Good day fam
So I moved... new place, new grow space and new learning curves.
My issue right now is an up swing in ph in my res.
My water is city water coming in at 8.5 and softened through salt in the home's water softener to 6.5 which I though great Im gonna save money on ph down but no it doesnt look like i will be saving much.
40 gallon res using Advanced nutes and of course ph down with ph down to 5.8.
Not running an air stone but running a small aquarium power head with aeration to keep things mixed up.
I have been creeping upward in ph about .5 a day which is a huge swing.
Any assistance would be appreciated, thank you for your time.
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Softeners make water unsuitable for feeding plants because they replace calcium and magnesium ions with sodium in most cases and potassium in others. What is most likely happening is the sodium is combining with the salts in your fertilizer and creating different compounds and altering your ph. The exact compounds I am not sure about but that's essentially what is happening from my understanding. Are your ppms before fertilizer not high already?
Do you have a spigot on the exterior of your dwelling? You may be able to bypass the softner in some cases. Otherwise you may need an ro system.