I bought carbon filtered water today from Publix grocery.....From the start the ph is 9.8 and the PPM is 200...so I adjust ph to 5.8 and get an error message on my ppm meter...(I had to put alot of ph down to get it to 5.....so I mix a new batch and check the ppm as I lower the ph...Guess what....as the ph comes down the ppm goes up...(right up to and past 1990 ppm, which is where my meter tops out)....Granted it's my first grow...but what the fuck man, I've read alot and never heard of this problem....I took my PPM meter to the local hydro store today (It is acurate).....whyyyyyyyy.....noooooooooo.fuuuuuuuck

dont use carbon filtered water, ive never even heard of it, but apparently it sucks. My tap water is better than that....

The reaction between substances that drops or increases pH produces particulate that gets read by the meter. Just had to flush our whole DWC because I fucked with the pH too much, and couldn't get PPM readings any more. Your best bet is to buy an inline particulate/chlorine filtering system and use that (or anything that starts at a neutral pH). Works wonders for me, as long as I don't screw it up with the excessive changing of the pH.

I just called my local hydro store and asked him about PH down solution causing the ppm to rise....He said it was not likely...so I checked it again...sure enough, as I added ph down the ppm went up...gonna take all my stuff to him and show him in person....Maybe I got some bad ph down????

Why did you use that water?? its more fucked then tap water. Tap water is aroun 50-100ppm and a ph of 7 good god a 9 ph to start geez..You should have gotten a ppm meter that went to at least 9999 ppm as with some nutes your gonna be in the 2000ppm range.Use your tap water its fine.Its rare tap water will hurt anything.You add your nutes then chek your ppm then ph it for hydro to 5.5 then recheck the ppms.Your ppm and ph will change daily so check once a day and record the results so you know what the plants are doing ie drinking or eating then you can adjust.Dont wast money on store water charcoal or RO.I ve used tap water for over a decade and not an issue.My water is around 150 ppm and phed at 7 from the tap..

some people have to use store bought water,my tap water has a 950-1100 ppm in winter,summer is a differant story,you have to keep in mind in alot of places the water changes with the season so you have to give your tap water a constant check.

you should take your water to your municipality. i'm pretty sure that your PPM far exceeds health regulations.

if you have to buy water - purchase distilled.

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it does exceed regulations,but i have asked a non grower to bring it too the towns attention.

yeah that ppm is a lawsuit as it should be making you sick to use.Thats scarey like raw sewage scarey you have a leak or cross contanination going.The city will do a free water test for you.Id sue unless its your inside lines or bad septic tank leak above 250 is illegal

So I went to the hydro store today....My bran new PH meter was defective and it was reading my PH at three points higher than it actually was....After trying to calibrate it with no success, the store owner replaced if for free....I'm suprized my plants aren't dead...I've been adjusting water to 5.8 which was actually 2.8 because of the bad meter...I was putting in way too much ph down which was screwing up the reading on my TDS meter...I got some distilled water which is close to 7.0 PH and zero PPM....All is good now and my babies are in their new hydro farms today