pH and Run-Off Questions?

Waddup RIU? So I've been having some water problems, and can't quite figure out what my problem is. My leaves curl downwards, and look discusting. I saw in another guys thread that his water was ph'd at 7 and his R/O was 5. Now all I have is a pH Drop kit, so even if my pH level was lower than 6.8 I wouldn't know, but I was wondering....If my situation was the same, would watering with a pH of 8.5 coming out at 6.5 be ok, or would I need my water and R/o both to be around the same?

Why?

If you are measuring with the pour through method and our run off is low then yes. you should adjust your nutrient solution/ water to run off at the correct ph.....

no no no, don't do that.

first you need a way to measure pH, there's no way around this. it's cheap, just get a liquid tester or stripes at the local pet shop.

then you need to see what your runoff pH - with a grain of salt - because it's much less than accurate measuring. if your RO is indeed quite low then you need to flush your soil with runoff that's slightly higher than 6.5, up to 7 say. don't give it 8.5 or something like that, this will shock your plant.

a better way to handle low pH in soil is to mix or top dress with some lime.

If you started with decent soil then try flushing the plants with mild nutrient solution that is at your target runoff ph until your runoff matches that. You should also definitely get a ph test kit from a pet shop. You should seriously consider getting a ph test pen and some ph up/down solution at your local grow shop next time you have a couple of bucks to spend. It makes life alot easier.

I wouldn't worry about getting a Reverse Osmosis system just yet. In fact, I've heard that tap water actually provides a good source of minerals. Chorine won't "kill" your plants but do kill beneficial bacteria in the soil. So leave your water out for 24-48 hours to dissipate the chlorine from the water. Without pics is hard to diagnose but often times leaves curling down is a symptom of to much nitrogen built up in the soil in which case you'd flush. If you've got low PH issues, I would top dress the plants with 2 tbl per gallon of water. People mention to water with a much higher ph to counterbalance low runoff but I've found this method hasn't worked for me. Lime seems to be the only solution. (If that's your problem)