can't keep the pH down

I've got two 20 liter systems going (one drip, one bubble) and I'm having a hell of a time keeping the pH from spiking. My city water comes out of the tap @ 7.9. When I change the water, I pH down to about 5.3 and it only takes a day and 2 half to get back up around 7.2 or higher. What the hell am I doing wrong?

Any thoughts are appreciated. My seedlings are super pissed off.

use high quality aquarium buffer. works good for me and is made to last longer than most. good luck. petsmart has some decent buffer

69% activity. yah 69!!

if your use'n like
humic/fulvic acids and carb nute the oxygen will make the ph rise every day it will need lowerd ' but this all means good things for thye plant

Yah man. hes right. you get some reps man. when the ph starts low and is allowed to rise over several days different nutes are available to the plant at diff phs. But don't let it go up past 6.5 most. in mj above that most nutes are blocked out. good luck man.

1982grower said:

Yah man. hes right. you get some reps man. when the ph starts low and is allowed to rise over several days different nutes are available to the plant at diff phs. But don't let it go up past 6.5 most. in mj above that most nutes are blocked out. good luck man.

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Thanks guys. I'll look into the buffer idea -- wouldn't mind if I could buy some time between pH down adjustments. Mostly, I think I got a little lazy on checking my pH.

i just tried Top Fin brand from petsmart and its concentrated. 5ml to 10 gallons so measure slowly. The other nice thing i found with this bottle is that its cap has a measuring little cup. its perfect. with 1 to 10 ml written on it

nope but thats the exact same bottle. one sec i'll post a pic

here but that product you pictured also works for hydro too. but this is the ph buffer. start slow with it and get used to it.

Know to make it more complicated. I work in the water treatment industry and depending on the type of treatment that is being used, there can be stuff leftover in the water that can make adjusting and holding ph difficult even with proper techniques. If it were me, I would take some water down to the pool store and have them test it to see if there is something that you are not aware of. The pool stool will also have knowledge of pools int he area and if there is a higher then normal acid used in these pools. One of the biggest problems that people don't know about is that your water can have a lot of magnesium hydroxide in the water which is the main part of milk of magnesia. This is naturally accuring and can asbsorb a lot of acid. We ahve this problem in our area. (a lot of mines in the area) I lost one crop already due to the ph being a pain so I switched to ro. Its a lot easier.

i sometimes use a freshwater aquarium test kit for my tapwater. its like a pool stores test kit. good idea. i have a pool and aquarium but never thought pool products. def couldn't hurt and now that he mentioned that the aquarium store can also check your water precisely. man this site gives me ideas everyday. thanks above.

1982grower said:

i sometimes use a freshwater aquarium test kit for my tapwater. its like a pool stores test kit. good idea. i have a pool and aquarium but never thought pool products. def couldn't hurt and now that he mentioned that the aquarium store can also check your water precisely. man this site gives me ideas everyday. thanks above.

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Yeah, I'm a little concerned about my municipal water. So, instead of taking chances during this critical growth period, I went to the local supermarket and got several gallons of RO water. I pH'd it to 5.5 and dammed if my seedlings didn't perk up right away. BTW they're G13 Skunk and Greenhouse Big Bang...

Oh, and I'm a little suspicious of the Milwaukee pH pen I just bought off of eBay, it's a little tweaky and seems to get off calibrated a lot. Anyone else have this issue? GH pH kit is a little tedious, but at least it works...

sweet man. yah if i get more than expected on my grow i think i might invest in 1 also. and it seems i should get an extra ounce or so. sorry don't know much about the pen but i was going to get 1 and now i know whitch 1 not to get so thanks. you'll be smokin in no time.