ph problems

[bluntman2006]

I been getting sign of high ph so,i checked the run off with a ph test kit and the reading was at 7. so i bought a couple gallons of ro water and checked the ph and it reads around fivish 6.00,could this be right?So i watered it again and then checked the run off and it reads 6.5 with the ph test kit oh,the soil I use is fox farm ocean forest.Anyone familiar r/o water and ffof soil

bluntman2006 Reviewed by bluntman2006 on 11-20-2009. ph problems I been getting sign of high ph so,i checked the run off with a ph test kit and the reading was at 7. so i bought a couple gallons of ro water and checked the ph and it reads around fivish 6.00,could this be right?So i watered it again and then checked the run off and it reads 6.5 with the ph test kit oh,the soil I use is fox farm ocean forest.Anyone familiar r/o water and ffof soil Rating: 5

[Pudish]

what kinda of nutes are you using? if any?

[senorx12562]

I been getting sign of high ph so,i checked the run off with a ph test kit and the reading was at 7. so i bought a couple gallons of ro water and checked the ph and it reads around fivish 6.00,could this be right?So i watered it again and then checked the run off and it reads 6.5 with the ph test kit oh,the soil I use is fox farm ocean forest.Anyone familiar r/o water and ffof soil

I think you have to average the result of the runoff test with the ph of the water you use before watering to get an accurate picture. I use the same soil, and its got growth nutrients in it already, so if you add nutes it's pretty easy to over-fertilize.

[bluntman2006]

what kinda of nutes are you using? if any?

none now since i transplanted in the new soil but before i used mg soil with fox farm nutes gb and big bloom

[ghengis]

That sounds exactly as expected...Your runoff had pH of 7, you watered with pH of 6, you then ended up having runoff with pH of 6.5 (the average of the two). Any kind of pure water should be right around 7, so not sure why yours would be 6. Is it a paper test kit? Or electronic pH tester? Maybe by a different test kit if it's paper...if it's electronic, make sure it's calibrated correctly. You could buy a "buffer" solution from your local grow shop and try your test kit out on that...if it reads anything other than 7, you'll know you have a bunk test kit.

[bluntman2006]

That sounds exactly as expected...Your runoff had pH of 7, you watered with pH of 6, you then ended up having runoff with pH of 6.5 (the average of the two). Any kind of pure water should be right around 7, so not sure why yours would be 6. Is it a paper test kit? Or electronic pH tester? Maybe by a different test kit if it's paper...if it's electronic, make sure it's calibrated correctly. You could buy a "buffer" solution from your local grow shop and try your test kit out on that...if it reads anything other than 7, you'll know you have a bunk test kit.

well,for starter i use ro water,are you saying my ro water should read about sevenish and not 6 also do you mean calibrating solution that has 7.01 because i do have some of that stuff,can i use that or is that what you are talking about.i do have a ph pen tried calibrating it but seems to bounce around to much and every time i do try to cal it,it never stay there so i bought a ph kit because i am tight with cash at the moment and no its not paper strips its the solution kind that you put three to five drops in a tube with whatever solution,thank for the quick responses.

[ghengis]

Yep, calibrating solution, same stuff. You should use that to test your pH kit, make sure it's accurate. Your question was whether a reading of 6 was normal for RO water, right? I would say, no that's not normal, plain old water should be close to 7 pH, so maybe your pH kit is not reading correctly. Or am I totally off the mark, and your question wasn't about the pH of the RO water...?? :-P

[EvilCartman]

I been getting sign of high ph so,i checked the run off with a ph test kit and the reading was at 7. so i bought a couple gallons of ro water and checked the ph and it reads around fivish 6.00,could this be right?So i watered it again and then checked the run off and it reads 6.5 with the ph test kit oh,the soil I use is fox farm ocean forest.Anyone familiar r/o water and ffof soil

Hey BM,

I'm not *quite* sure what this means. -->"around fivish 6.00" <-- but every test I've done on the FFOF has come out right at 6.5 out of the bag. Watered with the RO (@6) I'd expect to see runoff no higher than 6.3.

The MG runs near 7, so that may skew the results a bit? Maybe a little nute build-up in the MG? Have you flushed at all? There's no way the fresh FFOF alone would cause such a rise. (unless QC at FF is slipping)

BTW: I believe the 6.0 is correct for the RO, my distilled runs right there. My tap water..........ack. Right now 7.5! (and flavorful)

[bluntman2006]

Hey BM,

I'm not *quite* sure what this means. -->"around fivish 6.00" <-- but every test I've done on the FFOF has come out right at 6.5 out of the bag. Watered with the RO (@6) I'd expect to see runoff no higher than 6.3.

The MG runs near 7, so that may skew the results a bit? Maybe a little nute build-up in the MG? Have you flushed at all? There's no way the fresh FFOF alone would cause such a rise. (unless QC at FF is slipping)

BTW: I believe the 6.0 is correct for the RO, my distilled runs right there. My tap water..........ack. Right now 7.5! (and flavorful)

yeah!I think thats what happen i just feed it tap water without putting ph down thinking it would level it self out which actually was keeping my ph at seven,that why i asked to see if your ph of that good water you use comes at 5.8 or 6.0 far as ph goes.what i was thinking was if the ph is 6 then maybe i can bring the ph levels down a little and since I only have ph test kit and not a meter,it goes without saying,i did not trust the kit at first and thats why I'd ask you if your water ph come out at fivish,six.thanks for the help