Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hey Keith is your system at pH 6 or is lower..?

check out the kH and gH of the water.. if they are low 1-2 drops there is a good chance that the pH is actually lower than 6.. and could be a problem..

Juergen

It's like boiling a pot of water on the stove..... Soon as you stop testing (looking) it will go down (boil)...

that's exactly what happend with me eb.. just got too busy to test (and with everything looking ok why bother)..
after i saw that it dropped, i added some shells and shell grit.. haven't checked lately, but when i did, it was right around 7.. in the oldest system.. i haven't tested my 3 other tanks

Note to self: if adding large amounts of (muriatic) acid to a large (15,000 gal / 56K liters) system with high (8.8 ) pH, and you're aiming for about pH 7, and your high pH test starts giving funky colors, try testing with yout 'normal' pH test drops. You may have overshot the mark a bit!

pH is now 6.4. This is OK in my circumstances, because 1) there's one lonely, bulletproof goldfish in the system, and 2) the well water has a pH of 8.8, so if I needed to correct, I'd be fine.

But... OOPS!

Last week i checked it the ph was 6 or lower added some shell grit its now sitting at about 6.5

BYAP digital meter

Whats the range on those meters Charlie ?

Just a sneaky guess......

DIGITAL PH METER TESTER KIT



Features:

100% Brand New.

Weight: 65g

Size: 15 x 3 x 1.5 cm

Excellent meter, very accurate and durable

Measuring pH Range: 0.0 - 14.0 pH

Resolution: 0.1 pH

Accuracy: ±0.1 pH (20°C), ±0.2 pH

Operating Temperature: 0 - 50°C (32 - 122°F)

Calibration: manual,1 point

This digital pen style pH meter is an ideal instrument for aquarium, fishing industry, swimming pool, school laboratory, food & beverage etc.

Please calibrate with the buffer solution before use.



Package Contents:

1 x pH meter

1 x screw driver

3 x AG 13 button cell batteries (included)

2 pouches of calibration buffer solution (4.0 & 6.86)

1 x instruction manual ( English)

Well it is good that they are "100% Brand New"

And that they range between 0 - 14....

heh, I copied that from a popular online market place
I was too lazy to cut the non-sensical bits out

Have ordered one, so will see how it goes

Have 1 like that here that worked well. I say worked cos i dropped it in water and it doesnt read right now

Thank you all for the information. My tap water comes out at nearly 8.0 and that is what my brand spankin' new system is at. Tested for the first time last night and nearly had a heart attack. I wondered, can plants grow in that? I will work hard on ignoring it while continuing to test. Thank you!

your plants will grow but might suffer from some nutrient lockout.. a little maxicrop with iron will help with that, until your system drops on it's own