I have not been able to get my water ph to 6.5. The water will ph down to 7.4 range and then won't move any more. I tried water straight from well and I flushed washed dumped and retried multiple times with both crystals ph and liquid but same results with all efforts. I just used half the bottle of liquid ph down but it wasn't moving past 7.4 and I know I could dump the other half with no results. I used half the large crystal ph down same results. The water starts out in 10.-11. ph range and I can get it to 7.4 but it refuses to go any lower and I think it killed my plants using the water with that large amount of ph down in the water. So I can't even flush my plants , I did flush them with the hose 11. ph water after the use of over dosed ph water, the plants seem to want a clean proper ph flush but I can't provide it and they just keep getting worse. I have no idea what to do. water won't ph down any lower than 7.4 issue. and that takes excessive amounts of ph down. to get to 7.4, then adding more and more does nothing.
Live Stoner Chat Water still wont ph low enough issue
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How are you measuring pH? Strips? Pen? Could be a faulty meter. If you've got a meter/pen thingy, do you have calibration fluid to make sure it's accurate? That's all I got man.
Over 10 or even 11 pH water is simply bad, has lot of salts, essentially should be avoided, and then you add a load more salts to try to lower the pH.
Get an RO system, costing as low as about $50, and forget about water problems. Using RO or other pure water (such a collected rain or distilled water), you even need not adjust pH if using healthy living soil or with base nutrients that don't need pH adjustment such as Adv. Nutrients pH Perfect and MegaCrop product lines.
Get an RO system, costing as low as about $50, and forget about water problems. Using RO or other pure water (such a collected rain or distilled water), you even need not adjust pH if using healthy living soil or with base nutrients that don't need pH adjustment such as Adv. Nutrients pH Perfect and MegaCrop product lines.
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What @Entombed said, there is something up with your meter it most definitely sounds like.
I learned something from @Mossy that I have done last year. Let your water sit out in room temperature (or outside) over night and pH drops quite dramatically. I don't know why, but it works. Try it, costs nothing.
RO and stuff I bet is awesome, I have no experience with it myself though.
Good luck
I learned something from @Mossy that I have done last year. Let your water sit out in room temperature (or outside) over night and pH drops quite dramatically. I don't know why, but it works. Try it, costs nothing.
RO and stuff I bet is awesome, I have no experience with it myself though.
Good luck
Getting technical:
Over time CO2 dissolves in and reacts with H2O to form carbolic acid, resulting in lower pH. That is CO2 + H2O ⇌ H2CO3.
The carbolic acid itself breaks down to or is essentially composed of H+ ion/anion (what raises pH) and bicarbonate ion/cation in equilibrium. That is H+ + HCO3- ⇌ H2CO3. If carbolic acid (dissolved CO2) increases, so does the H+ concentration and pH goes down; and pH will go up if CO2 is removed from the water.
It sounds ilke you are trying to adjust the pH of your starting water, rather than after mixing in nutes that likely tend to buffer the solution? I don't measure or adjust pH at all (using RO water with Adv. Nutr. pH Perfect or MegaCrop base nutes), but it would seem best to first let water react and come to equilibrium, such as sit overnight (ideally with some mixing to increase water contact with air; also gets rid of much dissolved chlorine from tap water), and then add nutes and then do any needed pH adjustments. I presume it's the final mixture ideally given some time to reach its own pH/equilibrium, not the starting water, that should be adjusted (if needed). Can knowledgeable persons comment on this?
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Your well water sounds like it may be contaminated, or just super rich in calcium or other base minerals. It might be worth paying for a water report on your well water. You can just search for it online, a company sends you a little kit, you take samples and do as the directions say and send it back. Within a week you'll know everything that's in your water and you can decide if you want to continue using it. Im just spitballing here, but if it comes out of the ground at 11, thats crazy.
One thing I can suggest is when you add whatever you use to lower the ph, mix well and wait at least 15 minutes before testing. The acid needs time to react with whatever is so base in your water. I use water from a fresh water spring and its loaded with dissolved calcium and nitrates. I have to add about a 1/4 tsp of ph down(concentrate citric acid) to the water without any added nutrients just to get it in the 6.3-6.5 range for soil. But I do it at a 1/16th of a tsp at a time. It usually drops it about .2-.3ph per 1/16. I used to only wait a minute or 2 and it would drop quick but thats because it hadn't reacted and evened out. So after about 10 more minutes it would actually climb back up a bit. It was a big issue for me in the past. Patience is definitely a virtue when it comes to fertigation and watering.
The other thing you can do is what was said above, buy a cheap RO filtration system off Amazon. If you do this route though make sure you buffer your water with calmag. I dont know the process but I know you have to buffer RO and distilled water for watering plants.
One thing I can suggest is when you add whatever you use to lower the ph, mix well and wait at least 15 minutes before testing. The acid needs time to react with whatever is so base in your water. I use water from a fresh water spring and its loaded with dissolved calcium and nitrates. I have to add about a 1/4 tsp of ph down(concentrate citric acid) to the water without any added nutrients just to get it in the 6.3-6.5 range for soil. But I do it at a 1/16th of a tsp at a time. It usually drops it about .2-.3ph per 1/16. I used to only wait a minute or 2 and it would drop quick but thats because it hadn't reacted and evened out. So after about 10 more minutes it would actually climb back up a bit. It was a big issue for me in the past. Patience is definitely a virtue when it comes to fertigation and watering.
The other thing you can do is what was said above, buy a cheap RO filtration system off Amazon. If you do this route though make sure you buffer your water with calmag. I dont know the process but I know you have to buffer RO and distilled water for watering plants.
First thing I'd do is check it with another ph meter, (10-11) ph that high is not good.
Or let your nutes do the buffering. Other than allowing more steady pH meter reading (seems to be goal for many with RO/pure 'buffering'), why bother buffering when adding base nutes will add a lot more salts that likely do a better job?
I recall(???) the topic of whether there is a need to buffer RO water prior to adding base nutrients was discussed in another thread. There was consensus (and it seems logical to me) that you don't need to or shouldn't buffer RO/pure water with cal/mag salts (also often adding N) up front as a buffer if you're going to be adding base nutes (which are made to buffer diverse water sources). There are other reasons to use cal/mag but as a feed water supplement, not RO water buffer.
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