PH Problems with Hard Water

Discussion in 'Aeroponics' started by vhdblood, Aug 29, 2015.

  1. Hey everyone,

    I am growing in the GH Aeroflo2 120 site (60+60 sites) system and I have about 60-65 Gallons in it right now including the growing arms and reservoirs.

    I filled it up around 12 hours ago. My tap water comes out at 8.0-8.1 ph and 350-380@ppm500. I added very low strength Lucas formula (0-2.5-5mls) (G-M-B) and used the Hard water version of FloraMicro because my water is so bad.

    After adding nutes and letting it run through for around 30 mins, I was at 7.8 ph. I added around 20mls of GH PH Down, and waited 30 mins. Still at 7.7 ph. I ended up adding another 60mls over the next 2-3 hours, but after adding 80mls total of GH PH Down I am still at 7.5 ph, even 12 hours later. This seems like a crazy amount of acid to add to my rezzes.

    So, is the FloraMicro Hard water version buffering or something affecting my PH Down? I see a lot of posts about giving the FloraMicro HW around 24 hours to bring down the ph naturally, but I'm already at 12 hours as I said and I'm not seeing any changes. Or do I really need a fucking ton of PH down for my hard ass water?

    (Just to note, I'm using a Bluelabs Double Unit with the probes, and I made sure to calibrate it and double check against the 7.0 and 4.0 cal solutions.)

    (Also of note, I'm using a chiller so the water is sitting at 67-68 degrees.)
     
  2. I don't grow hydro...simply because of all that crap you're having to deal with right now. I'm not sure what your answer is, but you have to get the pH down or those plants will shrivel up and die in a hurry. Not sure where you're getting your "hard water" information, but according to the chart I use, you're water is right in the average range. My base EC is around 400 and I don't use hard water nutes. I don't think it starts to get too critical until you get up around 600-700 as far as that goes. So the hard water nutes might have something to do with it. I'm sure some of the hydro folks will be by and help you out. Good luck! TWW
     
  3. Thanks for the input. GH recommends using their Hardwater version if your water is over 200ppm, so I'm well over that number. I might end up switching to the regular version though, or i could just suck it up and buy an RO system. :p
     
  4. #4 MeGaKiLlErMaN, Dec 8, 2015
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 8, 2015
    I used this bad boy to bring my PPM from 250 down to 7. I highly recommend it.You will need some additional tubing.
    Link


     

Share This Page