What do you use to lower PH?

For a while I thought my PH meter was broken. I have been buying R/O water from a couple of different places. The best PH I found was 6.0? So I figured I would go down to the aquarium shop and buy the same stuff I did a couple of years ago. Bought it and used it and no help. I cannot get nor keep PH BELOW 6.5. My seedlings are starting to stress! I need help on what to order to help my plight. I took back the stuff i bought and went to petco and couldn't find anything that didn't have handling warnings. I thought is if it is dangerous to handle how about my babies. Help me o b one. your my only hope!

WWgrower said:

For a while I thought my PH meter was broken. I have been buying R/O water from a couple of different places. The best PH I found was 6.0? So I figured I would go down to the aquarium shop and buy the same stuff I did a couple of years ago. Bought it and used it and no help. I cannot get nor keep PH BELOW 6.5. My seedlings are starting to stress! I need help on what to order to help my plight. I took back the stuff i bought and went to petco and couldn't find anything that didn't have handling warnings. I thought is if it is dangerous to handle how about my babies. Help me o b one. your my only hope!

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i am about to res change. i setting up water now.

i using my well water this time. i ph'd it at about 7

i ppm'd it at about 75.

i using 10-15-10 nutes and added half strength to 2 -1 gallon jugs.

ppm after nutes was 250ish. ph was still round 7.

added 1.5ml of 50% h2o2 to each gallon. ppm 250ish. ph still round 7.

added 3 ml of General Hydroponics ph down and got around a 4 on the next test.

added 1 ml of GH ph up and now hanging round 5. about to check it again in minute.

still round 5 i going to clean AG and change res. i'll post some more updated pics of the roots and growth.

Hi, I don't know how old your plants are but be very carefull of the h202. It turned my plants yellow and they freaked out. stuff is not to be played with. Your lucky you can use your well water. Mine has a high level of iron. Afraid to try it on the girls. The ppm's measure around a 100. When you add your GH ph down do you put it right in the tank or do you have to wait to put it in?

I use just a few drops of vinager in a gallon jug, it helps lower the PH, and baking soda to raise it.

yeah, use ph up or ph down.... I use distilled water, but once I set my ph, it stays there.

WWgrower said:

Hi, I don't know how old your plants are but be very careful of the h202. It turned my plants yellow and they freaked out. stuff is not to be played with. Your lucky you can use your well water. Mine has a high level of iron. Afraid to try it on the girls. The ppm's measure around a 100. When you add your GH ph down do you put it right in the tank or do you have to wait to put it in?

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well unfortunately i am not doing that well. everything was going good until yesterdays res change.

i read that 3ml of 50% h2o2 should be used per gallon, i am only using half that. ( i get graduated 5ml pipettes from work)

also i have used vinegar and other items but found a little more algae growth than i did like. so i went with the name brand stuff and i am glad i did.

i should have done that with the nutes instead of using cheap stuff.
live and learn

i have added ph down directly to the res but in very small quantities. takes awhile and in my cramped space it is not good on my knees to be in there so often. much easier to pre-res your water.

in fact i am about to go check my ph on a fresh batch of correctly nuted water. using Glory Hole i mean General Hydroponics micro,gro, and bloom(when time comes)

hoping to recover and see plants bounce back.

GreenBean said:

I use just a few drops of vinager in a gallon jug, it helps lower the PH, and baking soda to raise it.

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I ise to use vinegar for pH down.. then i switched to GH pH down once I became a baller,,,, ahahahahh

But I see no difference.. vinegar is just as good although people claim it doesn't LAST...

I never use pH up.. I just add more tap water...

iloveyou

IAM geting ready to order the GH PH DOWN. In the meantime how many drops per gallon to bring down the ph. Without nutes how long does this hold down the ph? Thanks

dude... it is becoming pool season... i went to walmart and bought two big as tubs of ph up and down granules... you only have to use a little bit to get results... i do check my water once in the am and once before bed... i do a ph check and water lvl check... usually i have to adjust in the morning... but thats only cause i want it at 5.2 all the time... 5.4 just isn't acceptable to me when i spent 150$ on a tester.. hehehe... but im happy now...

What are the chemicals that make up your PH up and down? I have had pools before and the chemical are very harsh. Have you tried them yet? I don't remember exactly what they are. I just know you have to wait several hours after using the chemical before you can use the pool. Although the concentration is bigger. That is why I used to get mine from Aquarium shop. If it is alright for the little fish it has to be alright for weeds. Anyway would like to know the chemical and how it worked. I would think it could be cheaper to do it that way. Good luck

Garden Knowm said:

I ise to use vinegar for pH down.. then i switched to GH pH down once I became a baller,,,, ahahahahh

But I see no difference.. vinegar is just as good although people claim it doesn't LAST...

I never use pH up.. I just add more tap water...

iloveyou

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GK, doesn't the tap water change the concentration of nutes? I know that when I would mix up a batch of Fox Farm (Tiger Bloom and Big Bloom) at full strength, it would put my pH in the 4s sometimes. If I wanted to get it up to where it needed to be, I would have to water it back down to basically 1/2 strength. I have been trying to figure out a way to live without pH up (Ive been helping [doing everything] for a friend's Aerogarden grow in week 6 of flowering) and have been adding baking soda so far. Do you have any magical tips?

S-Town

It takes me roughly 2.75 ounces of PH down to get my 40 gallon res (nuted at 33% with AN 3 part) from 7.3 to 5.8....I do it in individual 5 gallon buckets, and after I add it to the res, every bucket at 5.8...the res then has to be ph;'d from 6.5 or so back to 5.8. After 24 hours it spikes to 7.5 and another 1.5 ounces of ph down directly to the res (which is constantly aerated by two 6" airstones) brings it back to 5.8 and it has stayed there for 2 days now.

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