Standing water pH changing?

F

F46531C4

New Member
I've been having what I am pretty sure are pH issues from the get-go. at first i didnt have a pH meter, and not surprisingly, when I finally got a digital meter (Oakton), the pH of my tapwater tested near 8.0.

so now after letting the water sit for a couple hours, i've been using ph down to get it to 6.5.

after a couple days, I decided to re-test my sitting water, only to find it back up at 7.5. i figured the meter was out of calibration, so i bought some cal fluid and tested it -the meter tests perfectly. there's not nutes, just tap water.

question: is this normal, or is my meter (or something else) screwed?

old plus new plants are all suffering.
 
MY water goes from 7 to 8 in a couple days just sitting out.
any clues?
 
Mmm interesting question...

Tap water a Ph value of 8 is pretty hard water & more than likely coming from an area of limestone/chalk bed rock.


Might be an element/compound/mineral in hard water which reacts with PH down (nitric acid or phosphoric acid) negating acid effect over time ?


Prehaps the PH down just evourates more quickly when mixed with nutrient enriched water and slowly disperse's/evapourates over time restoring natural PH of water source back to original PH ?
 
Strange problem. Normally water when exposed to air reacts with the CO2 forming carbonic acid which
lowers the ph slightly. I've noticed a slight drop in my RO water after it has sit in the barrel a while.

What are you using to adjust the ph? I recently switched from GH liquid to GH dry mix and the dry is woking
much better for me. It seems much stronger and keeps the ph in range longer than the liquid I was using.
 
Greetings,
Up here in Oregon, this area was a conglomeration of other areas, all folded up and pushed east. Lots of gold mining history.
My water is from a well which is located at the bottom of a hill. The ph tests 7 with a drop liquid tester and then in a couple days it is at 8. I am planning on a 20 gallon water storage to bubble O2(air), so eventually I will know if that effects the ph. I had rather adjust the ph fewer times.

HotshotShorty:peace:
 
Here is documentation of standing water rising in PH

Out of the tap we have a 7:

12-25-2012_095.JPG



After sitting 24 hrs in a watering can, the PH is now 8 :

12-25-2012_089.JPG



I am wondering if this caused a nutrient lockout with my project?

:peace:
 
Sorry, I forgot to mention that it is well water- unfiltered.
 
Well i was looking at some aquaponics stuff... ya know keeping fish & using the water to feed the plants with etc


Well there appears to be some water science related stuff to all this PH swings etc ya may want to look into this - Alkalinity KH: How well your water can resist (buffer) changes in pH. yup do a google search on that one :thumb:


A lot of the info generated relates to aquairum (fish keeping) Ph level of the fish tanks, fish are bit sensitive to Ph change bad for their health !

As is Ph change in hydroponics aka water gardening.



I think theirs some thing to learn from these fish lovers & the matter of - Alkalinity KH: How well your water can resist (buffer) changes in pH.

Not sure how this all relates tho at present... but interesting reading.
 
That was a good resource idea.
in looking over what they were concerned about, They want a PH 8.2 or so.
However, one article addressed lowering the ph.
his idea was that it was not as simple as adding PH down.
Other things could be buffering it to keep it up.
His idea was to use a reverse osmosis system eliminate any buffering.
I have wondered if my ph rose after I watered the girls.:peace:
 
Aye was indeed interesting reading.

Original i was looking at aquaponics the art of keeping fish and using their waste by production through bacteria break down to create nutrients in the water to feed plants an ebb & flood system before getting side tracked with aquarium stuff...

The fish used in aquaponics generally live in between a PH range of PH 6 to PH 9.

Optimal plant growth is in the neutral PH range of PH 6 to PH 7.


So thats quite a fine balance to achieve in a micro eco system working in harmony with each other for optimal PH level for both fish & plants.

This is where buffering comes into play i believe ?

More on the lines of long term PH mangerment to prevent large swings in PH level whether water used for aquarium was from soft or hard water areas.


Mmm i'm gonna visit an aquarium shop 'n' question somebody :Namaste:
 
So my well water is PH 7.
Aerate it & it rises to PH 8.
PH down to PH6.3 (1 gram PH down/gal)
Aerate again--- PH rises back to PH 8.

Looks like I need a reverse osmosis system.
:peace:
 
In this case, there was no fluctuate. It just went up.
As a result, there was nutrient lockout, -a near death experience.
So I PH down and then PH down again. (2 days).
This will all be a mute point with me, because I have bought a reverse osmosis system.
My well water, for whatever reason, becomes alkaline when exposed to air and appears to be buffered as the PH has to be lowered twice before it remains stable.
:peace::hippy:
 
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