Mixing Nutrients BASICS?

I notice when I mix my nutrients in with RO water thats normally at 6.0 PH, I was never able to get it to go up? I would test and test and It would just remain a cloudy yellow, so today I put a shit ton of PH up in and got it to just barely over 6.0.

so the question is, why do I have to add so much up, after I add my nutes?
this can't be normal right? If I'm adding up to plain RO water all I need is 2-3 drops.

i do not know the answer but i am happy to bump the thread. i have similar issues with my tap water. i add the nutes and it drops my ph to around 3, but other people using the same nutes say it does not drop their ph at all. okay, not exactly the same issue but i'm sure the solution is similar. good luck to us both.

well thanks for the bump there

I've been searching everywhere, and came across a couple threads so far, one guy was saying to add the nutes one by one and test/adjust the ph accordingly

another guy said that the increased amount of UP needed, has something to do with PPM. I'm just a soil noob so I really don't understand ppm yet. would love to move to hydo, or aero in the future. but I would love some clarification here, as to why so much UP is needed after adding nutes, and if I should be measuring UP in the tsps per gal?

I'm using the fox farm line if anyones wondering.

BbbBBBBBBBUUuuuUUuuUuUMmMMmMmmPPppppPPppP

come on really? not one of you more experienced folks, can just tell me why so much more PH up is needed after adding nutes?

I would have thought this type of question would have been common knowledge by now??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? I'm only a beginner, a simple yes or no from someone who knows what ther talking about would suffice. is it harmful to my plants to add so much up, and why do I have to after adding nutes?

Yes adding to much P.H up or down would eventually harm your plants. It's because of the conductivity of the nutrient solution after adding nutes why you need to add so much P.H adjuster to try and balance it out. When adding any P.H up/down you should use a coffee cup or similer and test a cup of your solution add the p.h up/down get it to 5.5 - 5.8 then pour the cup back into your solution. Check P.H of the solution keep doing that untill you get wear your want to be. By doing it this way the P.H up or down doesn't block out any of the nutes (Which is quite common) . Hope this helps

Thanks man +rep

so basically just test your solution in a separate cup, that makes sense.

I'm pretty sure its a 1/4 tsp of up per gal of nute water, or last time it took about 20 drops to bring it up
I'm growing in soil btw, so I shoot for about 6.2-6.5.

didn't seem to harm the plants last time, all my plants seem to look very healthy except for one. I guess how ever much up it takes to bring the ph up to the right level...

Thanks for the reply.

what do you use for Ph up and down? How bad is your tap water Ph? I stopped using RO water and went back to the tap. To much of a pain in the ass to add everything back into it for soil. Hydro on the other hand is best with RO water. You should test your ph after you mix your nutes. If you use more then one nute at a time. add them one at a time to your water. my ph ranges from 5.5-7.5 I stopped trying to get it to hit the same every time.

I use GH ph UP&down. tap water is pretty high, I think its like 8.0, actualy tap does sound a lot easier, its kinda a far drive to fill up for the RO water. with tap i could just add nute 1 at a time. But I don't know if I wanna switch this far into things, like i said they're doing good so I don't wanna mess with em. maybe next grow when I have a bunch of clones to spare.

so I just mixed some bloom nutes seconds ago, and it took well over 1/4 tsp of up to get it to 6.2-6.5, its less up for the veg nutes