PH jumping all over the place?

Does anybody else get this, or could someone PLEASE explain what the fuck is going on? The most annoying thing in the world:

When I fill my 3L watering can with tap water, it usually takes me 30-40 drops of PH down (30% phosphoric acid) to get it to 5.5, after I put my nutes in. Lately it has been taking more (50-60 drops). But today, it would take 50 drops, but then as soon as I would put in 53, it would turn extremelly acidic. On one occasion, 52 drops brought it to ph 7, 53 dropped it down to 4. And on top of this anomaly, no matter how much I tried to dump out water and dilute it with tap water (which is apparently VERY alkaline), the PH would not come back up at all.I dumped out half of the water and replaced it with tap water, and the ph was still at 4. It makes ZERO logical sense, which drives me fucking crazy. Any answers or hypotheses?

Check to see ur ph meter is reading accurate .,it could need calibrated

I use the drops

Do it in steps, I noticed when I would test my Bucket, If I added PH up or down it would not move right away, once it settled or mixed in it would change. Try like 10 drops and come back 5 -10 minutes and test it again and go from there. The water and PH drops need time to mix together

Get a ph pen. You need to read in tenths. Get cal solution 7.0 never store probe dry.

SnapsProvolone said:

Get a ph pen. You need to read in tenths. Get cal solution 7.0 never store probe dry.

Click to expand...

yeah and get a 2nd cheap pen (ideally have a good pen and a cheapo as check-sum/backup)...for the xtra 10-15 bucks its worth the piece of mind
also I'd check the roots; just to be sure rot isn't f'ing with the pH

I dealt with the same issue, that ph down can be strong stuff. My well water is about 7.70-8 Ph. I use a hanna meter but it takes like a couple minutes to get a true reading. In our cases lowering from 8 to 5.5 is a decent amount and when you use just a little tiny bit too much it lowers it to 4-5ph and it takes a ton of regular water to raise it back up or you have to use PH up! lol. Your best bet is to use a small amount, let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes and then test it with a Hanna Meter that reads in tenths.

I was using 7 ml per gallon one day and only 4.5 ml another day to reach 5.5-5.7. So I just go with lower dose of 4.5 ml and check it, add a few more drops if needed. If your on a well your ph will change due to organic matter, temps, weather etc. Also some nutes can change ph.

Thanks all for the replies. From now on I will fill my cans a couple days in advance and let them sit after adding nutes/ph down, good suggestions. Another question, after some reading I've read that some people don't even PH their nute water when growing in soil, and some people advise against it? Is it really ok to be giving my plants un-ph'd tap water? Or should I continue doing what I am doing, and bringing the ph to neutral/slightly acidic? I'm using chemical A+B ferts if that matters.

johnnynice said:

Thanks all for the replies. From now on I will fill my cans a couple days in advance and let them sit after adding nutes/ph down, good suggestions. Another question, after some reading I've read that some people don't even PH their nute water when growing in soil, and some people advise against it? Is it really ok to be giving my plants un-ph'd tap water? Or should I continue doing what I am doing, and bringing the ph to neutral/slightly acidic? I'm using chemical A+B ferts if that matters.

Click to expand...

People aren't plants, and if a plant could talk it would ask for the right ph(5.5-6.5)....soil or not. Having the right ph is the difference between a good harvest and a crapy one, a healthy plant or a sick plant etc. The level of ph allows the plant use the nutes. Too low and some nutes cannot be absorbed by roots..... too high and some nutes cannot be absorbed by roots. It goes both ways. It would be best to have your soil PH balanced but if your watering with high ph every time then your going to be changing the soil ph anyway. I use balanced soil, well water will ph of almost 8 and I use general hydro ph down, pure acid. My plants have been so much healthier since I have been dialed in at 5.5-5.7. I do check my run off time to time and adjust accordingly. I like to be in control of my plants. Then make bigger buds!

Perfect, thanks a lot meds. I read so much conflicting info from site to site, but that makes the most sense to me. So I'll keep phing my nutes then, and will do it more slowly and give it plenty of time to stabilize. Thanks all for your input and help

I'm gonna keep it real here and say i had hella problems with ph and drops for my coco then i switched my base nute to the AN ph perfect haven't chexked ph in over a year. Also i dnt give a flying fuck about Advanced nutes but their ph perfect is the truth for time saving and ph headaches