Good ph conditioner..

Discussion in 'Growing Marijuana Indoors' started by REH1, Feb 3, 2024.

  1. I grow indoors and have been using 'sensi grow" part A and B, to reduce out of faucet ph and to add the usual nukes..nitrogen,, calcium.. etc. Was wondering what people prefer...been awhile since I've really looked into this. thx
     
  2. what is in your tap water? Is it hard water (I presume)? You can use Nitric Acid to change the calcium carbonate to calcium nitrate = fertilizer.
    Maybe check this post: Cool calculators for alkalinity and fertilizers
     
  3. Yes, hard township tap water. Ph usually runs between 7 - 8. Conditioner takes it down to 5 - 6.
    I just want something easy to use...minimal mixing. The sensi grow is all that but sometimes I forget to shake the bottles...Trying to take the error out of watering.
     
  4. wouldn't any acid make that conversion including PH down?
     
  5. I've no idea how acids affect drinking water. I don't even know if I can purchase nitric acid.
     
  6. yes one can purchase nitric acid. Amazon sells it(like everything else).
     
  7. Nope. Phosphoric acid reacts with calcium carbonate to form calcium phosphate, an insoluble not very soluble precipitate.
    You can look up your Water Quality Report for you municipality usually online, unless you're on well water.
    If you lower the pH using nitric acid, just note you added more Nitrogen and don't need as much. Same for the calcium. Might even need to add some epsom (Magnesium Sulfate) to even out the Ca::Mg ratio.
     
  8. water softener? no that's bad for plants. I wouldn't condition the water since you exchange the calcium (hardness) for sodium (softness) and that's not useful for the plants. Use the untreated tap with nitric acid.
     
  9. I RO my softened well water. Any recs before I give it to my girl? I figured the ro takes care of the mineral problems
     
    • Agree Agree x 1
  10. right out of my well, I wouldnt give that water to my pet. Its horrible. I run it through a filter, then carbon then soften then through another carbon filter, and then ro-ed. Its delicious now.
     
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  11. RO removes salt, yes. But just a water softener, no. I always wondered if adding a remineralization cartridge would be enough to supplement for calmag, but ... I'm not going to experiment. Make sure to add 2mL/4L calmag, or 1mL/L of calimagic.
    I fixed my mom's well last summer. I used a Katalox filter with a Vortech column followed by catalytic carbon. That takes care of the lead(Pb), iron, and sulfur in her water. I figure it would be clean enough to just pass thru an RO filter without any other pre/post filters. My brother still hasn't hooked it up; I think he wants me to do it.
     
  12. What ratio of water to nitric acid would you use?
     
  13. enough to get the PH where you want it is my guess. It could vary if the source water varies in Ph. If it is stable from the source then a ratio can be established after the first adjustment. Trojangrower can answer this better than me.
     
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  14. TY for the input. So far I have not added any CalMag and the girls are fine. However, I seldom use just plain water without adding some kelp extract and/or a small amount of fert in it. Not sure if that is masking any possible CalMag deficiency issues.
     
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  15. as @storz suggested, until you hit your desired pH. You can use the alkcalc that I linked in the first post for a good idea though.
     
  16. Thanks everyone for their input...X3
     

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