Strange reaction with earth juice pH Up

Professor Iglofski

Professor Iglofski

Oh, I'm not a scientist
Ok I am encountering a strange response when using potassium bicarbonate for pH up that I hope you hydro guys can maybe help me understand.

My water is from a very small municipality that sources it from a mountain stream. It has a TDS of under 100ppm (my meter doesn't read lower than 100). The pH comes out at 7.2 but its highly sensitive. I have been getting run-off which is lower than I want so I started adding a little pH up to help stabilize the pH, and its been working. However I get weird readings when adding the pH up to the tap water, everything goes funky, so I have been keeping adjustments really small and relying on reading run-off to measure results.

The pH of the tap water is reading 7.2, I add some pH up and the pH drops to 6.5 or so and then slowly climbs over a period of about 15 minutes to eventually read higher than the initial reading. Now it gets really weird, if I again measure the unadulterated tap water its pH now reads 9 or 9.5, and will continue to read the fresh tap water high until its soaked for 15-30 minutes or is put in some calibrations solution. When put in the calibration solution it jumps to the correct reading within about 10 seconds, so the pen is working good. I don't know chemistry too well, so I don't have a clue what exactly is happening. Hoping someone might have an idea.
 
The pH of the tap water is reading 7.2, I add some pH up and the pH drops to 6.5 or so and then slowly climbs over a period of about 15 minutes to eventually read higher than the initial reading.
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how high does it get? not sure if i can actually help but it does sound like your pen is wonky. i use the same pH up without issue. did you just start using the EJ?
 
Bart has it, those things are calibrated at room temp (around 70 degrees) w correction factors for variance.

Water needs to sit usually 24 hrs to acclimate from tap.

YJ
 
Let us know if the temperature explains things??

One reason the pH of your tap water may seem sensitive, is that with the lower initial ppm and spring water source, I would guess there is little buffering. Not a chemist either.

For a given nute mix I know how much pH up to add, and always mix that into the water first, then nutes. Seems to work well.
 
With some experimentation, it does seem that the temperature of the water is the main factor. Readings on room temperature tap water still did the initial dip down when the pen was first put in the pH adusted solution, but it climbed quickly up and stabilized, more like what I would expect. There were still some strange things going on with going back to reading the plain tap water, even at room temperature, but like mre suggested, I think its the low ppm of the tap water. I played around with pH down as well, and the pH immediately drops like crazy when a small amount is added, and then going back to the plain tap water it keeps reading it low. Basically it seems that if the pen is put in an acidic solution the tap water will read lower than usual until the probe is rinsed for a minute or so, and if it goes into a basic solution the tap water reads higher than usual without a good deal of rinsing the probe. My calibration solutions are new and the pen jumps right to the precise reading when those are read. Its just the tap water that has the weird reaction, even when I can't get the tap water to read stable, any other solution reads fine and stable.
 
Annaba said:
Dude, they sit right beside the hot ones at the store...jus to the left, on the same shelf...surely you've notice em before???
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I do know the cheaper pens and some expensive ones require you to rinse of the pen after each reading before taking another reading.
Some more quality pens do adjust for temperature of the solution with a set range and seem to react and read more accurate more quicker, in fact they state not to let the pen set in low ph solution to long when taking the reading.

I think you want your pen to work better than what it was designed to, could be me.
 
Its a bluelab. I keep it stored properly in storage solution and I think it works well, a lot better than the oakton pens I have had before. I do rinse it in tap water between each reading.
 
I stand by my buffering comment, applies to your rinsing as well - if you're rinsing with unbuffered water it doesn't have the same affect, the same "bite", but am open minded. I know it's a bit heretical to say, but perhaps your spring water is structured??

Take a look at Gerald Pollack's research into EZ Water, or the 4th Phase of Water. This is real. Akin to "polywater" several decades ago. Ph does funny things with structured water, as well as several other properties. VERY interesting, with HUGE biological implications (from plants to people).

There is a way to de-structure structured water, which if I recall is by heating.

Take a sample of your tap water, boil it and allow to cool. Take a fresh sample of water, at same temperature. Compare the two. Did you change something just by boiling, does your pen behave differently with boiled&cooled vs fresh water?? Please let me know, curious now...
 
Yes Bluelabs are suppose to be good pen's, so it could be that sensitive and the lack of buffering effects it. That is interesting stuff mre, the test is on, as now I too would like to know as it is all interesting to me.
 
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