH will be High (hard water) due to alot of Ca....high ppm's and this is what is to be avoided. Basically, the cause of a pH problem, not the pH itself, becomes the problem in the form of a lockout. Here's some fuckin pics... wish i took some of the dead seedlings from using lime in a nonpeat potting soil, using lime and using tap water with a pH of 7.8 and a ppm of 238....if i remember right the Ca was around 100ppm's.

Great Post and so true.

You need to know certain things about water properties before you start, ph and ppm's are 2 crucial ones.
If your ppms are high and water ph is high then lime will do more harm than good.
Your water ph went up when you bubbled it because you are passing atmospheric gasses through your water that raise ph, stop bubbling it for a few hours and watch the ph drop back down.

The higher ppm value your water has the harder it will be to adjust it's ph and the less solubility it will have, the rates RKY posted sound right, over 200ppms and you should consider filtering or using rain water.

Suby

 

[rckymtnthuglife]

Pure water is 7.0... I learned that in Jr. High. So if you're water is 7.9 obviously there is something else in it that makes it so. The cause of this is USUALLY CALCIUM. I' m sure other elements will raise the pH as well. C'mon Jiggy the main ingredient in lime is Ca...and we all know lime is used to raise and buffer the pH of acidic peat based soil mixes. I don't want to quibble but this is pretty cut and dry. I'm not saying anything you couldn't read in one the sticky's.

 

[Guest]

Alright guys, I got my answers, didn't mean to stir up trouble. This thread is done, can it be erased or locked so there is no more bickering. Thanks

 

[rckymtnthuglife]

Nah....I ain't done yet. Here's a quote from Skunk magazine Vol. 3 Issue 5 page 62.

"Hardwater is typically dominated by calcium. It would be rare for hardwater to contain anything harder than calcium (which leaves the salt deposits on your coffee maker).
- The Rev.