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hydroponic My Tap water is 9.2 PH, but I want to start my hydroponics

J

JesterJoker

So my city/tap water is about 9.2 on my meter.

I was looking at just using a simple PH down solution from general hydroponics.

Is there household chemicals/ cheap store chemicals I can use on this to lower the ph? I have read
food grade phosphoric acid like Coke has, I guess this can be bought in the store?

am I better off just using PH down? or household supplying it? on the cheap


thanks
 
Phosphoric acid or Nitric acid (this is what PH down contains) is what you want, but (seriously) diluted sulfuric acid will work.
Citric acid will work also but not very effectively in a reservoir system.
 
That is pretty high. I would look more into some sort of Reverse Osmosis system or buying Distilled water in bulk rather than try to pH down that much every time you fill your reservoir.
 
millworkman said:
That is pretty high. I would look more into some sort of Reverse Osmosis system or buying Distilled water in bulk rather than try to pH down that much every time you fill your reservoir.
Click to expand...

I second Mill.
9.2ph and your probably loaded with cal or lime.
check the ppm's
I have not grown peppers per say in hydroponics but im guessing youll need nutes in the range of 300-800ppm maybe.
With a clean near 0ppm you can add only nutes you want
You can use lemon juice and baking soda if you wish but the ph fluctuates faster.

lemon juice for down and baking soda for up
 
9.2? i bet your muni water is treated with an orthophosphate system.
i agree with millwork man, you should consider an RO system, you can get one for about 80 bucks.
 
Check it after you add the nutrients. You may have pure water without a lot of buffering and that 9.2 will drop quickly. If it stays high, mix with distilled or filtered (not spring). I still have plenty pH down (Phosphoric Acid), but when I run out I will probably go with dry citric acid (eBay). It's more expensive than P, N or S acid, but I don't use a whole lot. It's also supposed to help with chlorine and chloramine in the tap water.
 
Just got my TDS meter today, tested a few things spring water/work tap water seems to be reading correct.

I will test my water when I'm home and put my first DWC bucket and declorinate it with airstone for the night, and add chemicals and see what it reads at then.

I forgot that the chemicals are going to throw off the PH, I will see what it reads at then.

thanks zanderspice
 
that sounds high. my ph is 6.8, nyc sent out free testing kits to see what our tap water was, it also tested for lead etc. at that level you could use it to blind someone lol
 
If you RO you will also be removing calcium from your water which means you will need to add more later. If you already have phosphoric acid, just use it incrementally, till you have the correct pH. Remember to test and correct your pH AFTER you have mixed your nutrients.
 
my ppm was 56 of my tap water at the house.. and PH 9

I will put some in buckets and prepare the chemicals and test it after and see what it tests at.

thanks.
 
56ppm from staright tap water isn't bad at all, can easily adjust the pH with pH Up/Down. The issue I have with my tap water is it test in the 600-700ppm range and has heavy amount of cholorine. Ended up having to install a five stage RO filter so I can drink water that is not stacked with who knows what :\.

-J
 
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