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How to raise ph without ph up?

9

967

Active member
Hey peoples, I have a ppk setup that is sitting solid on ph 5.5, before it was rising daily so I'd let it swing between 5.5 and 6.1, but now we're in the middle of summer the water is coming out of the tap at 6.5 (usually up to 7.8 most of the year)

Am I ok to leave at 5.5?

Can I add extra silica to bring up? I've added about as much as directions suggest, not sure if this is toxic in higher quantities..

I have no ph up as in 5 years of growing hydro I've never needed it before. I did have a bottle when I first started not sure where that went haha

Are there other nutrients that will help to raise it?

Can't get another bottle of up for another 5 days at least...

Week 6 of flower using nutrifield grow at .4 ec, flairform bloom .4ec and koolbloom dry .3ec


Cheers
 
9

967

Active member
I have some but how does that work in a hydro res?

Might try dissolve some in a bucket of water and see what happens with ppm's and stuff. Don't want an OD of calcium late flower tho...
 
B

bigganjabud

Take out some of your tank and top up with water to raise it or atleast that's what I do
 
M

mushroombrew

Active member
Veteran
And do you calibrate meter often? That's important.

Silica works but you need quite a bit.

Baking Soda if you must. Bear in mind the sodium will accumulate. So you will need water changes.
 
troutman

troutman

Seed Whore
Just go slow with the limestone.

Even the slightest amount will raise the pH.

Test as you go along and you'll eventually raise it to where you want.
 
9

967

Active member
I guess I'll just try my hardest to get to grow store on the weekend. Not sure why our tap water is so low, we're experiencing a very dry summer, however it pissed with rain last night so if I'm lucky that might bump it up a bit. Probably just wishful thinking

Thanks fellas
 
Mate Dave

Mate Dave

Propagator
ICMag Donor
Veteran
pH or parts hydrogen is a measure of concentration of Acids & bases. OH- ions will raise the pH
 
9

967

Active member
Lime didn't really help, I didn't want to add too much. Swapped out about a quarter of the res for plain water with gro-tek silica. Now sitting at 5.8

Plants weren't really feeding so have dropped it from 1.2 to 0.9 EC. Hopefully will resume nutritional uptake and ph will rise from here...
 
P

PhishyPharmer

New member
You can buy a Lb of potassium bicarbonate on amazon for about $6. It's the main constituent of most commercial ph ups. It's also the main ingredient in "Greencure", an organic foliar treatment for various fungi. Be careful though, too much potassium can be really harmful to your nutrient balance. My water comes out at 5.8 and drops even lower after fertilizers and I run soil. I alternate between potassium bicarbonate and "Olympus up" a commercial calcium based ph up. Hope that helps
 
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