New Grower I've got a (not so) noob question..

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I know, I know.

Mz. W, wtf are you doing posting questions in the new growers forum?!?
Because I've got a noob question you see! lol

I've always wondered...can you pH more water than you need at a given time?
I.E - If I've got a 2.5 gallon jug of distilled water that I don't plan on ever adding nutrients to, can i adjust the whole she-bang to 6.5 and have it stay 6.5 and with no adverse effects? Or is it going to like....evaporate off the water and the pH will creep back up? lol
The same can be asked of nutes - can you add (chem) nutes to your water, pH it and then not use it right away?

Thaaaaaaaaaanks Yoooou Guuuyyyyyyyyyys
:KISS::KISS:
lol
 
I'm not worried about the water, I'm worried about giving it to my plants lol

The pH would be easy enough to check doing it that way since i've got a pH pen, but I don't have an EC meter or whatever you use to check nutrients lol.
 
You ph will fluctuate pending how long it sits. If its just distilled water it could stay at 6.5 for a 1-2 days but it will eventually creep back up. If your adding nutes to it I say pending on yiur nutes don't let them sit more than 3 days at time.
 
You will need to throw an airstone and airpump on it, to stabilize the PH, but I would still check it. You should be able to get a small air stone, pump and tubing at WalMart for 20 is bucks. Plus it will put more dissolved oxygen in the water, to give your roots more Oxygen, which in turn, will make bigger, better, robust, fat ass colas. Everyone should be putting air stones on their water, just for that reason!

https://www.autoflower.org/f5/fds-guide-growing-hefty-autos-small-places-206.html

the whole thread is great, but see post #6
 
I've always wondered...can you pH more water than you need at a given time?

The same can be asked of nutes - can you add (chem) nutes to your water, pH it and then not use it right away?

Ph mostly rises with time. Whenever I have measured ph adjusted water (@6,5) after some hours or a day, it was slightly higher, 6,6 , 6,7 or 6,8, no matter if plain or full of food. But I have never seen a rise from 6,5 to 7,5. Only smaller changes.

Most probably that depends on nutrients, water and ph down/up media. If you use nitric acid to get ph down, it decomposes with time to form water, NO2 gas and O2 gas. Other chemicals react differently. Some are stable, others reactive and decompose quickly.

Advanced Nutrients answered me, that their nutrients may stay some time mixed with water, also over a week, but they use self ph correction and that is quite different.

Maybe it would be the best to try and see with your water and your ph corrective, but if you want accurate measurements, you will most probably not do that.

Good Luck!
 
You could use your Distilled water to clean your PH meter & EC meters after each use to get rid of any residues of your nutrients.

Another use for it is, with calibration powders when mixing them up.
 
Hey GF! :grin: ..looks like I need to start giving pop-quizzes! :no: LMAO!... we've talked about RO/DI water, and buffering, etc., haven't we? If not (I lose track-- big surprise!), pH'ing RO/DI beforehand for longer term use is a pointless exercise... there are no buffering minerals in there, it's at or near 0 ppms of any dissolved solids, namely CaCO3- calcium carbonate (tap water usually will have a little MgCO3 too),...It's the carbonates that are actually doing the buffering --stabilizing- of the pH; the less there is of them in the water, the more wildly pH will swing from even small inputs.... the term used for this is hardness of the water, which refers to how much dissolved solids are in there...the less stuff in there, the "softer" it is, and visa versa...:no: -(Cripes, there's a 5 page lecture series that could be given about the amazing, complex properties of water!) ...Point is, it won't remain stable, and the less adjusting stuff you put in, the better,....and I've mentioned in the past that using straight RO/DI water in soil is not a good thing at all, it should be blended with (dechlorinated) tap to give it some hardness and thus buffering capacity,... Sooo, no short cut here my friend, IMO,.... If you even need to adjust it at all for simple watering!... your soil pH is the determining factor on that, and we've been grinding over that some already, ay? :roflcry: ...now, how much tap to blend in depends on the hardness, which can be measured in ppm's or EC; ppm's is in fact, a converted measurement of EC,...yeah, another damn meter to get! :crying:Thrilled, I know!... (HM makes a nice basic TDS (total dissolved solids) meter for about $20)... I get my blend to about 175 ppm's before watering, or fert'ing-- (check pH again a few minutes after mixing in nutes, and then adjust if needed),...
 
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