Very high PH options?

[Casual]

Well, I'm finally at a point where I'm ready to start seeds, but I just tested our tap water, it has a PH of 9.3!!!!
I was planning on tapping off of a sink to a float valve in the reservoir, but isn't a PH of 9.3 REALLY high?
I'd be most appreciative of any advice on this.
I suppose I could setup a remote reservoir and keep it filled with RO water, or setup an RO system, or ???

I don't want to start my seeds until I'm sure I've covered at least most of the major issues...

Thanks all!

Caz

 

[Legaldroman]

Check your ph meter just to be sure, 9.3 sounds really high for tap. I would try and recalibrate your meter and see if there is any change. If not, I would recommend RO water lots of companies make good systems....hope this helps. Tap in my area is running 6.9...

 

[SoloGro57]

Some cities do keep their ph around 9.3 this seemed strange to me too so I googled it:

http://www.ehow.com/how-does_5125222_ph-affect-drinking-water.html

Water free from contaminants has a neutral pH of 7. Most drinking water has a pH range from 6.5 to 8.5, though recently, some municipalities (such as Boston) have started to treat their water to be as alkaline as 9.3 pH. Untreated ground water is likely to be somewhat acidic (pH 6.5 to 6.8) because of minerals in the water and industrial and agricultural pollutants. The pH of water is also affected by temperature; for example, when its temperature goes up by 45ºF (25ºC), the pH decreases by 0.45 (becomes more acid).

 

[Kcar]

How about some PH down?

 

[Casual]

Thanks for the comments all...
Here's the ebay link to the meter I have.
http://cgi.ebay.com/TriMeter-pH-PPM...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item3ca9b2b3cd

(I hope it's ok to post that link, if not, I apologize!)

Here's a question that seems common sense, but I figure I'll ask anyway.
When buying a new meter like this one, is it necessary to calibrate it, or does
it come calibrated? How long does it usually take these types of meters to stabilize on their readings?
Is it bad for the meter to leave the probes in the reservoir so everything can be
constantly monitored?
I'm not opposed to going to an RO system, but was trying to avoid the expense.
If it's necessary, I'll start looking for one.

Thanks!

Caz

 

[_Dude]

Yes you should probably calibrate your meter out of the box. Yes you could probably get away with not calibrating it, but why not be safe?

Yes I think 9.6 is way too high. Ideal pH is supposed to be 5.7 but I do okay at about 6.5. Maybe I'd do better at 5.7 but it's so much hassle I don't worry about it.

If I were you I'd go with a good RO system. Good as in good, not the cheapest you can find. I went with a cheap RO system and it wasn't worth squat. You'll go mad using pH down or acid to correct your pH all the time.

 

[Legaldroman]

Thanks for the comments all...
Here's the ebay link to the meter I have.
http://cgi.ebay.com/TriMeter-pH-PPM...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item3ca9b2b3cd

(I hope it's ok to post that link, if not, I apologize!)

Here's a question that seems common sense, but I figure I'll ask anyway.
When buying a new meter like this one, is it necessary to calibrate it, or does
it come calibrated? How long does it usually take these types of meters to stabilize on their readings?
Is it bad for the meter to leave the probes in the reservoir so everything can be
constantly monitored?
I'm not opposed to going to an RO system, but was trying to avoid the expense.
If it's necessary, I'll start looking for one.

Thanks!

Caz

I didn't check what kind of ph meter you have but I would recommend getting calibration solution. Calibrate the meter and store the probe in some of the 4.0 solution.

I wouldn't recommend leaving the probe in the res, nutrient build up on the probe...take care of your meter and recalibrate once a month for best accuracy.

You can use ph down to lower the ph but, I would recommend not doing that to lower it more than 1 whole point...you'll use so much ph down and its really nice to just start with clean RO water so you know what you're working with. IMHO.

Peace

 

[sumncleaver]

Do you know the ppm? If your below say 40 ppm then you might not need to do anything other than adjust ph. Take 5 gallons let stand for two days or put a air stone in it for a day this will remove the chlorine. Now adjust the ph to 5.5 for hydro or 6.4 for soil and let it sit for about four hours and check it if it hasn't moved odds are it won't.

