why is my ph so unstable??

[pSi007]

even though they never even.touch the water?

make sure you give them a rinse in some pH adjusted water.

Will a cup of clay pellets change the pH in water @ 5.5 to 6.8 in less than 12 hours, even if they are not touching it? ~~ I would say, no.

I was able to overcome the tap water issue, my tap is 300ppm and i grow damn fine ganja with it.. the more organic material in your res, the better chance the Krebs cycle can convert some of that calcium and other crap in your tap water. If you gave up the tap and your pH is still going crazy, I hate to say it but....

you could get something with ammonia and sulfur in it to buffer the pH.. your GH pH down should work better with an ammonia based buffer. watch out for ammonia toxicity.. I only work with organic but I have some ammonia based buffers handy incase of emergencies. by ammonia, I mean: ammonia sulfate, ammonia nitrate, ammonia molybate, ect.. these will buffer faster than elemental sulfur.. keep in mind, after adding the ammonia stuff, you need a few days and adjustments for the medium to stabilize.

 

[WEST925COAST]

"WTF IS GOING ON!" - Your pH is not buffering..


My tap water is pH @ 7.3, I have no problems at all by using a little bit of crushed Elemental Sulfur to the res. It takes a couple of days to stabilize and I use citric acid from Earth juice to get it in check until the ele sulfur kicks in. My pH stays at 6.4 and never drifts.. temp change is 15f, ppm is 3000, cior/perlite. Some people use battery acid, holy lead fuck - Batman!, some people use GH pH down, its ok, some use Earth Juice and citric acid, I use the elemental sulfur and citric acid.


View attachment 2896302

The citric acid helps the krebs cycle, and the ele sulfur is one hell of a buffer.. It takes about a few days for the ele sulfur to start working in the res. after a couple of days, it turns into a white and fluffy kinda of silt, no problem with portability.

Could you tell me a little more about your setup. Im not finding much about it online. Im hoping to get thus corrected before my plants die from improper solutions if not pure shock of being.fucked with so much! Thanks

 

[churchhaze]

My tap water is pH @ 7.3

He said his tap is 8.5.

I have no problems at all by using a little bit of crushed Elemental Sulfur to the res.

Really? No problem at all? You just throw elemental sulfur into the tank and it dissolves? Why would anybody in hydro add elemental sulfur instead of sulfuric acid, which is totally water soluble?

It takes a couple of days to stabilize and I use citric acid from Earth juice to get it in check until the ele sulfur kicks in.

You shouldn't be using citric acid either, especially in hydro. Why are you suggesting this garbage in the help section?

Some people use battery acid, holy lead fuck - Batman!

Makes more sense than throwing elemental sulfur in considering battery acid is sulfuric acid.

and the ele sulfur is one hell of a buffer..

If you're afraid of salts, acids, and bases so much, why not just grow with soil?

 

[churchhaze]

If you were using RO water, your pH would probably be stable.

If you gave up the tap and your pH is still going crazy

 

[WEST925COAST]

If you were using RO water, your pH would probably be stable.

I did on my flush yesterday. Set pH. Today, pushing 7. I! Thinking about rinsing my rockwool to see if the shit nutes got flushed from it.

 

[Green Thumb MN]

I did on my flush yesterday. Set pH. Today, pushing 7. I! Thinking about rinsing my rockwool to see if the shit nutes got flushed from it.

I am NOT an expert! My pH is very stable after having your exact situation.

I use r/o water
I rinse my roots and hydroton in a clean water bath at res change ( I fill a bucket and let the plant rest there while I mix everything up )
I use beneficial bacteria too, and mix in some cal-mag
After it is all mixed, I check pH and it is always 5.6-5.8

I don't know if this helps, but try not to panic. Make an adjustment and be patient for changes.

Good luck!!!

 

[WEST925COAST]

Thanks for you help. I'm going to soak it all right now, considering I never have.

 

[jackm420]

do a soil grow never had issues with ph

 

[pSi007]

You shouldn't be using citric acid either, especially in hydro. Why are you suggesting this garbage in the help section?

you don't even know what the Krebs cycle is and you are giving advice to add battery acid? Stupid, Stupid, stupid...


btw WestCoast, I used to live in the 925.. rad.. please don't be an idiot and put battery acid in your plants like that one idiot is suggesting. If someone finds out that you tried to poison them, they might come looking to hurt you - real bad.. Battery acid has lead and some mercury in it, it will poison the fuck out of you and attack your brain, like it has done to him.

Negative plate reaction: PbSO4(s) + H+(aq) + 2-e→ Pb(s) + HSO−4(aq)

Positive plate reaction: PbSO4(s) + 2H2O(l) → PbO2(s) + HSO−4(aq) +3H+(aq) + 2-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead–acid_battery

Notice anything REAL nasty in there - like batteries and chemistry 101 for dummies? I mean, something which is poison and known to cause cancer and other birth defects, as well as, retardation, uncontrollable bodily movement and extreme salivation... ..Lead poisoning.. I wonder if ChurchHaze has this problem from using battery acid in his plants, Lead Poisoning..

