Ph Up & Down increase ppm?

M

martyshoemaker

Well-Known Member
I took my ppm's b4 adding ph up. it was 400ppm then I added the ph up to get the ph right and then took the ppm again. It was 900ppm afterwards! Is this normal or what's up?
 
herballuvmonkey

herballuvmonkey

Well-Known Member
i've never had that problem before butit is conceivable that u got a false reading if u were using powder ph up/down. did u use a powder or a liquid. also if u are using a bubbler i find that my tds meter will give false high readings if u are tds'ing over the top of the air stone. best bet when taking readings do it in a calm part of the res. also wait about 2 - 3 minutes after u add ur up and down. hope this helps.
 
herballuvmonkey

herballuvmonkey

Well-Known Member
no powder is cool but is it a hydroponic ph or a swimming pool ph. swimming pool ph isnot the same and should only be used in on emergency basis. if it is a hydro powder ph then get ursef 2 gallons of distilled water and and putit in a dark container and keep it cold so it wont develop mold. add some ph up to one gallon and ph down to theother gallon. now when u need to adjust it will already be liquid and wont affect ur ppms. also it will be ez er to adjustbecause u already know the ph of the distilled water just adjust ur nute water by adding a lil bit at a time and voila. the next time u need to adjust ur ph a point or so u will know the exact amount to add. good luck bro.
 
M

martyshoemaker

Well-Known Member
K thanks a lot it is def pool ph up and down so I guess I'll head to the store and grab some real liquid stuff.
Thanks for looking out...love the pic by the way.
 
C

chief greenleaf

Member
martyshoemaker said:
I took my ppm's b4 adding ph up. it was 400ppm then I added the ph up to get the ph right and then took the ppm again. It was 900ppm afterwards! Is this normal or what's up?
Click to expand...
jovaniramos420 said:
Im using gh ph up and down and it does effect my ppm and i know my nutra dp tri meter is on point so i have the same problem
Click to expand...
Marty and Jovani420 whats up fellas. Im so glad ta hear that Im not the only one experiencing this! My PPMs have recently been jumping from 12-1300 to 16-1700 and its been confusing the hell outta me for the past week! It just dawned on me yesterday that the only thing Ive added to my res is PH down but everybody keeps tellin me that PH adjusters dont have any affect on PPMs. So I did a lil experiment... I took a glass full of pure RO water with a PPM of 10 and added about 3 drops of PH down. Then I stired it up, let it sit for a minute and tested it again. The PPMs were over 100! I added another 10-15 drops and the PPMs shot up to 750! So either Im completely insane or PH down does increase your PPMs, and it increases it a lot too! And I use the liquid so it obviously doesnt matter whether it powder or liquid Marty.
Im just wondering if this increase in PPMs will affect my plants at all? I mean I wouldnt think it would cause over feeding since the extra PPMs arent from nutrients ya know???
Anybody know anything about this at all? Cause this has got me stumped!
 
drogrowin

drogrowin

Member
chief greenleaf said:
Marty and Jovani420 whats up fellas. Im so glad ta hear that Im not the only one experiencing this! My PPMs have recently been jumping from 12-1300 to 16-1700 and its been confusing the hell outta me for the past week! It just dawned on me yesterday that the only thing Ive added to my res is PH down but everybody keeps tellin me that PH adjusters dont have any affect on PPMs. So I did a lil experiment... I took a glass full of pure RO water with a PPM of 10 and added about 3 drops of PH down. Then I stired it up, let it sit for a minute and tested it again. The PPMs were over 100! I added another 10-15 drops and the PPMs shot up to 750! So either Im completely insane or PH down does increase your PPMs, and it increases it a lot too! And I use the liquid so it obviously doesnt matter whether it powder or liquid Marty.
Im just wondering if this increase in PPMs will affect my plants at all? I mean I wouldnt think it would cause over feeding since the extra PPMs arent from nutrients ya know???
Anybody know anything about this at all? Cause this has got me stumped!
Click to expand...

SOMEONE HELPPP!!!! I have the same exact problem! I am waiting for my hydro store to open but i need to water my babies.........

Anyone>? thanks:wall:
 
researchkitty

researchkitty

Well-Known Member
I'm not sure on this answer, but dont you have to wait 15 minutes after adding all that pH stuff to get a valid base reading? Still has to dissolve........... What happens when you check ppm 15 minutes after pH is adjusted?

Todays water change day, might make this one of my experiments. :)
 
drogrowin

drogrowin

Member
figured it out..... went to my local hydro shop, and yes I normaly wait at least one hour to check (40gal res)

check your ppm meter ... I had calibrated mine with the wrong TDS solution! I have a Oakton PPm meter and i was sold HANA TDS solution. The Correct calibration solution for Oakton meters has nickle in it... so i would suggest having it checked out from your guys at the hydro store... if you have one.. if not, call your manufacture and find out if they are compatible....
 
B

budbrain007

Member
Hello everone--great to be a part of the community here! As far as PH adjusters go they WILL increase PPM/EC readings. The reason is simple, PH up is potassium hydroxide and/or potassium carbonate--it will raise PPM/EC through contributing potassium. PH down is almost always composed of phosphoric acidp thus adding phosphorous to your solution. Depending on how much you need to adjust PH, the increase in PPM/EC can be significant.Budbrain007
 
Pat666

Pat666

Well-Known Member
Hey there when changing out my res tonight I experienced similar issue my ppm was around 500 I then added ph down and my ppm went down to like 200. I'm tripping because I've used the same meter nutrients and liquid ph up/down for general hydro for past 5 weeks with no issue. My meter didn't come wih any cal solution and I'm not sure it can even be Calibrated. Any thoughts ideas on reason for this besides my meter being fucked? This is my first DWC and I'm worried because I don't wanna add a bunch more nutes thinking my plants need more then over feed and be shot outta luck.
 
kingdom_living

kingdom_living

Member
drogrowin said:
figured it out..... went to my local hydro shop, and yes I normaly wait at least one hour to check (40gal res)

check your ppm meter ... I had calibrated mine with the wrong TDS solution! I have a Oakton PPm meter and i was sold HANA TDS solution. The Correct calibration solution for Oakton meters has nickle in it... so i would suggest having it checked out from your guys at the hydro store... if you have one.. if not, call your manufacture and find out if they are compatible....
Click to expand...
yeah I have 2ppm readers and this isn’t the problem. Also I’m confused how you’re saying your reader was just calibrated wrong and that that was the problem. But you said it showed 0 for RO water and then a high number after adding ph up/down. How is that a meter calibration problem. I also don’t understand how this thread never got answered. I am using ph up and it is changing my ppm reading drastically. Calibration has nothing to do with it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top