Hi ec and ppm after mixing nutrients

So I’ve got some auto bio diesel
With are looking good my issue I’m having with high ec and ppm after mixing solution as per chart below
Everything is perfect after mixing the trio and cal mag almost but I need to lower ph to the desired level
But when I do add ph down my ec and ppm go up to 1500 and ppm is 700 give or take
Any help would be awesome

It's fine.......no worries.

MickFoster said:

It's fine.......no worries.

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Don’t worry about the ec and ppm ?

Ph down shouldn’t be doing that to the EC

I use that same chart with the trio and calmag and just put like 3gal worth of nutrients into a liter of water, and then pour a little into a jar and add water each day when I feed that way I can control how concentrated it is.

Hi guys...simple question I hope. How important is measuring the EC levels with a recirculatory system if ph levels are Good? And how do I correct the EC levels if needed?!

GingerGooner said:

Hi guys...simple question I hope. How important is measuring the EC levels with a recirculatory system if ph levels are Good? And how do I correct the EC levels if needed?!

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If you have a question.......start your own thread.........it's just common courtesy.

Most PH down is phosphoric acid, which most certainly contributes to the PPMs-this can be a considerable increase depending on how much you need to add. One solution is to use citric acid as your PH down. It will actually LOWER your PPMs slightly due to its effect on the bicarbonates in your water. Just buy some bulk citric acid on Amazon, dirt cheap, lasts forever, and it has its own beneficial effect on plant growth separate from its PH down capabilities.

Diesel001 said:

Don’t worry about the ec and ppm ?

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EC and ppm are the same thing using different scales. Pick one.

Measure your ppm before adding pH down and that's the one to be concerned about tho phosphoric acid in the pH down will add some P so use less of the bloom nutes to compensate or get some citric acid like Rurumo suggested.

What are you using for water and what's it's ppm? Subtract that from your total for nute only ppm.

Looks like my meter uses Hanna

A.k.a said:

Looks like my meter uses Hanna

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Most do unless the brand name of the other two on the chart. I still use a Hanna ppm pen I bought in '82 for $75. They last a hell of a lot longer than pH pens but those can last for quite a while if properly cared for. With ppm pens you should rinse with clean water then leave the cap off until dry but with pH pens they should be kept in storage sol'n when not in use and never allowed to dry out. Spray probes with clean water after each use too. I keep a spray bottle of RO water for that and other needs in the grow room. Never store a pH pen in RO water or it will destroy the probe by leaching the salts out of the glass ball. RO or distilled water does not need to be tested as both are neutral so add nutes to it before testing. If just watering with it just use it as is as it won't affect the pH of the soil either way.

Thank you for the reply guys
It’s much appreciated
I started using distilled water
And that got the numbers as per chart so all is well at the moment

Diesel001 said:

Thank you for the reply guys
It’s much appreciated
I started using distilled water
And that got the numbers as per chart so all is well at the moment

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I always recommend RO or distilled water for most grows. Hard water is the worst as the mineral salts in it get left behind and build up in the soil raising the pH and causing all sorts of issues mainly with micro-nutrients being locked out. Even a real flush with 3X the pot volume won't get it all out. When you use pure water the plants only get what you feed them and not dozen random minerals you won't know that they are without a detailed water report from your supplier. Those are usually free and can be emailed to you.

Our tap water comes from a dugout on my property and is 400+ ppm and pH8+ so crap for the plants. I've been buying RO water for them and drinking for 20 years and now that they raised the price last week to $4/5gal from $3.25 I'm getting off my ass and installing the RO system I blew $550 on. Have to take out the distiller so I can refurbish it and sell it off then put the RO stuff on the wall where it is now. Should be able to get more for it than what I paid for the RO gear. Needed extra filtration and a UV unit to make it safe for drinking.

With safe town water a $150 3 or 4 stage unit would be plenty and pay for itself in no time.

My tap is just like that, 430ppm and 8.3ph.


I definitely had micro nutrient problems even when fixing the ph. Sucks so bad.

A.k.a said:

My tap is just like that, 430ppm and 8.3ph.


I definitely had micro nutrient problems even when fixing the ph. Sucks so bad.

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If you plan on growing to be a long term thing then an RO unit should be near or at the top of your wish list. Nice pure drinking water and great for the coffee maker too. I have a 8yo BUNN home brewer and it never gets plugged up with scale. Still makes a pot in under 3 min.

