pH adjusting help

My TDS question should have been… If pH is in range… Will (or should) TDS also be in range?
Any other adjustments if not?

Good info guys…MANY THANKS TO ALL CONTRIBUTORS!

Open minded? Naw only @Majiktoker opinions matter!
(now back to the real world)

Yes @BrockSamson it should be but thats always good to keep track of along with ph, its a little more important than watching run off when you dont need to :slight_smile:

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Well, maybe. TDS/EC/PPM is definitely different from pH. However pH can make certain nutrients so available, that it might appear to have nute burn, but your ppm might still be fine, and not too high.

It is almost the same rule for pH of the runoff. With pH if it is just slightly lower than what you put in the top then all is good. With TDS/EC/PPM, if it is slightly lower, then all is probably good, and even if it is kind of significantly lower, again, all is probably good, it just means the soil or media is holding more nutrients than it is letting go out the bottom, but it might mean your plant is consuming the nutrients aggressively, and maybe you could raise the strength going in the top.

~MacGyverStoner

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I think I saw on here (somewhere) a suggested range of TDS numbers, which I wanted to know more about as usually distilled water is used. But I am wondering about water I drink www.zerowater.com which is filtered tap water with a TDS meter to get the water as close to 000 as possible.

I’ve been testing it on Audrey II, my Venus fly trap.

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@Macgyverstoner will have to help you here buddy im sorry I cant

Yes, water that is very close to 0.0 EC/PPM, whether from distilled, a zero water filter, or a reverse osmosis filtration system, is ideal.

In this way, you know exactly what you are giving your plants. No extra calcium, iron or sulfur from tap water, as too much of these can cause nutrient lockout of other needed nutrients for the plants, especially with hard water, which will also raise your pH to unwanted levels.

You can use hard water, as long as the hardness is almost only made of calcium, and not much above 100 ppm and better yet if it is closer to only about 50ppm, but it can still throw off your pH, and it can make things more difficult because the ppm numbers from your tap water will be added to the recommended numbers for your nutrients, and you have to correct the high alkalinity/pH of the hard tap water.

If you think about it, the reason the hard water leaves “limescale” deposits on your faucets and such is because it isn’t much different than a liming agent, horticultural lime, which will also raise your pH.

Most of the time, I see most people use about 1,200 ppm of nutrients in their nutrient mix for their soil or soilless plants, in the common USA 0.5 conversion from EC. And so if your tap water has a starting PPM of 200ppm, then you add nutrients until you reach 1,200ppm, well, depending on the nutrient formula, that might mean you end up with too much calcium, iron, or sulfur, and maybe not enough of the other things like nitrogen(N), phosphorous(P) and potassium(K), if you see what I’m saying. You might be able to go up to say 1,400ppm to make sure you have the recommended NPK ppm, but again, then you might have way too much of the things that are in tap water and then maybe you have too much calcium, iron, or sulfur.

~MacG

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So you “put the lime in the coconut, mix it all up”?

I think the encyclopedia aka @MacGyverStoner has answered all my questions… On this topic anyway.
Awesome job buddy!

Haveing trouble with Magnesium deficiency Adjusted the ph of the water at 7 the runoff was at 5.75. Will this help. I am in organic soiles
@Majiktoker

@Wolfmankush fir mag deficiency you can add a little Epsom salt to your water about a tea spoon per gallon :+1: Soilless you should be good with the 5.78 ph

:blush::blush::blush::blush: right on

I have micro blast from erath juice to

I’m not familiar with that product @Wolfmankush

Countryboyjvd1971 is right epsom salt can be used for magnesium deficiency, as for the micro blast not sure if it would help any what does it have in it ?

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That should work and help @Wolfmankush

This is what i am using


@Countryboyjvd1971

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I’ll check the website out when I get a chance thanks @Wolfmankush

Sweetpink stink @Countryboyjvd1971


Flubertonic