Thanks guys, My tap comes in a 7.4 PH and 25 ppm, once I put in the calmag and floraflex PH drops to 5.3 every time. I first realized this right before a feeding and had no time to wait on amazon and no hydro store around (I live out in the country) I just grabbed some baking soda and put a pinch per gallon to bring the PH up to 6.4. I was curious about the long term affects of continuously using this method and trying to justify buying the bottles vs like $2 from the grocery store lol I'm cheap
From everything I've read, vinegar's main component (besides water) is acetic acid. That is less stable compared to phosphoric acid (most pH down's seem to consist of this).
I think that means don't let your water sit around too long after adding vinegar
I didn't run into any problems but I did get some actual PH Down once I was able.
@Cap Stone cool! Yeah, vinegar shouldn't be an issue. I've used vinegar, lemon juice, and pH down. It's all just a matter of what you have on hand.
Baking soda would be the bigger issue. Once or twice if you really need to but over time it'll definitely raise the sodium levels in soil.
In soil dolomite lime is a popular additive. It'll gently raise pH and acts as a buffer. I've tried using it to lower nutrient water pH and it takes way too much, it's just not that strong if a base. It's a good soil additive though as it's made up of calcium and magnesium so you can ditch the cal/mag solutions!
I'm not sure about vinegar but baking soda is sodium bicarbonate. Over time it will raise the sodium level in soil. If you're in a pinch don't worry about it but I wouldn't use it regularly.
I've used vinegar before but lemon juice might be a better solution.
FYI - with a healthy organic living soil setup many people (including me) don't worry about water pH. In that setup you're typically not using much, if any, water additives though. Coco and hydro setups are much more sensitive and with all the liquid nutes you can get some pretty acidic water. In those systems you'd be buying so many other liquid additives already so just get the pH up & down solutions.
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Thanks guys, My tap comes in a 7.4 PH and 25 ppm, once I put in the calmag and floraflex PH drops to 5.3 every time. I first realized this right before a feeding and had no time to wait on amazon and no hydro store around (I live out in the country) I just grabbed some baking soda and put a pinch per gallon to bring the PH up to 6.4. I was curious about the long term affects of continuously using this method and trying to justify buying the bottles vs like $2 from the grocery store lol I'm cheap
Hi, I was using vinegar for a grow and it solved my high PH issues.
Here is what @Mr. Grow It said about that:
From everything I've read, vinegar's main component (besides water) is acetic acid. That is less stable compared to phosphoric acid (most pH down's seem to consist of this).
I think that means don't let your water sit around too long after adding vinegar
I didn't run into any problems but I did get some actual PH Down once I was able.
I'm not sure about vinegar but baking soda is sodium bicarbonate. Over time it will raise the sodium level in soil. If you're in a pinch don't worry about it but I wouldn't use it regularly.
I've used vinegar before but lemon juice might be a better solution.
FYI - with a healthy organic living soil setup many people (including me) don't worry about water pH. In that setup you're typically not using much, if any, water additives though. Coco and hydro setups are much more sensitive and with all the liquid nutes you can get some pretty acidic water. In those systems you'd be buying so many other liquid additives already so just get the pH up & down solutions.