help before i throw out this f#@*ing ro unit, ph went nuts

i just bought a hydro-logic small boy. The guy in the store said it will reduce ppm. After roaming the internet because something did not feel right i called the company and low and behold it does not, so i shelled out another hundred for the ro unit add on(because I had already run water through it). I got that yesterday put the thing together and let it run for an hour, then i filled a gallon jug to sit overnight. I just calibrated my hanna checker (I know not the best) and my waters ph went from 7.8 down to 6. The company said this product will not change the ph. Not only is it down to 6 but the reading changes if I give a lite swirl and never give the same reading twice and will actually read in the high 5.9s. Is this just a nice welcome to the wonderful world of ro water or is something wrong somewhere? I guess instead of buying more ph down I should have bought ph up. I am thinking the solution is to mix my water to stabilize. Someone help please?

when checking your pH levels, try to keep you meter as still as possible. especially with the hannah meters. The probe tip is very sensitive. If you "swirl" it around as you mentioned, it will definitely cause the reading to change. That will be an inaccurate reading.

What I like to do to get the most accurate reading is this: I leave my meter turned off. I place it in my nutrient solution, let it sit there as still as possible for about 5 seconds, and then I turn it on. I remain as still as I can, and wait for the meter to stabilize. Once stabilized, I use that as my pH reading. If I have to make adjustments, I turn the meter off, add my pH up or pH down, stir, and then do the same process over again. I do this over and over until I get my pH to the level I desire. Seems a bit of a hassle, but I consider pH level to be VERY important!!! Also, I calibrate my pH meter once a week... Good luck and happy growing dude..

-S

Sounds nice to have the ph set right where you want it to start. Makes flushing cake. Yeah just add the tap water for up. So what are the ppm's before and after RO? Keep that in mind because adding your tap water will up the ppm's in your nutrient solution. And your nutrients might make a ph change to. Takes my reservoir 2 days to stabilze it's ph. My checker just went to shit. Maybe batteries, lets hope. Nice to have some extra drops to check with 2. I have some friends that have the RO systems and it lowers the ph of theirs too so I think that is standard. But they will love full nutrients instead of unknown tds or ppms. I plan to get one after another harvest. Good yields to ya.

i did the same thing as you i thought i'd save some cassh with the lowboy but ended up with the RO too.but i tell you what the girls love it with nutes all added i rearly have to add up, just a splash of down and it all good. the only down side is all the run off/waste water they make

Also, if you want an accurate test of the R/O you just bought, it needs to be ran for a few hours for the food grade chemicals to dissipate. I just purchased the Merlin for my new room. It took 3+ hours for the product water to go from 550 to 100. It's still lowering every use.

mine said in the manual to let it run overnight or 14 hours. It also lowered my ph from 8.1 to 7.2