distilled water ph

I know the ph of 100% pure water is 7 and exposure to the air is supposed to bring down the ph a bit. why is my store bought distilled water ph 8.2?

michaelpeg said:

I know the ph of 100% pure water is 7 and exposure to the air is supposed to bring down the ph a bit. why is my store bought distilled water ph 8.2?

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First - exposure to air will not bring the ph of your water down. Maybe you are thinking about chlorine evap from tap water?

I always shoot for about 6.5 for my ph, and have to use a product called "ph down" ... it's inexpensive and well worth buying. A little goes a long way.
Also - do you trust that your ph meter is giving you the correct reading?

As far as the distilled water - you've got me on that one. I only used distilled water to rinse off my ph meter after every use.

If you live in an area where you can get RO water (like from a fish store), this may be optimal for you...I would still test RO water as well though, as you never know how often they are changing their filters.

no im not thinking tap water, this is just what google tells me lol

I do have ph down but i honestly hate using the stuff especially if there is an option to buy water with a ph between 6.5 - 7 i hate using it because i have to always mix it the day of watering and you should wait at least an hour after you add it to check the ph for better accuracy. Im starting to doubt my milwaukee ph tester but i did just calibrate it earlier today.

I may just have to get some RO but i have heard distilled water is best.

Is the probe on your tester replacable? They do need to be replaced occasionally.

michaelpeg said:

no im not thinking tap water, this is just what google tells me lol

I do have ph down but i honestly hate using the stuff especially if there is an option to buy water with a ph between 6.5 - 7 i hate using it because i have to always mix it the day of watering and you should wait at least an hour after you add it to check the ph for better accuracy. Im starting to doubt my milwaukee ph tester but i did just calibrate it earlier today.

I may just have to get some RO but i have heard distilled water is best.

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Hmm. Well I would think the main benefit to distilled would be the low TDS. Our tap water is 160 TDS - which is acceptable. Of course I still have to use the ph down as the ph out of our tap is over 9+ (yikes). Do you know what the TDS is out of your tap? Maybe you are spending money needlessly?

If you don't know what your TDS reading is out of your tap water, check into that. It just sounds like you may be going through a lot of unnecessary trouble. I'm grateful for the ease of my process - I generally keep a supply of one gal. jugs full from my tap - let them air for at least 24 hours - add the nutes, test the ph, add the ph down, then water. If it's a "no nutes" water, then I just regulate the ph of that and then water immediately as well. Haven't had a problem yet.

You mentioned you wait an hour after adding the ph down...have you ever noticed a significant difference?