USE TEST STRIPS! I was a dialysis nurse and we used them in part of the tests we performed all day on our water. Use the money you save to pay for the EC meter.
I work in a lab and at first for pHing I would just take hand fulls of these like 4 padded pH test strips home everyday
Weirdly enough though I find that the GH pH tester drops work even better than any of the types of pH strips I could nab. But yet still, there's such a large degree of error from just eyeing the color.
Whats the ppm of your tap though? Cause that could be what makes such a difference. I appreciate you taking my experiences into account and not just calling me a dickrider and passin on cause you actually just taught me something. Curiosity is taking over, gonna have to grab a bag of coco and see if this tap can stand up to it.
I'm unsure what the ppm of my tap is bc I don't have an EC meter lol, but I've found a little bit of data online comparing levels of solutes in tap water around the US. In the midwest where I am it tends to have very high levels of almost all the ions they had listed, in particular I saw very high levels of Ca. And I am really getting convinced that calcium in tap water could be what causes problems for a lot of people. The plants love Calcium, but too much being present can cause nutrient lockout (like potassium lockout). I think that is what is happening to my plants right now possibly due to my tap water, but only time will tell from the switch to DI. Also, calcium and iron (which is also high in tap water here) has a 2+ or 3+ charge in water so it creates a fairly strong aqua acid. More solutes of higher positive charge (like Ca2+, Fe2+, Fe3+, Mg2+, etc.) = stronger aqua acid = lower pH of tap water. So if your tap water is higher in pH it would make a lot of sense that you may have less solutes in there. See now you are teaching me stuff too... dickrider.
In theory, if one had all of the data for the concentrations of solutes in their tap water, you could calculate the ppm to an even more accurate value than any EC meter would be able to. In fact you could probably calculate the ppm in your finished nutrient water from scratch just by knowing the concentrations of the ingredients in it. But that sounds like an absolute mess that I am not about to embark on. You could even calculate the exact pH down/ up needed if you are careful enough and feel like scrunching numbers and looking up how each solute interferes with each other for hours on end.
It's amazing what insight a chemistry degree gives you into the wonderful world of marijuana sometimes. I've even thought about trying to start a career in the cannabis industry in the near future. Cannabis extractions are about to become a multi billion dollar industry with competition for the best quality so hows about a #LeaglizeIt for the jobs anyone? eh? eh? Help a poor starving 21 year old get a good job?
. Yeah. And no problem Siino thanks for the help.