Ph up

Hi, running an NFT system in a lart of the world where the tap water is really low ppm. (26) this is causing wild swings in ph and i need to increase buffer (never had to do this before as i used to live in a hard water area in city.)

I've read potassium carbonate is the way to go or some kind of silica? But it's not easy to get here ( is there a general brand i can get in a regular store?)

Also.. can i use baking soda or something else readily available as a temporary solution? Right now my tap water comes out at 6.4 and raises to about 7.2 after gassing off for 24hrs .

my nutes lower it drastically to the point where i cant give the required ppm ( currently ppm 150 with freshly transplanted seedlings into NFT system)

I can get potassium hydroxide .. Is this a good option?
. thank you for any advice... im bot new to this but this new area of the world has given me some new problems

Its normal with any water to go to 7+ because it interacts with carbon diokside co2 in the air we breath

Baking soda is ph+ you need potasium somezhing general hydroponic sells a powder its called ph- 20$ 1kg, 1g for 6L

Silica is allsoo a ph+ but problem with silica is that plants want small amounts.if you overdoo it it shows no signs but your tree loses power to holditselfe( funny since its used to give the oposite effect)

Temporary solutions are lemons( good for 24h) or viniger

You need carbonates in your water to buffer, so I would go with the K2CO3.

All i can get is potassium hydroxide.

Ill keep looking around. Thanks for your replies

kpunk said:

All i can get is potassium hydroxide.

Ill keep looking around. Thanks for your replies

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You could throw some aragonite (crushed coral / mollusk shells) in a fine media bag and toss that into the rez to buffer.

Agri-Fos/ Garden-Fos is sold around the world as a systemic fungicide, but it's phosphorous acid.

potassium phosphite will bring the ph up, pretty stable and induces systemic resistance in plants.

If you have any pet stores nearby, they sell it for aquarium use. Just an fyi alternative if you are in a pinch.

I've used potassium hydroxide before, this stuff: https://www.growthtechnology.com/product/ph-up/

But it's really strong, you have to be super super careful not to over-do it.

Like i'd only use 2-4ml per 100L of nute solution and re-test after 24hrs, and add another 2-4ml as needed or you might be in danger of wildly swinging too far the other way. And wear gloves and dont drip it ANYWHERE!

This stuff is 25% though, so maybe a much lower concentration would be easier to get to grips with.