 

[Sleepy]

investing in an R/O system is no guarantee when it comes to pH...

get a good meter...new batteries for good meter.

calibration solution(s) for good meter.

pH up and/or pH down...(in your case pH down)...

test water after mixing nutes/supplements.

shoot for 5.2-5.5 in hydro; 6.0-6.5 in soil.

9.6 is poisonous as far as cannabis is concerned.

 

[vprising909]

wtf are you serious?! keep in mind that the ph scale is exponential. For example, pH 4 is ten times more acidic than pH 5 and 100 times (10 times 10) more acidic than pH 6.

so in comparison to the recommended ph of about 5.8, your water is about 3500 times as alkaline as it's supposed to be!

PH DOWN DUDE stop fucking around!!!

 

[sumncleaver]

So have you come to any conclusions? At one point I thought that the best answer was to breed a strain that could take high ph. HMMMMMMM.

 

[Casual]

Hi Sumn... I've decided to go with Bottled water for the seeds, then setup an RO system and stock up on PH Down for the BioBucket setup. Waiting for the seeds to pop now...

Caz

 

[*mistress*]

Water free from contaminants has a neutral pH of 7.

ph 7 does not mean water is free from contaminants...
check water report for that... can be ph 7.0 & have nitrates, lead, cooper, & all sorts of microbial contaminants, including coliform... & radiological contaminants...

even 'distlled' water may have contaminants... a few fert companies offer water sampling...

& they can be present in small #'s... under the 'violation' level...

most advise to get water sample done prior to making fert selection... to make fert around source water.

in any event...

earth juice bloom will drop ph very considerably...

havnt used the 'grow' in many moments, but ej bloom easily change ph 9 to ph 6.2 or so, w/ 1 tbsp (15ml)...

in imaginary garden, use that for ph-down, instead of phosphoric acid...

use potassium silicate for ph up...

also, fertilizer w/ +20% ammonium nitrogen (nh4) should decrease ph, to some extent...

hope this helps. enjoy your garden!

 

[Hephaestus]

Get your local water report - and post it up (copy paste - don't need to provide link) Specifically need to know carbonate and general hardness levels... pH could be high for many reasons - yet could settle naturally to a much lower level in time...

While you're looking that up - take a pail of water, add an airstone (fed by airpump) and agitate for 24 hours - test pH again. Add some pH down (or vinegar/lemon juice) test again - then again after 24 hours. See how much bounce you get... Harder water takes more pH down to get down there - but will hold it longer and resist massive swings (very soft water (ie RO) will swing like mad), so avoid going pure RO (I usually like a 50/50 cut for my stupid hard rocky mountain water).

 

[Kcar]

I got a pretty good deal on a stealth RO 200. Pumps out a gallon every 7 mins like
clockwork. 200ppm in ----> 10ppm out

 

[superultramega]

You don't want to hook up a make-up water float valve to a city water supply. If your float valve fails (which happens often enough) You're going to flood everything around your grow. Your make-up water should come from a reservoir to limit the amount of flood if there is a leak.

 

[Mr. Greengenes]

Last time I measured our water, it was 8.2. I like this hard water better than the soft I had back in NYC because I can add more nutritive orgainc amendments to the soilmix without fear of burning. Of course, I'm talking about container/soilmix methods. 8.2 is way to high for hydro.

Getting a real high yield can be harder with higher PH's. Cannabis eats tremendous amounts of P, and it's not so available at higher PH's. Even still, cannabis grown at a high PH is often more smelly, flavorful and colorful than the lush, light green, fatter buds of lower PH systems. Striking a balance between those connoisseur qualities and high yield is something I've only seen a few growers achieve.

 

[vprising909]

Get your local water report -

Good call!

 

[sumncleaver]

Hey Caz
The water report is a great idea.
From what I've seen anything by Mistress is golden follow that lead. Hell I'm gonna give the ej bloom a try.