PH Issues. Why Am I Using So Much PH Up All Of A Sudden??

ok! hows everyone doing. bowls loaded? heads high? thats good. so i have had some major issues with my garden since day 1. my plants have been all over the place like a mad girl in the sheets. its been a roller coaster ride to say the least. lately i have been noticing something super strange. i have an R/O system. it is a rather basic unit. nothing special or too expensive. i purchased it off Purewaterclub.com for roughly $130. i noticed it help me Ph right away. plus i didnt have to go to the store and buy or fill up jugs from the machine. i have been mixing my nutes the same way. and in the begging at kept my ph at 6.0. after i mixed my nutes and i check the Ph it would be about 4.5-4.6. slowly, and as the filter has been getting more dirty and more dirty the Ph was getting lower and lower. after a few weeks of this, about 4-5, i have seen the Ph drop below 4.0. in the begging i only used a few drops of Ph Up. like 1 ml at the absolute most. now days im putting in 6-8ml!!! i have literally gone through 3/4 of a bottle of Ph Up within the last few weeks. i am no expert, but something is DEF wrong here. i tried re-calibrating my meter, still crazy levels. i just purchased a new R/O system, probably did not need to, but i wanted this system first, and couldn't afford it a few weeks ago. i have been doing research on R/O units and have found out that they do not function properly at low psi's. they will not filter properly and will use a filter quicker then one should be. i have no way of checking my pressure, but with the filter turning this gross brown shit color, the pressure is the only thing it can be. what is really confusing though, is i started using fresh jugs from the grocery store and the Ph is still wacky! what am i doing wrong? what seems to be the issue? im starting to think i have a faulty Ph meter and will getting a new one after i get a booster pump for my new R/O system. but for now will just be re-calibrating it. im going to call the water company and double check to see what our pressure is. i was told R/O system dribble at best, is this true? if i think i am having a pressure issue getting a booster pump will def help me. but is it this normal to use this much Ph Up? the first few months i was using very little, like the bottle said. i feel im using way to much, and still have barely tapped into the Ph Down bottle. that bottle is practically still full. this is very bothersome because my plants are looking like complete shit all of a sudden as well. i had 3 plants with dark shiny green vibrant leafs. now within the past week, i have had all the huge fans leafs in the middle of the plant turn to a bright yellow, then a murky green, then they dry up and fall off. the top leafs are still nice looking, but very slowly starting to look like the middle sad looking leafs. i understand Ph is how you control nutrient uptake, and i know if my water is bunk, i will have major problems. what seems to be the issue? how can i correct it? if you would like me to provide more info i can and will. please help!! +rep to all with answers!

a lot of nutrients require a good sit in the water (usually 24-48 hours) to reach a good ph. its great if you can introduce them to your water jugs with an aerator if possible and bubble them for a night or two and then water them in. what kind of nutrients are you using?

im sorry i was told to use my nutrients as soon as possible. it even says on the bottle to not let them sit for more then 24 hours. i think you are thinking of a hydro system. or when people use tap water, they let their jugs sit overnight to let the chlorine evaporate. but i appreciate the help none the less. i plan on using s drip system in the future. maybe them i will get something like that. but for now i use 1gal water jugs and i premix all nutes prior to using them. as per the instructions on the bottles.

just so everyone knows. i am growing in Sunshine Mix Advanced #4. i have been keeping the ph at 6.0. and i was having great results. then i noticed a little nute burn when i introduced the Hyrdroplex. also, i use Botanicare's line of nutes. i use, and in this order of mixing, the Pure Blend Pro, Liquid Karma, Cal/Mag(was using at every watering/feeding until recently), Sweet-Raw, Hydroplex(sometimes i use this). i was using the Silica Blast, but i do not know how good that stuff is. i see it on 2 different feeding systems, but not on all the ones with Pure Blend Pro. I think the Silica Blast is for another nutrients program. im still on the fence about that stuff in my feeding program. i know when i use more nutes my Ph goes lower, but it usually never went below 4 and only a few drops, maybe 1.5ml most would put it in check. how can i fix this? what is my issue??

so i see this post was moved, but still no advise?

i dont understand the issue. many nutes lower ph. you are adding nutes, the more nutes you add the more ph up you need to add to balance out the nutes. i dont get your problem.

just as irieie stated...nutes will lower the ph of your water so thats why you are having to use ph uppers......i only time i use ph down is when i just use water with a tea which is between feeding with nutes.

im sorry i wasn't so clear. in the begging i was using the same amount of nutes, so i know its not the amount. plus i have plants in veg and its still acting funny. ok, for the first 2 months. when i would mix nutes. i would have to use Ph Up. i was only using about 1ml/gal-1.5ml/gal. now days im using like 6-7ml per gal. same amount of nutes. its really really odd.

ok, then let me ask you this... what is the normal amount of PH Up should i be using per gallon? i am on R/O water. in the begging when i would mix my nutes they would never go below 4.5 ph, now days im using the same amount of nutes, the Ph is way lower.

Did you check your PH meter is working properly?

RO water has NO pH buffers in it, hence your massive pH swings...but however, are you in soil?

Why are you pHing your water for soil? Its really hard to fuck up the pH of a soil medium, you have to almost intentionally try to fuck it up.

My advice would be to pretreat your soil with Dolomite Lime, you'll never have any sort of pH problems again.

Hope this helps.

thats is the first thing i thought about. and yes!! i re-calibrated it and the same thing is happening. my new Hydrologic Stealth 200 R/O system should be here in a few hours. once i hook that up, im going to see what my water pressure is. im thinking that maybe the water pressure going into my R/O system i snot up to par and it stopped filtering properly. THAT is the only thing i could think of.

OK!! i should probably explain my medium situation. i am using Sunshine Mix Advanced #4. i is "Coco-charged", but not coco based. it is PEAT based. for weeks, actually months (and my plants, look awesome, and my buds look and smell like High Time centerfolds) i was treating it like it was coco. have been using the Botanicare line of nutes, been using the one for "coco". well, until about 7-12 days ago i thought i was in coco this whole time. (this is what i was told by the dude at the hydro store, that i no longer go to). i want and would prefer a soil-less medium, so that is what i chose. ph for coco is lower then ph for soil. i have been monitoring my nutes and plain water feedings. keeping the ph (up til about a week or 2 ago) was at 6.0. then i started upping it to 6.3-6.5. plants are still kind of acting finicky. growth looks great! i have 5ft plants in my tent and on Skunk that is easily 6ft. i have about 2-4 weeks to go, maybe less on some. so i have been mostly watering. but i think about 3 plants still need nuts for another week or 2. and i have about 4 or 5 plants that look like they have less then 10 days. since finding out my medium is not what i thought it was and my filter on my R/O system being hella brown and not even owing the unit for more then 2 months, i figure something is majorly worng somewhere, and im trying to get to the bottom of things, before my next set of plants that are in veg start roller coastering around.

the only thing i can think of is maybe your r/o water ph is fluctuating for some reason (bad filter maybe) or maybe you're not shaking your nutes well enough before adding it to water.

did you clean your ph probe before you calibrated it? the probe should be cleaned about once a month.

well i keep it clean all the time. i to think its a faulty filter. or because the pressure is too low and its not properly filtering. it was probably a little overkill my jumping on the new system so fast, but i wanted that system from the start. i just want to get the booster pump before i install it. just to make sure there is nothing making the filter function improperly.

so i cleaned the filter out and the ph went back to normal. and when using nutes too. so it was just a dirty filter. but the DEF means i need a booster pump for my r/o system. and i went out and bought a new r/o system. oh well, now i have a better one.