ph up

[alexstuart]

Hi guys.
A quick question on ph. I use tap water with a ph of 8.1 when adding all relevant feeds the ph goes down to 4.3 the plants I am growing need a oh of about 5.5 so to get it right I have to put about 12 drops of ph up into every 5ltr bittle if water I use. I am just worried about the amount I have to put in and although the ph is spot on I am just worried that it cant be no good for plants. Any info will be great cheers.

 

[rillos]

First of all sounds like you are growing soilless so why are you using tap water. You should never have to use PH up for any reason. PH will rise as the plants take in nutes. You will need to give a lot more info and what do you consider relevant feeds. What nutes are you using.

 

[Fuzzy Duck]

Mmm...

Well PH Up or Down is their for a reason as water PH will change from what ever part of the world you are in or where it it is sourced from !

Also nutrients once you look into the area may come as as hard or soft water formulations & of course you get you general formulation... takes a little digging around to find that stuff out tho.

Then you might come across the alkaline mineral content of water & the buffering effect over time with further research, with this getting harder to explain.


So the whole water chemistry stuff is difficult or at least info of a good source is even harder to come across !



How ever PH up or down is not dangerous to plant health, i've only come across some info regarding nitric acid (ph down) being a problem if large amounts are used... so most of us a phosphoric acid (ph down) as it is more gentle.

Ye i'm very sorry that the last bit of info is rather pointless to your question but it is pretty rare to see some one use PH up in their nutrient solutions


I shall do my best to research if further over the week end.



Side note - RO aka reverse omosis water is the prefered choice for hydroponic water based systems including inert growing mediums, the sad truth is most of us don't have a RO filters installed in our homes ?

So ye many of us get away with using just ol plain tap water...

 

[rillos]

Mmm...

Well PH Up or Down is their for a reason as water PH will change from what ever part of the world you are in or where it it is sourced from !

Also nutrients once you look into the area may come as as hard or soft water formulations & of course you get you general formulation... takes a little digging around to find that stuff out tho.

Then you might come across the alkaline mineral content of water & the buffering effect over time with further research, with this getting harder to explain.


So the whole water chemistry stuff is difficult or at least info of a good source is even harder to come across !



How ever PH up or down is not dangerous to plant health, i've only come across some info regarding nitric acid (ph down) being a problem if large amounts are used... so most of us a phosphoric acid (ph down) as it is more gentle.

Ye i'm very sorry that the last bit of info is rather pointless to your question but it is pretty rare to see some one use PH up in their nutrient solutions


I shall do my best to research if further over the week end.



Side note - RO aka reverse omosis water is the prefered choice for hydroponic water based systems including inert growing mediums, the sad truth is most of us don't have a RO filters installed in our homes ?

So ye many of us get away with using just ol plain tap water...

Not once did I say PH up was a bad thing... I said you should never have too use it.... Using tap water you don't know what's in it and it's messing with your PH if you are adding PH up....

 

[Dan Ultra]

Using a pH up product like General Hydroponics pH Up is safer than giving a nute solution that is too acidic. GH uses potassium carbonate and potassium silicate to raise the pH of a liquid.

 

[Fuzzy Duck]

Not once did I say PH up was a bad thing... I said you should never have too use it.... Using tap water you don't know what's in it and it's messing with your PH if you are adding PH up....

I'm sorry you feel mildly upset by my reply ?

But i do my best to provide an answer on a broad horizon/spectrum basis as to make people think that their is more to the question asked in the first place...


As it may help the grower/person further they own research/education on the matter at hand.

 

[Stealthboat]

I've been using liquid PH Down for months and if it's hurting the plants then I genuinely can't tell. It's definitely better than leaving the ph untouched imo

 

[Alienpus]

It's rare but some people need PH up. Other then nutes are you adding anything else that could be dropping your PH

 

[alexstuart]

Lol sorry to cause a argument here. I am using plagron royalty mix as a medium and my feed is plagron terra bloom with a booster called green planet finisher. I use tap water with a high ph but after adding feeds it goes down very low so to get the ph balance right I have to put quite a bit of up in to get the level right. All I need to know is will the ph do my plants any harm ? I mean 10 drops seems quite a lot but thats what I need to get my ph correctly. Thanks guys.

 

[Cultivator]

Ur ph up or down won't harm the plants in low doses. Tap water is absolutely fine if u live in an area with quality water. Check the Ec of ur tap water, low Ec is preferred. I've grown thousands of plants in soil, hydro, coco u name it and have only ever had probs with ph products wen an error has been made and huge amounts were added. If ur plants look healthy don't worry about it.

 

[Stealthboat]

10 drops is nothing to worry about, I've used 40 in one gallon before hehe