Ph test kit results

Hi there, a little bit into my first grow and just getting used to the basics of feeding and ph, and i have a feeling io havbe a long way to go before i master this.

Im growing in bio bizz all mix and using plant magic grow/bloom. And using just regualr tap water left to sit for 24hrs.

I only have one of the little basic ph test kits with the solution.

When i test my tap water, its goes yellow'y/orange

Then, when i added my nutes and tested again, the water sample in the vial went a light red. Which i belive is very acidic. bad yeah?

I went ahead and waterd anyway and took a sample of the runoff and it went yellow, quite dark yellow. Which i think is about between 5 and 6. maybe about 5.7 ? {Pretty much the same colour as my water out the tap.}

But this is still a little low yeah, should i be trying to get it a lighter yellow/lime ? Or does the runoff sound about the right ph ?

Should i buy some ph up ?


Thanks for any quick pointers in the right direction here.

Btw, been goin by this chart here... http://www.allotment.org.uk/assets/ph_chart.jpg

I use biobizz soil too... it is great stuff... dont use any veg nutes it will see it through veg all by itself as it has addded fertiliser in it... As for the pH... you do need pH up and pH down so that you can adjust the pH before you water! (best to dilute it too and wear gloves as it can be dangerous) As for the correct pH i usually go for 6 in soil... so yellow/piss colour Good luck

Hey man. Thanks for the quick response. & thanks for the heads up on the bio bizz soil too, il keep that in mind.

So, basically, before i add any nutes {im in early bloom nute stage}, i should get my tap water sample a yellow/piss colour, whcih it seems to be. Then water ? And hope that the runoff is still a yellow/piss colour ?

*edit.

I noticed after adding the nutes the sample went red, do nutes lower the ph a good deal?

So i should..

1. check water from tap sample. Check its piss colour
2. add nutes.
3. check sample again.Which will prob be red.
4. Add ph up til its yellow/piss again?
5. Then water.

Sound about right ?

Thanks.

What i do is.... Say for example i have 5 plants to water (i usually water only once as week) and i give them 2L each.... I measure 10L of water into a bucket... add nutes as appropriate (usually half of the reccomended strength and only every 2nd watering) and then check the pH of my nutrient soloution... Now fertilisers etc and things like gnat off and nil nat (used to control fugus gnats if you dont have it get it and add it!!!) can alter the pH of the solution... So you take a reading of your nutrient soloution with the pH test kit... If its too high... you adjust by adding pH down etc... And re-test until you get the piss like colour which is 6 Voila... you now have 10L of correctly pH'd nutrient soloution ready to feed to your plants AND no need to keep retesting the pH for individual waterings... Get pH up and pH down... dilute it with water (instructions on bottle) and remeber saftety 1st, wear gloves and be carefull to wash everything off and not to spill any and you will be fine Hope that helps Go get your grow on....

Excellent mate. Very informative. Thank you.
Gonna try get hold of some ph up today{i already have some ph down, which iv never used obviously}. I have another plant that is ready for a feed. Il start perfecting my ph from here on out. I dunno how iv got this far tbh, plants are looking not too bad lol

Im sure itl be explained on how to use it on the bottle, like how much to add per litre etc, but if you dont mind il post back and let u know how i get on and double check im goin about it the correct way.
Il keep the health & safety warning in mind too mate. Thanks.

Much apprieciated m8. + Rep'ed u earlier btw.

No problem man im here to help.... The pH up and down i use is by growth technology and it reccommends a 1 in 20 dilution... I use empty plastic water bottles to dilute it down... makes it safer to handle and makes the dosing a lot simpler as well... soon you will know how many drops brings the pH down by 0.5 and all you do is add that amount... it becomes a science rather than an experiment. Things get easier with practice but its good to know you are doing ok so far... cheers for the +rep as well

Nice one m8.

My local hydro store stcoks that GT ph up, so im gonna head in and pick some up tomorrow.

Im sure il get the hang of it. I use the word sure lightly.
I checked out thier webiste and the handling instuctions.

The example it gives you on the site is pretty handy for me as im using 5 litre bottles. ''250 ml in 5 litres''. So to make sure i got this right, i take one of my empty 5l bottles, add some water, empty the contents of the ph up, then fill the bottle up again with my tap water. And thats it diluted, ready to be used and extracted with my syringe?

Then im not sure too sure what to do lol. The dosing i mean.
Like, when i take a sample in my vial or whatever, and its red in colour.... i just add a few drops of my diluted ph up until it goes yellow/piss ?

Sounds simpe enough, but then how do i know how much to add on a larger scale, like to my 5l of water/nutrient solution ?

If say for example, 3 drops gets me a nice piss colour in the vial, will 3 drops into my 5litre have the same result ?

My brain hurts lol

Hope that makes sense to you mate or have i got it all wrong ?
Im terrible for understanding things purely by reading, once i have the stuff in front of me its alot better.

Thanks again man.

Hi mate. Just to let u know i gome some GT ph up. I have it diluted, and messed about with it yesterday and i think i got it worked out on how to use it. The other day was just a bit of information overload between this and reading up on epsom salts and couldnt realy get my head round it. But like i said, when i got the stuff infront of me and practised using it i got it figured out.

When my sample was showing red yesterday i added a little more and more ph up gradually and managed to get it a nice yellow/lime/light green colour. It took 6ml of the diluted ph up into about 4 and a half litres to achieve this.
So from here on out my plants should be receiving nice ph'd water. Just a bit pissed its took me so long to get on top of this, but thats cool, still on the learning curve here.

Just ahve a little prob with one of my plants now i think, gonna head over to the plant probs section and try get it sorted.

So thanks for the help whitewidow2 m8. Much apprieciated. ;]