I’m looking for the best way to manage pH on water is it using vinegar or what and what is the ratio that you mix it at please and thank you
“pH Up - Potassium Silicate” and “pH Down- Phosphoric acid” and a good pH Meter.
Every water and nute mix is gonna be specific.
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So ur saying only do it on a nute mix, not regular water?
NO, depends on the situation. I do it on my water only days. Right now my pH out of my tap is 7.2ish summer it drops to 7.0
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Mine is 8.6 out of tap
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There you go, 5ml of Ph down for me hits 5.9/6.0 for a reference, a little goes a long way depending on the Ca or Bicarb content of your region. SO your staring with alkaline water (High total alkalinity - limestone area?), you’ll probably need a little more.
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Thnx. I appreciate it
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If your water is very soft (under 100 ppm) you don’t really need to worry about PH until you introduce nutes. In fact, most meters will tell you they are not accurate below 100 ppm. It’s the hard water full of stuff that needs to be PH’d.
You can use vinegar for ‘down’ (acetic acid) but phosphoric acid is a micronutrient and cheap to use. Really the only long term PH down is the commercial stuff (cheap as well).
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Man thanks for the explanation. I’m jus starting my first grow and really trying to nail it so …
I use citric acid about 1/8th teaspoon per gallon brings my tap water down to 6.0 to 6.2. Cheap and available at any grocery store.
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@Texasp3t3 any reason why you are not using PH up or PH down solutions that are made for this? I use Gen Hydro solutions to balance out my water
After thinking about it and researching and asking ag experts best to use ph down for that. For ph up we use hydrated lime fron local farm supply. I bought a 5lb bag a year ago and still have most of it. A scoop in a pint jar of water shook up makes ph 11 that works nicely for us.