pH.... 5.2, or 5.8?

[rocket high]

hi scrogg this is interesting stuff huh

if you go look at your local water company website they sometimes give out a monthy water test result's from their water processing plants .. well mine do ..that mean's i dont have to ask ..but as you say it might be hard for people to desiphor ..i noticed they use radiation (only a little) to clear some nasties ..thats a bit freaky but it must have to be done i suppose.

 

[Scrogerman]

Never knew that, its been over 6 years since i got my last analysis, best get off my arse & take a look. Thanks Rocket!

 

[delta9nxs]

That's interesting I never thought of that. I always use the "turn on EC meter, dip into tap water, read displayh method" lol. Just messing with you. Honestly that is good info for alot of people on here that do hydro grows "blind" (without meters), and there are alot.

yeah, i use my meters so much i have custom pearl handles on them inlaid with gold and silver depicting happy natives growing and smoking weed. left and right matching quick draw holsters.

d9

 

[snu]

a little tip: if you combine different types of pH-down(like phosphoracid & salpeteracid for example) the pH doesn't raise as quickly as if you use only one type

 

[Scrogerman]

Why is that Snu? & av you a link to the relevent info man?

People use Citric Acid in Organics sometimes, & its actually an Antimicrobial, cant be doing the little fellas much good, but ive read some types of bacteria thrive off citric, i think its down to the amounts used why Citric is harmless & usuable! Similar to Phosphoric acid, it is damaging to the Microflora at a 3% solution & at that rate puts them to sleep, it dont kill them, i use it at less than 0.1% in organics & have yet to read anything that indicates its damaging at such a rate to Microflora, so far i see nothing but great growth using phosphoric to alter PH in my soil experiments!

 

[10k]

Talking hydro here...
5.8 is THE weakest point for mag availability in chem hydro nute solutions.
Much better off sticking with a pH range between 5.1 to 5.9, with an input of 5.2 being perfect !
Let the range drift for crying out loud, which allows the plants to take up a much fuller spectrum of elements
than they could when running that f'ked up input of 5.8 imho.

Not even going to get into how jacked up and physically damaged a chem hydro nute solution becomes
when the pH goes above 6.4 during the MIXING process, or improper add back res maintenance situations.
That would become another thread all by itself.

 

[snu]

Why is that Snu? & av you a link to the relevent info man?

look at the GHE PH-Down powder for example, they use 2 types of acid and say the ph will raise slower instead of using typical ph-downers (they say it's designed for ebb flow, which causes a hard to mange pH)

I asked a growshop owner, and he said you can use the typical ph-downers in combination, same effect!

i dont know the chemical thing behind this, but i can ask him when i met him next time

 

[Scrogerman]

Another aspect to be looking into, ahh its never ending, cheers for the input man!

 

[Scrogerman]

Talking hydro here...
5.8 is THE weakest point for mag availability in chem hydro nute solutions.
Much better off sticking with a pH range between 5.1 to 5.9, with an input of 5.2 being perfect !
Let the range drift for crying out loud, which allows the plants to take up a much fuller spectrum of elements
than they could when running that f'ked up input of 5.8 imho.

Not even going to get into how jacked up and physically damaged a chem hydro nute solution becomes
when the pH goes above 6.4 during the MIXING process, or improper add back res maintenance situations.
That would become another thread all by itself.

This is where people go wrong, definately. All you guys doing hydro should adheare to what 10k is saying here if you want a healthy system. I always keep just on the lean side with nute strength so i get a nice gradual rise over the course of 3-4 days before adjusting back down, i adjust 0.2 at a time over the course of several hours(mostly, if im not in a rush) as not to cause unessesary stress due to large PH adjusting swings, 5.8 straight back down to 5.2 will cause some stress. little 0.2 adjustments over the course of some hours is the way to go, untill your happy.

 

[highonmt]

Here is a link to a good set of nutrient availability charts. http://www.angelfire.com/cantina/fourtwenty/articles/nutrientavailability.htm

pH is simply the negative log. of the concentration of H+ ions in solution. Higher concentration [H+] the Lower the pH value.

Simply adding acids to a pure solution of H2O will cause the ph to drop in an easily predictable manner.

The sticky wicket in predicting ph changes in salt solutions is the buffering capacity of the solution. Most people realize that nutrient salt mixes are acidic. Add Nutes or ph down and ph goes down right....um the answer is maybe. If you have an efficient buffer system you will have to add quite a bit of acid in order to change the ph at all.

Buffering capacity in salt solutions depends on the composition of salts (conjugate acids and bases) in solution. Plants removing a nutrient will change both the ph of the solution...um maybe rember buffers....and the buffer system itself.So all of the observations above are results of what buffer system you create and the pH point at which it operates as well as it's buffering capacity.

Most commercial hydroponic solutions use carefully designed to buffer pH at a useable value in a the range(5.2-6.2). Many take into account the calcium carbonate in average tap water. Some are designed for use with Hard Water contaning more carbonate...

Anyway just wanted to add this to the argument...there is no right answer....It depends on the indivdual solution... 5.8 is my target I let er drift 5.2-60.
HM

 

[snu]

It's maybe interessting to see which effect the concentration of the nutrient-solution has (EC).

This was an experiment with Petunia, Lactuca sativa L., Impatiens walleriana inside gutters with 3 different EC-Values, we correct the solution every week to the same values(6,5 pH each and 0,8mS/2,5mS/10mS EC). Before correcting it we've noticed ph-/ec-values. It was in a glashous. The Result, pH is also effected by temprature by the transpiration of water. (And It's also effected by a high nutrient concentration, i cant explane this at the moment, because the plant-nutrient exame is in 2 month so i can hang arround 1 month untill i've learn this )

translation
Zeit = time
Wert = value
Variante = variant

i hope this is not offtopic now ^^

 

[YoungBud]

I stick with a PH From 5.6 - 6.0 and have never had ANY probs..
Top feed to Waste RockWool...

 

[superusa]

yeah, i use my meters so much i have custom pearl handles on them inlaid with gold and silver depicting happy natives growing and smoking weed. left and right matching quick draw holsters.

d9

lol that would be hilarious to see

 

[Hydrolized]

So, two and half years later....any new pH updates? Bringing my thread back from the dead, yes I've been running 6.3 now for over a year....don't ask why but the plants LOVE it from clone to harvest...when I try 5.2-5.6-5.8 they just don't look happy and don't eat as much...6.0-6.3 they thrive. This is a singled out pheno so it might just be that this pheno likes 6.3.

Kinda just wanted to check in and see if anyone found anything cool with pH.

 

[highonmt]

Let er drift 5.2-5.9