need help with ph.

chunchiba

Member
ok well i am typing this red in the face and about to toss General hydroponics PH suck and PH Frown across the room. ( ph up and down in most stores). It says use sparingly on the back of the bottle, well i been using sparingly all the way through the ENTIRE bottle since last night...i changed the ph by 1, which is constantly lowering itself anyway.:confused: So i have to pay 20 bucks everytime i need a 1 shift in ph?, man if that's the case id rather buy my own shit, the cost of a 20 dollor bottle 3-4 times a week for the rest of life, it can not be done. Someone please tell me there is an easier way to adjust ph, or maybe a product that isn't made by confused monkeys.
 
do i really have to sit for 2 hours and put different amounts of acid and base together and just pray that eventually i hit the small 5.5-6.5 ph range? I just put the acid in because the base eventually, only after a whole bottle got to strong. Half a bottle of the acid and my ph just shot down to 3.4. Spend 900 bucks, get everthing set up, and i freaking new the one thing i would have problems with is ph. It doesn't work like it should. Someone please tell me how the heck to ph water properly, i assumed you just put A LITTLE in at a time and keep checking the ph, maybe wait 15-30 minutes each time u add more before the check up. What am i doing wrong? my ph tester is calibrated for the 7/0 solution. I do not have the 4.0 solution (hope that is not the issue, but i assumed if i could calibrate it to 7.0 that it would pretty much be correct.
 
You are doing something wrong.

It only takes me a few drops per gallon to drop the PH by two points, two or three teaspoons for a twenty five gallon res.
 
Are you adding all of your nutrients then testing the PH? Are you sure your nutrients are well dissolved and mixed prior to checking PH?

I would suggest getting a cheap PH test kit (the kind with drops) and confirm your actuall PH levels against your meter readings
 
lol im not blaming ph for other problems, that's the only thing i amm trying to work with. SO IT IS THE PROBLEM! lol. I am using regular water, these babies just sprouted and i do not want to give em nutes yet. The water comes out of the tap at 7.0. I put this thing in the calibration solution before each test. And it hits 7.0, i'm pretty confident its working. Do you think that maybe its because the acid i used is very strong, and to try to fix the problem im trying to put the base on top of the acid. The acid seemed very strong, it was just a delayed reaction, which is why my half a bottle took it from 7.0 and brought it to like 3. But the base seems very week, unless like i said, its because im trying to beat out this acid with the base. i dunno, maybe ill try a new ph up ph down. THANKS FOR RESPONDING :D

ps. I have not added nutes, and i can't even imagine what it will be like when i do
 
ok it must be that u have to stir it up. My res is in a weird place, so access is hard, i use a hose to drain and fill. But i took a ph test that came to 4.5, its been hovering there the last 3 doses. So i just stirred it with a yard stick, the next reading read 6.5. o.0 . I will check again soon to make sure it hasn't changed, could that be the problem? i would think given enough time the liquids would just mix.
 
The GH PH up compared to the PH down is a lot weaker. However if your having that much trouble I would just drain my res and start over cause you messed something up. I had a 55 Gallon res and you definitely shouldn't have to use more then a 1/10 of the bottle ever for any situation unless you're using your jacuzzi as your reservoir ;p. TDS can affect the PH's stability.

I've run out of GH ph down and I didn't have enough cash to buy more so I bought a tiny squeeze bottle of sulfuric acid from the local aquarium store. That was good and concentrated - lasted about a week at 30 gal high.

...and of course you have to stir it up. I had air stones in my res and so I would add nutes and change the pH after I flood so that I have hours for it to stabilize.
 
lol, well i am a newb, i do not think of these little things! :D, thanks for the response guys, everyone on this forum is quick and to the point. Yea it was the stirring problem, man i went threw an entire bottle of ph up and ph down lol, but i got it at 6.3 officially! :D
 
now i know this isn't related to this post, but i might as well ask seeing as how my little ladies are about 4 days old. After the first week when they all have their cot's (the little flowers) do i start the feeding regiment?, you will see, i am the little train that could!, eventually i will get it right as with everything, but as with everything i start off slow and excruciating.
 
now i know this isn't related to this post, but i might as well ask seeing as how my little ladies are about 4 days old. After the first week when they all have their cot's (the little flowers) do i start the feeding regiment?, you will see, i am the little train that could!, eventually i will get it right as with everything, but as with everything i start off slow and excruciating.

more reading,lol
https://www.rollitup.org/newbie-central/212352-all-new-growers-questions-tons.html
 
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