PH for 20 gallon barrel

Alright, as the saying goes, first time, long time...LOL. That's not true...I always put my 2 cents worth in from time to time. So here's what I'm doing. I am always up grading. Every single year, and this year I decided to go with hydo. So I have a 20 gallon bucket with a bubbler to feed 8 plants....Now do I PH it per the barrel or per the 5 gallon bucket. Cause in the bucket it reads about 6.35 but in the barrel it reads 1.22. I know it's an obvious answer, I need to PH for the barrel (is it Barrell or Barrel?) And I can't put 20 gallons of water in at one time....8 plants can't take that much water in the beginning and it leaves a stain on everything in the beginning. I'm using hydro with dirt if your wondering. Well, any and all comments are welcomed. And I will get some pics in cause I love this grow set up.

How is your ph 1.22

go get some drops and ditch your pen

Pull a sample from the barrel to check the pH. For some reason pH pens can read off if you have air stones or pumps in the barrel. This happens to me with a few of my meters, some don't do it.

Is the barrel metal?
It might be irrelevant but I remember reading something about avoiding metal buckets for mixing nutrient?
Test in plastic tub/cup to check.

It's a plastic 20 gallon bucket...I was was thinking that it was giving me a lower ph reading because the atoms were further apart than in a small compartment. Those atoms that it might need to calculate the ph might be somewhere out there in the matrix. Yup...I was supper stoned when I came up with that.

rcpilot04401 said:

It's a plastic 20 gallon bucket...I was was thinking that it was giving me a lower ph reading because the atoms were further apart than in a small compartment. Those atoms that it might need to calculate the ph might be somewhere out there in the matrix. Yup...I was supper stoned when I came up with that.

Click to expand...

the dab made it make sense though...