I skip the pH thing by using AN pH Perfect nutes with RO. Just mix them in and feed the plants. Easy-peasy.

OldMedUser said:

With ppm pens you should rinse with clean water then leave the cap off until dry but with pH pens they should be kept in storage sol'n when not in use and never allowed to dry out

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This is actually fine, storing EC probe clean and dry, but the ceramic probe should be re-hydrated prior to turning on~15 min soak.
If you use it daily, rinse then keep it in distilled water, its ready to go.
Don't turn it on dry.
Most manufactures omit that info in their manuals.

Same for long term storage of ph meter,(2+months) wash, rinse w/ distilled, and dry. You don't want the KCI storage solution to dry out and leave a crusty film if you go with wet storage. Re-hydrate with storage solution prior to powering up, keep it wet.

A.k.a said:

My tap is just like that, 430ppm and 8.3ph.


I definitely had micro nutrient problems even when fixing the ph. Sucks so bad.

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I'm in a similar situation, though not quite so high PPM wise. Every year my outside garden is deficient in Iron due to the alkalinity of my water, since I just use the hose and don't adjust the PH. Indoors, I can deal with it in a coco grow since multiple feeds daily are constantly pushing the PH back down into range. I hate dealing with limescale on everything-it just clogged the hell out of my aquarium canister filter. A couple of doses of TM-7 is usually enough to avoid micronutrient problems in my indoor grow-it's pretty concentrated.

I try to just see it as pre calmagged water lol.

yeah the mineral build up is brutal. I have a fogger I need to run some types of mushrooms and if I don’t add vinegar or something it’ll totally clog the whole thing up and I have to chisel it off. I’ve got a plant in coir right now that’s been in the same pot for about 20 weeks, the whole pot is almost white now.

Also if you run the tap hot and fill up a glass it looks exactly like milk, it’s pretty gnarly. If you drink it regularly it’ll give you kidney stones.

A.k.a said:

I try to just see it as pre calmagged water lol.

yeah the mineral build up is brutal. I have a fogger I need to run some types of mushrooms and if I don’t add vinegar or something it’ll totally clog the whole thing up and I have to chisel it off. I’ve got a plant in coir right now that’s been in the same pot for about 20 weeks, the whole pot is almost white now.

Also if you run the tap hot and fill up a glass it looks exactly like milk, it’s pretty gnarly. If you drink it regularly it’ll give you kidney stones.

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Citric acid is really good at reducing bicarbonates, give it a try!

Yeh my tap water is ph 7.8 400ppm
I think this has been my issue with past grows and I don’t have water softener either so distilled water is the way to go I think

DCcan said:

This is actually fine, storing EC probe clean and dry, but the ceramic probe should be re-hydrated prior to turning on~15 min soak.
If you use it daily, rinse then keep it in distilled water, its ready to go.
Don't turn it on dry.
Most manufactures omit that info in their manuals.

Same for long term storage of ph meter,(2+months) wash, rinse w/ distilled, and dry. You don't want the KCI storage solution to dry out and leave a crusty film if you go with wet storage. Re-hydrate with storage solution prior to powering up, keep it wet.

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Two metal probes in both my ppm pens and I've always let them dry after rinsing with RO before putting the cap on it and my 30 yo Hanna still works fine. No wetting before use either and it nails the calibration sol'n so I trust it.

My almost 10yo pH pen is kept in storage sol'n all the time and tho slower to hit a steady pH when using when it comes to rest it's on the money. It's an Oakton/Eutech that cost me $69 and not a $20 no-name unit so that may make a difference. If I were going to put it away for a long time I'd let it dry and give it a 24hr soak in storage sol'n before calibrating and re-use. Has a tight fitting clear cap for the storage sol'n to sit in and keep the probe covered. I also have 2-part cleaning sol'ns for it as well.

A great many people just order a cheapo pH pen with nothing else and count on that to check their water and nute mixes then wonder why their grows go to shit. Or get those powder pH chems to mix with distilled water and use tap water and/or improper measurements to mix them up so are off the mark by enough to make a difference. I get the bottles of pH 4 and 7 to do a two point calibration once in a while to keep it accurate.

They trained us pretty good when I was taking chem sci and these pens are a lot easier to care for and calibrate than something like an AA unit or HPLC machines.