Does it seem likely that high CO2 air aeration of reservoir water would cause the reservoir pH to drop from 6.0 to 4.0 in a couple days? Air going through the water is average of 850 PPM CO2, sealed room. I'm guessing the CO2 is creating carbonic acid and dropping the pH. If I'm thinking correctly, IF, how would I go about stopping this without having to keep Ph upping the reservoir everyday and consequently changing the water profile? Thanks in advance for taking the time to help me with this.
Sorry no chance of C02 affecting Ph, time for a dump and scrub pull the pumps apart and sterile them too, note some cheapo pumps don't dismantle the home brewers ones do tho consider keeping the rez in the room next door good luck
I should have done some more research before asking this question here. The answer is yes, it does drop the Ph. When the CO2 stops diffusing into the water the carbonic acid will off gas and Ph will return to a balance with the room CO2. Use of a buffer can slow the conversion.
i ran a 33 gal trash can outside in the summer months growing water melons, each day my mix was right on q in the morning , soon as the sun started baking the ph would do all kinds of crazy stuff, i got to were i was checking it about every two hours, then a buddy sugested the bi carbonate for the swing and it worked , so i also used the hydrogard , it would lower the ph a little but when the heat was on with the combine of the two thing leveled out, hope it works for you
Have you considered ditching the bubbler and using a small aquarium wave maker instead? Pretty sure that's all you would need in combination with either pool shock, bleach, or bennies. Regarding Hydroguard, before, it was pretty diluted stuff. Now they seem to have concentrated it a bit, probably to compete with South ag's garden friendly fungicide, which is what many people use instead.
That's still just air bro. Whenever you fill your rezevior with tap water (even filtered) you need to bubble it for around 12-24hrs (depending on the pressure) to remove all kinds of crap like chlorine, chloramanine, ect... A rez without a cover and a decent air pump/stone going will dissipate allot of unwanted stuff. When this happens the PPMs drop as well as the PH. I had a 9.0 pH out of the tap at one grow until I bubbled it then it was 7.2. It has nothing to do with the co2 in the room. Just a basic rule of thumb to always bubble out impurities from your rez. Bubble out then mix and pH nutrients.
I have to disagree. High atmospheric Co2 will interact with H2o seeking ballance. The high Co2 air going through the water makes carbonic acid and drives pH lower. I'm now buffering with Pottasium Carbonate and a day of bubbling before using and it seems to be stabalized now. I use R/O water.
OK, sounds like you know more about running co2 threw the rez then I thought there was to know, lol! Did your plants not Like the tap ? You do bubble as a basic rule of thumb though right? And maybe are just trying something new paying attention to any differences from between h2o and co2? Ph drops with regular 350ppm co2 Air as impurities evaporate too. What kind of RO? I made a big mistake by purchasing the best RO machine I get just to find out they did not like the totally stripped water. The whole splash of cal-mag before a mix just isn't the same as having all those heavy metals, they add weight, haha, naw but the plants live the minerals if your tap is halfway decent. Mine was so bad I didn't want to shower with it but low n behold, the plants did great once I put away the RO. There is a sort of benefit to bubbling with Co2 air you said something about balance?