My PH changed?

T

thehitman

Well-Known Member
I grow in soilless medium, the recommended PH for the water/nutes is 5.8 -6.2

When I mix a batch of water/nutes I generally adjust the PH in the container (2gal) and then it is ready for the next watering, which may be the following day or next.

Today I checked the PH in my watering jug and found that the PH had jumped up to 6.9! WTF? :oops:

Can the PH of a mixed water/nutes change overnight? I guess I'll have to check the PH just prior to watering every time from now on to make sure it is ok to use. This will be my new SOP for the garden.

Anybody else notice this shift?
 
I think it is some thing to do with the hardness of the water which cause the PH drift over time... i must admit it has been awhile since i last reviewed this particular area & i''ll see if i can find some sources of info on the matter in the next 48 hours.


PH up/down do come in different strengths also with the highest around 70% concentration aprox... ya need to look around for this sort of stuff mind you.



Just a little read - GENERAL HYDROPONICS: Advanced Nutrient Management for Hydroponic Growers
 
Mono said:
Fuzzy Duck...

pH can fluctuate for many reasons. Water hardness, generally causes pH to drop or rise when the nutrients are added. The nutes themselves lower or raise the pH.
Click to expand...


Yes thank you for pointing that out & i am sure that many people will find the information very useful.



But so far no one has come up with an intelligent answer or a reasonable educated guess on why a bucket of PH corrected nutrients would change PH value over a period of 18 to 48 hours...


Mmm well back on to the hardness of water aka soft or hard water... in the links above you may find reference to this & that most hydroponic based systems using nutrient enriched water with inert growing mediums etc work best with soft water, RO / reverse osmosis helping too maintain better over all PH balance...

The harder the water the more calcium & magnesium it contains (alkaline) this having a buffering effect over time effecting PH adjustments !




Ye the OP opening post contains very little information on the matter i'm not even sure if he/she even knows what type of water used ?

Some thing which may of been over looked ?



I might be on a wild goose chase & being a duck i sure took the bite... preferring to write some thing with half decent content, yes i might be off track but some where, some one might learn something from this. :Namaste:
 
Thanks for the comments.

Yes, my water comes from a well, we do not use a softener. I don't know how hard the water as I have not tested it. But it does not seem real hard as soap will suds easily.

I am surprised that the ph can change over the course of a day or two. Generally, I mix the water and nutes in my watering can (2 gal) and it gets used up oner a couple of days.

My new ritual is to check the ph prior to every watering - I aim for 5.8

It is curious that the ph will change - I'd like to understand the science behind this change.

Thanks to all for the comments. :thanks:
 
PH of well water may give an idea of hardness...

PH 7 is classed as neutral.

PH 7 & above the more alkaline it gets - hard water.

PH 7 & below the more acidic it get - soft water.



Local bed rock or any rock may give another idea, as hard water in general comes from chalk/lime stone areas... you could if wanted to get your well water tested.



How ever water regulations do varie from one part of the world to another !

My own water from mains come out as PH 6.6, 500 ppm on average most of the time... ye i'm hard water area as a large basis of water is pumped from chalk bed rock, yes it goes through a lot of testing by the water company before it comes out of my tap other wise it will more likely be a lot higher in PH/PPM.



How ever salt based water softeners should be avoid as magnetic devices or electrical types can lower hardness or in less you want to run RO filter.
 
Because you added salt based nutrients to your water that are slowly disolving into ions, thus raising the PH or because something you added is reacting to another chemical.
Fuzzy Duck said:
But so far no one has come up with an intelligent answer or a reasonable educated guess on why a bucket of PH corrected nutrients would change PH value over a period of 18 to 48 hours...
Click to expand...
 
thehitman said:
how do you measure PPM?
Click to expand...

Mmm...

Well you can get PH pens etc you can get the same for PPM/EC or if ya fancy you could get a combo meter which measures both.
 

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