Ok, my seedlings are in the 2nd week of growth. They have discoloration which has been bugging me as I know I’m doing something wrong. So since the plants are telling me to check, I tested my PPM of 4oz of tap water PHed to 6.5. My PPM is 1194. Everything I have read says my PPM should be around 3-400 for seedlings? How do I bring it down? Thanks for all yhe help with so many questions.
That is your tap by itself??
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@Borderryan22 yes it is after its been PHed down to 6.5
What “MODE” is the meter set at???
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What does it read before pH down?
What are you using to bring it down?
My water is only like 150-200ppm
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Ive got hard water at 250/300. Youre should have rocks in it! LOL
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I have that same (looks like it) meter and got some wonkey readings once. Cleaned probe well and keep it clean after every use. It didnt repete so i never figured it out. But that reading is ridiculous for tap water.
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If you have hard water and you don’t rinse the pins of the tester with distilled water and it dries multiple times over time,
It will build up a mineral deposit on the area of the pins and mess up your readings.
All it really is in basic terms is an ohm meter that tests the Electrical Resistance of your water.
Pure water does not conduct electricity, but as you add minerals it will and the pen relates that resistance to a numerical ppm value.
Vinegar is a good way to remove mineral deposits.
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@Audiofreak @Spiney_norman ok so just redid it and here is my reading now after I PHed down.
Maybe the pins were gunked up like you said. This makes me feel a little better.
So back to PPM breing high, is my only option to dilute with distilled water?
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What does the distilled water read when you test it?
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@Spiney_norman I don’t have any atm. I’ll have to grab some.
Is there a filter system I can put on my spigot outside to bring the PPM down?
So that 1100 reading is BEFORE it goes in the cup or is that your run off numbers from the cup?
PPMs of that level shouldn’t occur in a municipal water system! Or a well!
That’s like testing water from a swamp!
I’m confused…not an uncommon sitch! 
REAL distilled water should have zero PPM - that’s the point of distilling! As a result you won’t get a true Ph reading on it either as Ph is determined by PPMs.
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I ran into this with my muni water in California: @Not2SureYet is working with the same supply that I did. The only fix is to set up R/O as you can’t add anything to your water and not harm plants.
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Very true.
We are just talking ppms here at the moment. Hes testing 700+ ppms right out of the tap.
Might be dirty leads on the tester, maybe just a false reading.
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Hey @Khaos850 , are you in a city or town with municipal water?
If so your water supply should have a public test posted somewhere.
Google this" MY CITY, STATE, Water Report PDF"
It should give you an idea of what you have.
Like this " Albuquerque, NM Water Report PDF"
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@Tylersays that was straight out of the tap from the well.
I think what happened as stated before was I may have had some mineral build up on the testers needles. I have high calcium here
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Yes, but the request made no sense since distilled water has neither of those things! Just making sure the op knew it wasn’t SUPPOSED to have a PPM or Ph if it’s distilled! Obviously they’re new to Ph and PPM - just making sure they’re fully informed!
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@Spiney_norman my water comes from a drilled well.