Storing Ph adjusted water

[PastryBaker]

First, thank you all for the help I have received in these forums. And especially concerning water ph levels. My sink water and hose water were very different. My hose water was almost a ph of 9. My sink is at 8.
My question is- Instead of changing the ph every time I fill my watering bucket, can I fill a 5 gallon bucket and fix the ph and use that til it is empty? I know there is evaporation because it is warm. But, I would keep it inside. Has anyone done this? Is it a good idea. I also will be using this water on my orchids under lights.
When I fertilize, I will recheck the ph before watering. And remedy as needed.

Happy Growing and thank you.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Yes you can store water at a certain pH but.. temperature and evaporation affect it a little. Depending on your pH downer, whether sulfuric, nitric, or hydrochloric or even citric or acetic acid, it can fluctuate by half a point to a full point based on temperature alone. And of course the time stored and the salts present in your water.


But luckily plants are not that picky.

I would however, see if I could invest in a rain barrel. Sure, pH regulation is not that hard, but having 200 gallons of good quality water available for free with zero effort is way easier.

 

[Rodrigo]

I have the same issue with my hose water having high ph. Do you/can you use a hose to water?
If so, what I do is have a 5 gallon bucket full of water that I drop to 2.5-3.0ph using PH DOWN (from Amazon) and a Hozon Siphon connected to it. So the hose water pulls 1/16th ratio from the bucket, and lowers the ph coming out of the hose to 6-6.5 ph. It's a little finicky to set up and you'll have to test the ph weekly to make sure it hasn't changed but it works.

Amazon link: https://a.co/d/98Jl5Cn

Or use a rain barrel like @Wires_Guy_wires mentioned

 

[Joe Dupre']

Not sure of the science behind it, but ph is a function of positive and negative ions. This can vary independent of chemistry. I've noticed that if I mix a batch of 6.5 water, it will gain in alkalinity ( up from 6.5 to 7.5+ in a couple of days. My suggestion is to mix only enough for a day or two.

 

[Glaucus]

You can buy foldable water containers. You can fill them with tap water and mix to adjust. Or fill them with RO water. When they are empty, you can fold them up again so they take in less space. How practical those are, I do not know. But this seems like a promising option to avoid mixing many individual buckets or watering cans.

 

[BonsaiManic]

These are good ideas...
...in most cases. But @PastryBaker lives in a very dry climate (if memory serves, Palm Desert area of California), so a rain collection option will probably not apply, as those of us in such climates don't get enough rain throughout the year to keep any kind of reserve in the tanks.
I should probably get my water checked as well.

 

[Glaucus]

Data for tap water should be available online. Any modern western country will continuously test tap water quality. Many places just have the main parameters online as a lab report. Saw some people in the US post them as well, but different places are different of course.

 

[PastryBaker]

Yes you can store water at a certain pH but.. temperature and evaporation affect it a little. Depending on your pH downer, whether sulfuric, nitric, or hydrochloric or even citric or acetic acid, it can fluctuate by half a point to a full point based on temperature alone. And of course the time stored and the salts present in your water.


But luckily plants are not that picky.

I would however, see if I could invest in a rain barrel. Sure, pH regulation is not that hard, but having 200 gallons of good quality water available for free with zero effort is way easier.

Thanks I wish I could collect rainwater. But I live in the desert. And rain is rare. But, we do get a slight rainy month and believe me, I wil lbe collecting.

 

[PastryBaker]

I have the same issue with my hose water having high ph. Do you/can you use a hose to water?
If so, what I do is have a 5 gallon bucket full of water that I drop to 2.5-3.0ph using PH DOWN (from Amazon) and a Hozon Siphon connected to it. So the hose water pulls 1/16th ratio from the bucket, and lowers the ph coming out of the hose to 6-6.5 ph. It's a little finicky to set up and you'll have to test the ph weekly to make sure it hasn't changed but it works.

Amazon link: https://a.co/d/98Jl5Cn

Or use a rain barrel like @Wires_Guy_wires mentioned

Thank you,

I will look into that.

 

[PastryBaker]

Not sure of the science behind it, but ph is a function of positive and negative ions. This can vary independent of chemistry. I've noticed that if I mix a batch of 6.5 water, it will gain in alkalinity ( up from 6.5 to 7.5+ in a couple of days. My suggestion is to mix only enough for a day or two.

Thanks. I was thinking that 5 gallons may be too much.

 

[PastryBaker]

You can buy foldable water containers. You can fill them with tap water and mix to adjust. Or fill them with RO water. When they are empty, you can fold them up again so they take in less space. How practical those are, I do not know. But this seems like a promising option to avoid mixing many individual buckets or watering cans.

I never knew about foldable ones. Will look into it.

 

[PastryBaker]

Thank you all for the replies and the info.
One more thing. When I have the water at a good PH, do I need to re-check it after I add fertilizer to it? And then would I need to adjust the PH again?

 

[Glaucus]

5 gallon too much? How small is your watering can? I was thinking you may wanted to get a 100 gallon or 150 gallon collapsible rain water tank fox premixing just once, measure pH, and to then water everything.

Good water soluble fertilizer is expected to set the pH of the water in the 6.0 to 6.5 range. As this is considered ideal for most plants. But it won't be that pH if your water is hard and has a higher pH, and you don't lower it first. There's specific water soluble fertilizers for either very soft or very hard water. Because of pH buffering, neutralizing bicarobnate, or adding CalMag that is missing.
I suspect that fertilizer will only change the pH if it is a fertilizer meant for mixing with hard water. And that all other fertilizers expect clean water, soft water, rain water, or RO water. And they set the pH in the 6.0 to 6.5 range. RO water doesn't really have a pH to speak of as there is no buffering capacity. If you breathe on it or agitate it, you mix in CO2 from the air/breath, acidifying it. Because it changes so easily.