PH and rain water

[Squire]

Last year my rain water was ph around 7 which worked well with my hydro mix. Runoff was always around 6.2
So made up my tank 120 litre as last year and I have these really sick plants . Checked the PH 5 Checked the water from each tank PH 5
Wtf . So checked town water PH 7
Made up some half strength nutes with a PH of around 7.5 and proceeded to flush the grow bags . It took 3 x 10 litre buckets to get the runoff down to PH6
The question is Can I add PH up to the rainwater tanks 9,000 litre. I noticed when adding PH up to my nutes it goes a bit cloudy . Bunnings stuff.
Is this normal.

 

[med180]

I have no issues with my tank water pH but its running out the overflow 3 days ago in summer so constantly refreshed. I imagine it's possible to adjust whole tank pH but more a matter of what you'd use and how long it would stay stable. Probably easier to adjust at your res, I've never used any bunnings stuff sorry.

 

[Squire]

the stuff I use is Manutec Potassium carbonate. Needed it in a hurry .
Also the EC of town water is .2-.3
My tanks have a overflow which picks up at the bottom of the tank and have leaf shedders on the house.
Am surprised how much it changed. We have had a lot of rain here in the last month

 

[med180]

the stuff I use is Manutec Potassium carbonate. Needed it in a hurry .
Also the EC of town water is .2-.3
My tanks have a overflow which picks up at the bottom of the tank and have leaf shedders on the house.
Am surprised how much it changed. We have had a lot of rain here in the last month

Mine has been very stable for a long time. They are twice the size of yours and overflow year round. Surprising yours has changed over a year, perhaps residue run off the roof?

 

[R3za92]

Last year my rain water was ph around 7 which worked well with my hydro mix. Runoff was always around 6.2
So made up my tank 120 litre as last year and I have these really sick plants . Checked the PH 5 Checked the water from each tank PH 5
Wtf . So checked town water PH 7
Made up some half strength nutes with a PH of around 7.5 and proceeded to flush the grow bags . It took 3 x 10 litre buckets to get the runoff down to PH6
The question is Can I add PH up to the rainwater tanks 9,000 litre. I noticed when adding PH up to my nutes it goes a bit cloudy . Bunnings stuff.
Is this normal.

Better off ph’ing after mixing nutes as the nutrients will in themselves effect ph. Also rainwater ph will vary for many reasons including particulates in the runoff or algae/bacteria in your tanks. I’d recommend treating your tanks with a low concentration chlorine solution (Google will help with exact concentration in the tank to aim for) which will take care of both algae and bacteria and won’t hurt you or your plants.

 

[R3za92]

the stuff I use is Manutec Potassium carbonate. Needed it in a hurry .
Also the EC of town water is .2-.3
My tanks have a overflow which picks up at the bottom of the tank and have leaf shedders on the house.
Am surprised how much it changed. We have had a lot of rain here in the last month

Not a great ph product. It’ll work but its ph capacity is low and won’t hold the ph stable for very long. Try something like a potassium hydroxide based product.

 

[Squire]

Ok thanks will check it out