 

[churchhaze]

Lol, look what he sent to me in PM:

"if you sold my daughter weed which was grown and laced with battery acid, I would find you and beat you to death you fucking piece of shit...


Go kill yourself with battery acid and lead, dumb fuck.. get the hell out of the help boards and stop telling people to poison themselves."

 

[churchhaze]

Looks like you can't fix stupid.

Nobody's killing your daughter... Sulfuric acid in your reservoir isn't going to hurt anyone and doesn't contain lead. Maybe you or one of your friends was stupid enough in the past to use acid out of a working battery rather than a bottle. Disclaimer for any other idiots here, battery acid comes in a bottle. Do not drain your car battery. (I didn't think that needed to be said, but man some people are stupid here). Either way, plants don't even uptake heavy metals they don't need. Soil grows by far have a greater percentage of toxic metals such as lead, mercury, and aluminum so theoretically you should go kill all the organic growers. They're going to poison your daughter!

So.. about the nitric acid I suggested. Since calcium nitrate is soluble and will stay in a solution, nitric acid is the ideal pH down when you have high calcium in your tap. Calcium sulfate is solid in water and thus sulfuric acid isn't the best solution for lowering pH of hard water either. It may precipitate out as calcium sulfate (gypsum).

People like pSi007 are well meaning, but they will ultimately end up in jail. a little advice pSi007, next time you want to be ignorant, don't make death threats. Hey pSi007, if I ever see your daughter, I'm going to give her dihydrogen monoxide, the most dangerous chemical on the planet

Dihydrogen monoxide is responsible for the death of billions.

 

[churchhaze]

Do you realize that even if you were to use battery acid straight from a battery, all the occurrences of lead in those reactions are SOLID. That's what the little (s) means. Lead sulfate is very insoluble in water.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead(II)_sulfate

"Lead sulfate is poorly soluble in water."

This means you'd have to literally scoop up the white powder from your battery and dump it into your reservoir to get any appreciable amount of it.




Negative plate reaction: PbSO4(s) + H+(aq) + 2-e→ Pb(s) + HSO−4(aq)

Positive plate reaction: PbSO4(s) + 2H2O(l) → PbO2(s) + HSO−4(aq) +3H+(aq) + 2-

 

[pSi007]

http://nj.gov/health/eoh/rtkweb/documents/fs/1761.pdf


YOU ARE GIVING PEOPLE CANCER!!! IT IS A POWERFUL CARCINOGEN... WHAT DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND????

 

[churchhaze]

From the pdf you just posted, sulfuric acid is used in fertilizers and pharmaceuticals:

"
Sulfuric Acid
is a clear, colorless to brown, odorless liquid. It
is used to make storage batteries, fertilizers, paper products,
textiles, explosives, and pharmac
euticals, and in steel and iron
production"

It says nothing about lead poisoning.

Just quit it. You're making yourself look more like a fool the more you open your mouth. If you really took organic and inorganic chemistry in college like you claimed in PM, you must have been sleeping during the part where they taught chemistry. My classmates in my college inorganic chemistry class were so bad at chemistry, my 4th exam was curved from a 96 to a 114. I suspect your professor curved your F to D allowing you to pass the course.

Also, try to comprehend for a second that I keep recommending nitric acid, not sulfuric. I do think you're stupid for putting elemental sulfur in your reservoir though. If you want to lower the pH while adding sulfur, you should use sulfuric acid, not elemental sulfur. It'd make sense for soil, but not hydro. You want inorganic soluble salts, acids, or bases for hydro.

http://nj.gov/health/eoh/rtkweb/documents/fs/1761.pdf


YOU ARE GIVING PEOPLE CANCER!!! IT IS A POWERFUL CARCINOGEN... WHAT DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND????

 

[SnapsProvolone]

http://nj.gov/health/eoh/rtkweb/documents/fs/1761.pdf


YOU ARE GIVING PEOPLE CANCER!!! IT IS A POWERFUL CARCINOGEN... WHAT DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND????

absolutely the most fucking retarded thing I've ever heard.

 

[Nizza]

try smelling the root area, if you smell a yucky rotten smell, the pH could be changing due to root rot.

 

[Nizza]

and to the pink elephant...
https://www.rollitup.org/do-yourself/375501-diy-ph-down-sulfuric-acid.html

lead is in the batteries, but not in the acid itself... this is why you buy the acid seperately and you don't take it from an existing battery

also they won't sell you something that will eat straight through your skin, but may irritate it. Just like regular pH down does..

 

[WEST925COAST]

Thanks for all the help folks. Great news, after soaking my rockwool in clean water my ph has stabilized and my girls are doing great!