What's new
  • As of today ICMag has his own Discord server. In this Discord server you can chat, talk with eachother, listen to music, share stories and pictures...and much more. Join now and let's grow together! Join ICMag Discord here! More details in this thread here: here.

Tap Water PH changes over time.

Sativa Dragon

Active member
Veteran
I fill a pail full of my tap water and let it sit out a couple of days and the PH goes from 7 up to 8 or nine as the chlorine and other shit evaporayes out. I also noticed one time when I ran out of the aged water I used some right out of the tap. what happened was I adjusted the PH added nutes and watered, there was some left over so I let it sit out over night, the next day the PH had risen back up to 7.5 as the Chlorine and shit evaporated my ph down was no longer anough to keep it in the zone. So keep an eye on the PH from when it comes out of the tap and after it sits for a day or two. This may be different depending on location.

Peace
 

Granger2

Active member
Veteran
If your tap, like mine, has high alkalinity, the pH will rebound after adjustment. You can re-adjust. -granger
 

Hank Hemp

Active member
Veteran
You can't, well I can't, adjust pH and let it sit and expect it to stay the same. I adjust pH then use right then. Water will change pH if left out in an open container, always. You are typical.
 

chubbynugs

Registered Pothead
Veteran
After all the chlorine and bacteria killers are out of your water you are open for algae growth and whatnot. Look up brown algae in the infirmary section. If your ph is always rising even with RO water you most likely have something growing in your res. If you feed it oxygen with stones you will have your PH rise even faster. I just PH and use the water right after the PH now without using a res. Head ache free.
 
S

SeaMaiden

Learn about alkalinity. It is defined as resistance to pH shift. It is usually caused by carbonates and/or bicarbonates in the water column. If your water is supplied by a municipal supplier, they are required to maintain certain parameters, and since they also want to preserve their plumbing as long as possible, they use additives that drive up pH and keep it there.

Filtration is one method of dealing with it, or you can drive pH down very hard (towards 4) and the resulting bounce should be closer to 7.

An FYI for folks; O2 drives water pH up, CO2 drives it down. Saturation levels of each molecule within water column affects pH and shift.
 

chubbynugs

Registered Pothead
Veteran
Valid point SeaMaiden. For me though i was not using a light proof res and added Hygrozyme and some carboload to it. Bad idea. My RO out of the filter is 7.4-7.9 and there is an added filter to take out all the additives you speak of. This brown algae takes off in a non light proof environment and in turn causes major PH up swings within a few hours. This was just my situation and it seems like it effects a lot of others who are mis-diagnosing their problem.
 

Sativa Dragon

Active member
Veteran
Thanks SeaMaiden I canonly imagine you are as goodlooking as you are knowledgable. I liked that clever drive it down to four and then the result should be 7. I use my water within 24 to 36 hours, I put no air stone in it till I add my PH perfect then I wait 15 minutes to oxygenate the water then feed, I will be sarting a basic DWC soon to see how it goes then I will be going from there.

Peace
 

ChroNicoN

Member
would be good to see some experiments with this, i read ages ago that leaving water to breath a couple days reduces the ph without needing to adjust it manually ... you got to admit would be much easier then messing around to get the right ph levels :)
 

jayd

Member
ive noticed that my water ph rises after its been left for a day or so. think its best to just use straight away after adding nutes and ph down
 
O

OrganicOzarks

If you are growing in a proper soilless mix then you will not need to ph anything ever. PH pens are for the hydro guys. My well water comes out between 7.6 - 8.2, and it really does not make a difference. If you have a proper micro heard then ph is a myth.
 

Ranger

Member
would be good to see some experiments with this, i read ages ago that leaving water to breath a couple days reduces the ph without needing to adjust it manually ... you got to admit would be much easier then messing around to get the right ph levels :)

Depends on the water makeup really. If it has C02 in it the PH will rise as the C02 gases out, since C02 reduces PH.
 
I was always told not to let water sit out uncovered (unless oxygenating) ever. Mine goes from tap to jug with a lid for 24 hours to temp stabilize ( I also add my maxi and dc at this point so it has 24 hours to dissolve) and thats it. ph doesn't change at all.
 
S

SeaMaiden

Why not let water sit out uncovered, Bull?

OO, I thought you were growing in soil, not soilless. I must be thinking of someone else. Have I seen your soilless mix...? Sorry, drawing a blank.
 
Why not let water sit out uncovered, Bull?

My understanding is it can promote bacteria growth, the bad kind. Once the chlorine has dissipated the water is no longer unfriendly to these bacteria. The longer you let it sit open the better chance you have at inviting in something bad. I guess this is less of an issue with chloramine (which I do have in my water) however if you have chloramine in your water letting it sit out uncovered is pointless anyway. I have never seen an ill effect from chloramine on my plants anyway. In fact I saw more of an adverse effect trying to remove chloramine then just leaving it alone.

If I am wrong here please correct me as this was just what I was always told.
 

Sativa Dragon

Active member
Veteran
It is likely something specific to soil grows or hydro grows, I know in organic soil Chlorine will kill the beneficials in the soil as it kills everything in the tap water to prevent a build up of bacteria in the city infrastructure. If you have a hydro system that is of an organic nature I am not sure adding chlorine to it will help. However if you are running a chemical style hydro system one would think it would be a benefit, either way if you cover it and leave it the chlorine will still evaporate out as the water has exposure to atmoshere below the covered lid, take the lid off and shove your nose in there and take a dep nose full.

Peace
 
S

SeaMaiden

It would take quite a while for something bad to happen. I've got water that I leave in my rainbarrels, and it takes weeks, not days, for algae and stuff to grow. In fact, I find it's more fun scoping my rainbarrels than an ACT! Outside of mosquitoes (best use for dunks yet), it's alive, and so I use it for my plants and they seem ok with it. Often I like to leave it there for the frogs. If something were to die in the water and drown, then that would definitely be a nasty soup.

Also, even covered, it's likely not completely pure and without at least a few cells of algae or the like. Heck, I have seen hair algae grow in one of my RO stages (clear filter, the bit facing the window).

For potable water, I would absolutely agree and when storing water for emergency use, I will put a small amount of bleach in it, as I was taught to do after the Whittier-Narrows quake, and keep it covered tightly.
 
O

OrganicOzarks

Why not let water sit out uncovered, Bull?

OO, I thought you were growing in soil, not soilless. I must be thinking of someone else. Have I seen your soilless mix...? Sorry, drawing a blank.
I believe the proper term is a soilless mix as it is not from the ground. Most would call it soil though. It is hard to figure out what to say to people because not everyone is on the same page with terminology.

It is a base of peat, rice hulls, compost, worm castings, and then a shit load of amendments.
 
S

SeaMaiden

I believe the proper term is a soilless mix as it is not from the ground. Most would call it soil though. It is hard to figure out what to say to people because not everyone is on the same page with terminology.

It is a base of peat, rice hulls, compost, worm castings, and then a shit load of amendments.

Ah, yes, the agreement on terminology issue. If those amendments include minerals that allow for cation and anion exchange, then I'd call it darn close to soil, soil for brevity's sake.

I guess I'm going to have to look through your threads, eh? I'm a lover of rice and rice hulls.
 

Latest posts

Latest posts

Top