having to add to much Ph down need advice

[Lack]

I dont have a res. Im a organic soil grower. ro water has no nutrients in it u will need to add everything the plant needs or they will die. Plain RO for a long time is no good unless your flushing.

Man I know ro water has no nutrients, that's not at all what I was talking about. I also know plants need nutrients, I'm not new to this by any means. I was asking you about the temperature of your RO, it doesn't matter as much if you're growing in soil. I was worried about the temp of the ro water and res temperature because I'm a hydro grower... Plants take up nutrients best when the temperature of the water is at around 78 degrees Fahrenheit according to the OGFAQ.. I was just curious if you pay attention to the temperature of your RO water.. Nevermind though.

 

[buddin_904]

temp of water R/O or tap.....is in direct correlation with pH......the lower the temp, the more dissolved oxygen it can hold = higher pH.....the higher the temp of the water, the less dissolved oxygen it can hold = lower pH.......the end

 

[Japanfreakier]

Sure but that doesn't really effect most growers, this guys problem obviously has nothing to do with temps or air

 

[Hammerhead]

Man I know ro water has no nutrients, that's not at all what I was talking about. I also know plants need nutrients, I'm not new to this by any means. I was asking you about the temperature of your RO, it doesn't matter as much if you're growing in soil. I was worried about the temp of the ro water and res temperature because I'm a hydro grower... Plants take up nutrients best when the temperature of the water is at around 78 degrees Fahrenheit according to the OGFAQ.. I was just curious if you pay attention to the temperature of your RO water.. Nevermind though.

OK no problem

 

[OvergrowingKiwi]

I recently discovered the Earth Juice micro has a great initial PH down effect. Dropping my tap water from 7.2 -3.5 at half strength. I was having some similar issues with need lots of ph down but the Earth juice has definitely helped stabilize things. I use a little ph up when changing the res out and now only need ph down for minor adjustments. I believe there are similar products called bio balancers that stabilize synthetic only nutrient mixes.

 

[frenzybud]

My tap water sucks, it's 460 ppm (mostly calcium) and sometimes as high as 7.8 PH. In my opinion RO water is the only thing that truly works for me.. Its hard to dose your nutrients in shitty water..

 

[Herborizer]

I use 1/3 well water and 2/3 RO, in a 30 gal res. My base water stats is about 7.8 ph, 110-120 ppm. I mix my well and RO so that I don't need calmag & iron supplements (it's in the base water).

If my memory severs me right I have to add about 15-20 ml of ph down to reach 5.7 ph (of course after adding my base nutes and additives). I might use a little more. Also, I get some drift and it takes a few days to stabilize. I add about 1.5 ml per day until stable.

This base water ppm brings me the most beautiful and healthy plants in coco. I wouldn't worry about adding a lot of ph down.

 

[farmdalefurr]

AN ph up/down.....much more stable. GH up/down blows

 

[cashmunny]

The calcium carbonate in your tap water creates a natural buffer system that prevents the ph down from working until you overwhelm the buffer. Very hard water has a lot of buffer capacity and so will require a lot of ph down which may raise your ppm to unacceptable levels even before you add nutes!

I learned this the hard way. My tap water is about 1000 ppm. The good news is I never have to buy cal-mag. I just add a little tap water.

Also in practice the ph of distilled water is always less than 7.0 because the CO2 dissolved in the water from the air forms carbonic acid (a weak acid) and lowers the ph to around 6-ish. The only way you would ever get perfect ph 7.0 distilled water is if you were to buy a sealed nitrogen flushed bottle of reagent grade water. Analytical chemists sometimes need very pure and neutral water like that. It's probably the most expensive bottled water available.

The ph meter calibration solutions aren't actually pure water. They are carefully crafted buffer systems that will maintain the proper ph even with exposure to atmospheric CO2.

Your municipality should post a water quality report online. Google it. You may be surprised.