Water pH at 10, have a question

[Cheffrey]

So I got a berkey water filter and after running my city water through it my ph is now sitting at 10 where it used to land on 7.7

Do you think I should PH it down a bit before watering? Or will the microbes take care of it even at 10?

Thnaks for the help

 

[Phytoplankton]

A PH of 10 is severely alkaline and will cause damage to your plants. In perspective the Great Salt Lake has a ph of 10, so does Milk of Magnesia! I think you might try recalibrating your PH meter, or checking the water filter, something aint right!!!! Yes, I would definitely PH that water down if that's the true PH. A 10 PH is above the EPA standard for drinking water.

 

[TorturedSoul]

HtH... Yeah, check and recalibrate your pH meter. Hopefully you've been storing it correctly.

If, after recalibration - and verifying is reading accurately - you're still seeing an extreme reading, make sure you're not standing right beside some kind of crappy electronic device (Chinese-built anything, lol, but basically anything electrical that has poor RFI/EMI shielding), because that can cause some pH meters (which also aren't known for having Eveleth shielding). If so, turn off the LEDs/CFLs/radios/whatever, abs see if the reading normalizes.

Even one of those nasty water softeners shouldn't cause such a drastic shift; the ones that replace with sodium ions, maybe .2 or .3. But people tend to not use softened water for watering their plants (or drinking), anyway, so that's not really relevant.

The pH scale is a logarithmic one - so a change from 7.7 to 9.7, for example, would mean that your water has become 100 times more alkaline.

Did someone think it would be funny to dump silicon in your water filter?

EDIT: I just did a search and, according to that product's website, it'll increase the pH .5 to 1.0. (But it also states their filters remove at least 99.9% of the "not water," so... IDK?)

 

[Cheffrey]

HtH... Yeah, check and recalibrate your pH meter. Hopefully you've been storing it correctly.

If, after recalibration - and verifying is reading accurately - you're still seeing an extreme reading, make sure you're not standing right beside some kind of crappy electronic device (Chinese-built anything, lol, but basically anything electrical that has poor RFI/EMI shielding), because that can cause some pH meters (which also aren't known for having Eveleth shielding). If so, turn off the LEDs/CFLs/radios/whatever, abs see if the reading normalizes.

Even one of those nasty water softeners shouldn't cause such a drastic shift; the ones that replace with sodium ions, maybe .2 or .3. But people tend to not use softened water for watering their plants (or drinking), anyway, so that's not really relevant.

The pH scale is a logarithmic one - so a change from 7.7 to 9.7, for example, would mean that your water has become 100 times more alkaline.

Did someone think it would be funny to dump silicon in your water filter?

Just read this in the official berkey site


The Berkey purification process typically causes pH levels to rise 0.5 - 1.0, making it more alkaline.

 

[TorturedSoul]

Yeah, so did I. They state that their filters remove at least 99.9% of things from the source water. To me, sure, that would mean that a pH shift would be entirely possible - but I'd assume it would "shift" closer to neutral. IOW, 7.0 - acidic water would become less acidic, but alkaline water would become less alkaline.

 

[Cheffrey]

Yeah, so did I. They state that their filters remove at least 99.9% of things from the source water. To me, sure, that would mean that a pH shift would be entirely possible - but I'd assume it would "shift" closer to neutral. IOW, 7.0 - acidic water would become less acidic, but alkaline water would become less alkaline.

Yea I was surprised when I checked the pH after it filtered. I guess I'll just use apple cider vinegar. I've done a couple waterings using it this way and they look awesome so far.

 

[TorturedSoul]

That will likely only temporarily drop the pH. Plus, I don't know whether plants have much use for acetic acid. But they do use phosphorous. Maybe consider using phosphoric acid? It's a common ingredient in commercially available pH down products.

 

[Cheffrey]

That will likely only temporarily drop the pH. Plus, I don't know whether plants have much use for acetic acid. But they do use phosphorous. Maybe consider using phosphoric acid? It's a common ingredient in commercially available pH down products.

I've used the apple cider for years using bottled nutes and have had very good results. It's organic and has "mother" in it.

I'm new to organics and I heard you don't need to ph in organics....

 

[Phytoplankton]

I'm new to organics and I heard you don't need to ph in organics....

You normally don't, but that's within reason, a ph of 10 is not normal or often seen, and would likely overwhelm the buffering capacity of the soil in short order. Plus a ph of ten would completely lock out iron and you would see chlorosis of the leaves within a couple weeks. Please check your PH meter, you said you already added this alkaline water to the plants, if they are not showing stress, then I think your meter or your filter is bad.

 

[TorturedSoul]

I've used the apple cider for years using bottled nutes and have had very good results. It's organic and has "mother" in it.

I'm new to organics and I heard you don't need to ph in organics....

I'm too ignorant about the use of "organic" nutrients to offer specific advice. But I bet @Emilya knows (she knows a lot ).

 

[Emilya Green]

I'm too ignorant about the use of "organic" nutrients to offer specific advice. But I bet @Emilya knows (she knows a lot ).

@Cheffrey, please check the calibration on your pH meter. As said above, filtered water should be almost pure water and without any measurement we should assume that it achieves a neutral pH of 7.0

Organic growing simply means using the organic feeding cycle to feed your plants. There can be non-organic components in your soil and your nutrient mixes, but as long as you are using microbes to feed the plants, it is an organic grow.

Your water does not make sense. I see no logical reason for you to be getting 10 readings. If were actually that high, of course you need to bring it back down toward neutral before using it. I would suggest using an acid to create your pH down solution, either sulfuric or phosphoric, simply because of their strength, so that very little needs to be added. But, since your situation can't be logically explained, I don't think your readings are accurate. You can definitely grow organically (using microbes) without adjusting pH, as long as your pH is within the normal non life threatening pH between 9-4, which is a fairly large range. If your water starts out being toxic, it needs to be adjusted, even in an organic grow.

 

[LKABudMan]

The Berkey filters use ion exchange. This can replace heavy metals with sodium. So, you may not only have a high pH, but the resulting water may be loaded with sodium. Have you taken a PPM reading before and after filtering? If the resulting water is sodium heavy, you may have problems even after lowering the pH.