Stabilizing your PH

alabaster

alabaster

Original MichiGangsta
Does anyone have any good tips on how to keep your PH stable? Has anyone found a nutrient line that is very stable? I've heard about stabilizing PH with Cal-mag, and I will try it.
 
Also, add your ph adjuster first, then silica, then calmag, then your nutes. This should help stabilize your nutrient solution.
 
That right there has never made one iota of sense to me.
Most nutes these days have some kind of buffer in them already that will bring plain water close to 6.0pH.
Even with out buffers in the food, I don't understand why one would ph the water first.
I just don't understand that logic.
I obviously mean no offense.
:scratch::scratch::scratch:

Skitty said:
Also, add your ph adjuster first, then silica, then calmag, then your nutes. This should help stabilize your nutrient solution.
Click to expand...
 
BodhiSativa said:
That right there has never made one iota of sense to me.
Most nutes these days have some kind of buffer in them already that will bring plain water close to 6.0pH.
Even with out buffers in the food, I don't understand why one would ph the water first.
I just don't understand that logic.
I obviously mean no offense.
:scratch::scratch::scratch:
Click to expand...

yea most time I never need to adjust with anything to get 6.2 -67 .
 
Well, I often do have to adjust ph due to using neptunes seaweed/fish which a a pretty strong ph down. I usually have to go up 1.5 or so when I use the neptunes even with my other nutes.
If I don't use neptunes, I rarely have to adjust ph.
 
BodhiSativa said:
Well, I often do have to adjust ph due to using neptunes seaweed/fish which a a pretty strong ph down. I usually have to go up 1.5 or so when I use the neptunes even with my other nutes.
If I don't use neptunes, I rarely have to adjust ph.
Click to expand...
Makes sense to me ;)
 
well, advanced nutrients has something u might like...their new pH perfect line claims to be 100% pH stable with no need to adjust pH at all. In fact you have more trouble if u do try to adjust the pH perfects pH lol.

other then that the House & Garden nutes I use are very pH stable and are also easy to adjust to your desired pH.

take care and stay safe

guerilla
 
BodhiSativa said:
That right there has never made one iota of sense to me.
Most nutes these days have some kind of buffer in them already that will bring plain water close to 6.0pH.
Even with out buffers in the food, I don't understand why one would ph the water first.
I just don't understand that logic.
I obviously mean no offense.
:scratch::scratch::scratch:
Click to expand...

Pretty much anything could be "pH stable" if its used in a correctly prepared buffer solution. In order to understand how a buffer solution works and is correctly prepared, you really need to understand how dissociation and equilibrium work and its not inherently obvious to most folks because it does involve some pretty high level math to derive and calculate. This is why most people don't get why you add pH down/buffer to the water first, because they don't understand how a buffer solution works.
 
hela said:
Pretty much anything could be "pH stable" if its used in a correctly prepared buffer solution. In order to understand how a buffer solution works and is correctly prepared, you really need to understand how dissociation and equilibrium work and its not inherently obvious to most folks because it does involve some pretty high level math to derive and calculate. This is why most people don't get why you add pH down/buffer to the water first, because they don't understand how a buffer solution works.
Click to expand...

sure, it's probably complicated but you didn't help understand anything.
It's cool. pH stable is all relative.
 
BodhiSativa said:
sure, it's probably complicated but you didn't help understand anything.
It's cool. pH stable is all relative.
Click to expand...

I'm not trying to be insulting but have you learned any calculus or logarithmic functions? Or do you understand what an acid conjugate is? It really is higher level math/science and it doesn't really have a layman's explanation. If you really want to learn I will show you what I understand about it.....
 
Here is my .02. I use a soil stabilizer (dolomite lime) when mixing my soil. Took a few runs to dial it in but my runoff starts out in veg at 5.5 and reaches 6.5 at harvest. Don't ask me why but it works for me. If i need to adjust I do it after mixing what ever I am giving them.
 
Annaba said:
I don't fully understand it either dude, but in a nut shell, to the best of my understandin, pH is the result of the reaction of different elements. Addin somethin w/a pH of 6 to somethin w/a pH of 8 don't make 7...it depends on why the one was 6, an why one was 8... If ya buffer yer water first, yer reactin w/much less stuff when ya add nutrients, an a whole lot less chasin yer tail an chit.

Hope that helps a lil.
Click to expand...

The funny part is, months ago my pH meter started to drift. I never corrected it. Just subtracted the amount to where I wanted it to be. I had a fair inklin that the pH scale didn't work that way, yet I bought another pH meter and they both correlated after I deducted the .5-1.5 that I let the old meter sway.
Came out where I wanted regardless of meter.
 
I personally think that you don't need much schooling to understand and use pH stability. A lot of the better nute co.'s put buffering agents right into the medium AND nutes and then just tell u to aim for an optimum pH.

Basically pH stability is just the given mediums ability to maintain a steady pH range. pH stable nute lines help growers avoid problems caused by pH swings or incorrect feeding. some companies are better than others when it comes to it and u certainly could do some research and learn to do it yourself if u go big time and start mixing salts and shit.

anyways, just my 2 cents. never hurts to have some sharp math skills though ;)

take care and stay safe

guerilla
 
Hey everybody! Thanks for your replies. I've heard from an old friend that Ionic(hydrodynamics products) holds it's PH better than anything he's ever seen.
 
i think it would help if you explained the problem in a bit more detail, alabaster. where/when is your pH out of whack? i can set a rez full of nutes and come back a week later and nothings changed. are you experiencing swings in your aero system?
 
The PH in my rez can easily remain stable for up to 4 days before swinging in the "up" direction.


Like Skitty, I add to RO…., Silica, Magical, Base Nutes in that order.
 
I always did the same.

still do.

I also make a batch of nutes I haven't used or at a strength I haven't used with no ph aduster first. then I record how much it took to get the ph up to that level I need. next time I mix a batch add that amount of ph adjuster first. what you will find is that the number is different. but close. from there you can adjust and figure how much adjuster to add before to bring it right where you want it after its all mixed up.

the reason the number is different when you add it first or last even though the amount of adjuster is same, is that complicated reason I cannot explain either. its irrelevant really. unless you just like to learn. nothing wrong with that. im that way myself.
 
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