Help! pH up/pH down Do's and Don'ts

[sqwheels]

Can you use pH up and pH down in the same mix?

I mix my nutrients 1 gal or actually, more often 1/2 gal at a time...if I use too much down and the pH goes below where I want it to be, can I then use a little pH up to bring it back to where I want it?

Actually I'm currently trying to pH RO @ 7.0...1 drop of down took it way too far...4.7. I want to know if I can add up to that same gallon to fix it.


Thanks for the help


Sq

 

[BWC BayArea]

Not sure if its the best thing to do, but I've done that a lot. I've read growers say "don't do it!" Try to avoid it. It won't kill your plants unless you are being extremely generous with the Up/Down per half gallon. Sometimes a dropper is helpful when mixing small amounts. If ur count how many drops it takes to get where u want then its less likely u will overdo it.

 

[bobulak]

Hey wheels

My hydro store guy is a 70 year old dude who has forgotten more about growing plants than I'll ever know. Ive asked him this exact question and this is what he told me. He says to NEVER add PH up after nutes have been added to your water. If its just water with no nutes then using PH up after PH down is fine. The nutes I use actually bring the ph down quite a bit so it was a learning process for me when I started growing. I don't know if its a different story for RO water but I follow my guys advice and its worked great for me.

Hope that helps

 

[sqwheels]

Hi BWC, Bob,

I have also read "NOT" to do this...and so far I haven't, I've been able to mix my nutes using one or the other to fix the pH to 5.6-6.0...I've been using a mix of RO and tap to come up with a basic water @ 60-80ppm (my tap alone is way too high @ 260) and then adding what nutrients I wanted, after which I pH that mix.

I recently got BPN's 3 part and want to switch to straight RO water, Corey says that would work good and it would be easier for me. So I've spent the last couple days playing with nute mixes and RO water trying to come up with a good water for feeding...I'm having the hardest time with it...with nutes, the mix is really low @ 4.4-4.8, same as the old mix, but I have to use a lot more pH up to adjust, 13-18 drops, old mix only required a few, 5-7 drops. I used a tsp once and measured the drops...it takes over 65 drops to fill that tsp, that would be 5ml. I don't know how else to quantify it's measurement, it's an eye dropper. One drop has to be a fraction of a ml.

Bob... your hydro guy "says to NEVER add PH up after nutes have been added to your water." What? I'm confused...I always have been told to pH after you've mixed all of your nutrient solution/plain water ... what ever it is you're adding for feed. I water/feed with a bunch of stuff...nutes, molasses, epsom....I always pH last. Please explain further.

Thanks for the comments...I appreciate the input. I may repost some of this into my current journal for addition info.

 

[Cloudblood]

Simple and short answer is nutes are a natural ph down (most commonly low 6's), regular water is a natural ph up (being near 7 most commonly).

I would only use PH down if on a regular watering it needed to be lowered from nute build up and NEVER have used a PH up. If you need a raise is PH regular water should be the thing... I also like to keep a premixed jug of water that is lowered in PH to 6.5 for those moments it is needed so I know the mix is balanced out.