I have a huge PH problem.. My tap water it at 7.1 to 7.4 and I have tried the drops that remove the clorine, ph up, ph down, lemon juice, letting the water sit without a lid on it for over 24 hours... Ive tried everything I know and nothing has worked.. I can adjust the water to a ph of 5.5 and an hour or two later it will be up to like 6.0 and it keeps rising... It was at like 7.8 this morning....... Im not sure whats going on.. I soaked my rockwool and my rappid rooter plugs in distilled water with a ph of 5.5 for 24 hours even my hydroton, i rinsed & soaked it as well.. Nothings working.. I got a ph tester in the mail the other day and it has two small packs of something called ph buffer substances, But its all in chinese so I cant read the instructions.. The only thing I can read Is that it says PH Substances one says mixed phosphate , ph 6.86 (25 C) and the other just says ph 4.00 (25 C) and thats it.. All the rest is in chinese... How do I use these buffers and what exactly are they for?? Does anyone have any suggestions at all on how I can stabilize my ph to stay at 5.5/5.7 ??
I assume your hydro if you want your pH that low right? Well Im in soil and my tap is about 8+ and I use white vinegar to bring it down. You could always invest in a small RO system for $150.
i don't think you have a pH problem at all... you just never calibrated your meter... you need to do that every time you use it for an accurate reading... put the 7.0 solution in a cup and put your meter in... adjust the pH to 7.0... do likewise with the 4.0... THEN use your meter...
Yeah, Ive got two jack 47's , two "S.A.D." sweet afghani delisious , a great white shark , a super lemon haze , a strawberry haze , kings kush and a bubba kush all growing in homemade d.w.c. systems.. Im thinking next I will get a small RO system or something..
Thanx man, your right I never did that... Hopefully thats the deal.. I also have some ph test drops, but I cant get an on the dot reading with test drops.. The only question I have about that is do I have to use the whole packet of buffer from the 4.00 ph and the 6.86 ph packs every time I recalibrate my meter?.. There small packs only ( 250 ml ) each...Im constantly checking my water ph, so I will be recalibrating my meter a whole lot.. lol..
You will need to get some more cal solution. Use it once and throw it out. You will also need some distilled water to clean your meter between solutions. You also need a storage solution to keep it wet between uses. You can get yourself some battery acid at AutoZone or any other auto parts store and make your own pH down using the acid and distilled water.
That does sound pretty ruff....lol... Im not sure I want to put acid from an auto parts store in my hydro setup.... I have some ph down I got from the hydro shop and some lemmon juice and some dist. white vinegar, but Im having to adjust my ph like every few hours or so just to keep it between 5.5 & 5.7... I read a thread that said its not good for the ph to raise or drop any more than 3 points a day.. My ph has been doing way more than that on its own... Its got to be either my ph meter is off or my tap water is just fucked and I need an RO system... Ive used my test drops and Its reading my ph is rising more than it should, so my ph meter might not be to bad off..
Just do a search on it. Battery acid is Sulphuric acid and water. That's is exactly what you are buying when you pay so much for pH down. You can mix your own pH up and pH down easily and safely.
Thanks for the info.. I will look into it.. I need something that will adjust my ph to around 5.5 and 5.7 and keep it at that level and or keep my ph riseing so fast after I adjust it.. LOL, I might be asking for a miracle.. I wish I could find something to put in my water that will stabilize my ph to say, 5.6 or so and keep it there untill I need to change the water out.. That would be a huge relief and take away alot of stress from me and my ladies..