Autos and Jacks Tap

I'm running some autos, they are starting to bud. I'm using Jacks Tap, coco/perlite, drain to waste. Switched to bloom as per schedule about a week ago when buds started forming. I was getting some claw, light tops which eventually darkened and signs of over feeding. Close but not perfect and trying to dial it in.

Jacks Tap is designed to drop the PH and intended for tap water around 7.0 which mine is. PPM is probably around 170. Jacks Tap seems to work slowly... the instructions say "Over Time PH will drop" and they aren't kidding. Usually by the time I finish my reservoir the PH is where it should be after starting at around 6.8. Runoff seems to be right where I want it at around 5.5-5.8. I assume the buffering continues in the coco and everything averages out over time.

My question is.. If I cut nutrient strength in half for the Auto's this should cause PH to drop less so do I adjust downward to compensate? Since this stuff takes forever to drop PH do I just guess and keep a test gallon off to the side and check it and see what it did 5 days later? Anyone else work with Jacks Tap?

I was not aware it was supposed to lower the ph. I just ph to where I want it to be and it stays in that area ish.

I'd just ph to where you want it. Check and adjust if necessary before using.

Kervork said:

I'm running some autos, they are starting to bud. I'm using Jacks Tap, coco/perlite, drain to waste. Switched to bloom as per schedule about a week ago when buds started forming. I was getting some claw, light tops which eventually darkened and signs of over feeding. Close but not perfect and trying to dial it in.

Jacks Tap is designed to drop the PH and intended for tap water around 7.0 which mine is. PPM is probably around 170. Jacks Tap seems to work slowly... the instructions say "Over Time PH will drop" and they aren't kidding. Usually by the time I finish my reservoir the PH is where it should be after starting at around 6.8. Runoff seems to be right where I want it at around 5.5-5.8. I assume the buffering continues in the coco and everything averages out over time.

My question is.. If I cut nutrient strength in half for the Auto's this should cause PH to drop less so do I adjust downward to compensate? Since this stuff takes forever to drop PH do I just guess and keep a test gallon off to the side and check it and see what it did 5 days later? Anyone else work with Jacks Tap?


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I run water to waste and hand water also. Good to see another Jack's grower! I'm running the 5-12-26 with calcium nitrate and epsom salt at 1.65 EC pretty much start to finish with RO water. I've always been interested in how jack's tap formula performs. If you're experiencing PH float then I would recommend you not adjust the PH of your main holding reservoir. Adjust the PH of the solution you are using for the day. This way you are not constantly adding more PH up or down to your main res. PH adjusters add ppm's to your mix.

For instance if you need 5 gallons then pull out a 5 gallon bucket and adjust the PH on that solution you're about to use immediately. That way you aren't continuously adding ph up or down to your main res. I actually keep a 32 gallon brute trash can on a rolling dolly. I pull out whatever I need from my main reservoir for the day and off I go with a gallon jug. Jack's 5-12-26 is PH stable for up to 8 days in my personal experience. It requires no further adjustment, because it is extremely stable. However, if I were using jack's tap in which the PH floats I would stop frustrating myself with it. I would only adjust my PH 1 time for the solution I am using for the day in question.

It's just about reducing the amount of PH adjuster you add to the main res. I was using maxi bloom at one point and my god did the PH float allover the effing place. Set it to 5.8 and the next day it's at 6.4. Every day I would add PH down and before 4 days was over I increased the PPM of the res by 70 or 80ppm. That's no good. Until I switched to jack's 5-12-26 I simply began adjusting the PH only for the solution I was using for the day. Problem solved

Those are dope looking lights by the way What kind of hardware are you running?

Love your use of the metal shelving rack. Beautiful ingenuity. Way cooler than stacking rolls of toilet paper and potato chip stock piles

jonnynobody said:

Those are dope looking lights by the way What kind of hardware are you running?

Love your use of the metal shelving rack. Beautiful ingenuity. Way cooler than stacking rolls of toilet paper and potato chip stock piles

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The lights are HLG QB96 Elites. I'm using round meanwell 160W drivers, one per light. I had a custom frame welded which joins the light to the driver and there is a 120MM Fan secured to the top of the stock heat sink.

The lights are absurdly heavy but the rack supports them well and allows me to move them slightly every few days to get even coverage.

If I adjust ph, it's once at the beginning then never again. I'm trying to automate the watering so 5 gallons at a time isn't good. Runoff is 5.x so maybe magic elves buffer my coco at night and I shouldn't worry.

I'm using the ro version with autos and the pH does drift for me. My setup is autopots and I can't go above half strength. I have been running air in my res but pulled it out this last fill. I want to see what the pH does without it. If it doesn't drift I'll start running a power head on a timer to keep it circulating.

They do not mean the ph of your reservoir, they are talking about the ph in the rootzone. I keep seeing people make this mistake. The tap formula is slightly acidic in the rootzone and the R.O. is slightly basic. Its just the forms of nitrogen used in each version. It has nothing to do with the ph of your reservoir.