--- title: "🤓Today I learned something new! I mad science geeked out on testing…" description: "🤓Today I learned something new! I mad science geeked out on testing and adjusting my LA tap water PH levels to around 5.5-6 PH which is more acidic and what…" url: "https://getplanta.com/community/lZ7uAE3pQ86jnFGxrCwLrg/64aa943a725b0064183e7915" community: "Anything about plants" author: "Danika" published: "2023-07-09T11:04:26.859Z" language: "en" image: "https://images.getplanta.com/v1/resize/z8NlNnzN2bCQiikKWmC4jfK47VZM9QjYJXPHMlEmazc/96bb2b39fbe54668af9d49e3129042f4.webp?size=large" --- [Community](https://getplanta.com/community.md) / [Anything about plants](https://getplanta.com/community/lZ7uAE3pQ86jnFGxrCwLrg.md) # 🤓Today I learned something new! I mad science geeked out on testing… _Posted by Danika on 2023-07-09_ 🤓Today I learned something new! I mad science geeked out on testing and adjusting my LA tap water PH levels to around 5.5-6 PH which is more acidic and what most houseplants prefer (previously about 7.5-8 PH which is too alkaline for most houseplants. Just got the basic water testing kit along with PH up \& PH down solutions on Amazon. I learned that unless the PH of your water is correct for your plants, they are unable to take in nutrients from fertilizers and this could lead to fertilizer burn or just starve your plant. So by adjusting the PH of all my tap water i will soon see new healthier bigger growth! Since I am mid-process of shifting a lot of my indoor collection to Pon semi-hydro, making the water solution right is super important to me. I also found out about a new water purifying product that I am now testing out for the foreseeable future called API stress coat, (made for fish tanks) which apparently just adding a drop or two to each gallon of tap water will remove the heavy metals and chlorine and clorimine from it, making it safe to use as an alternative to buying purified water for my more sensitive plants (specifically Calathea, maidenhair ferns \& carnivorous plants). We will see if it works as well as the you-tuber i watched and learned from… he seemed to think it was a miracle thing for all of his plants! I will update you all on this in maybe a month! ![Attachment 1 of 1](https://images.getplanta.com/v1/resize/z8NlNnzN2bCQiikKWmC4jfK47VZM9QjYJXPHMlEmazc/96bb2b39fbe54668af9d49e3129042f4.webp?size=large) ## 11 comments ### Plants\&theirMediums commented on 2023-07-09 Can’t wait to see how it goes! ### Iplantevenrightnow🪴 commented on 2023-07-09 Did you learn this from Sheffield Made Plants as well? I love him ☺️ #### Danika replied on 2023-07-09 Yes! The Stress Coat part came from Sheffield. He actually kind of annoys me, lol. But he has some good tips every once in a while. 😜 The PH balancing part i got from channel “Everything Plants”, as well as hearing this same info from other planty peeps. ### Roundshouse Plants commented on 2023-07-09 I freaking love plants. It's like I'm growing with science. Nerd alert! And proud of it!! 🤓🌿 #### Danika replied on 2023-07-09 Ha ha! Totally! 🤓🤓🤓 ### Ana commented on 2023-07-09 Omg yes! Please update us 😍 I just got my first Maranta and I will be buying distilled water for it but would love it if there was something I could use instead on my tap water to avoid having to buy so much plastic! #### Ana replied on 2023-07-09 Btw, I bought the PH kit last week as well and it will be arriving on Tuesday 🥳 yay for healthier plants!!🥳🙌🏼 #### Danika replied on 2023-07-10 Yaaaassss! The plastic waste is/was my biggest issue with the buying distilled all the time. #### Roundshouse Plants replied on 2023-07-15 There's a store by my house that does the jug exchange for water and they do distilled too! So I just bring my jug in when it's empty and switch it for the new one. It's awesome. ### Jenny commented on 2023-09-04 Do you have an update? Did it help? 😊 #### Danika replied on 2023-09-05 I believe it has, yes! Been using on all my plants for about a month. Its hard to say if i can completely eliminate buying distilled water for my calatheas specifically, as I started collecting water from a window a/c unit (similar to rain water) and adding the PH down and the Stress Coat drops to that, which may kinda be defeating the test a bit, but I’m trying to not waste the water while I have it in hot months. Lol. Very challenging test. Not super controlled. And how do I know if my success is from this Stress Coat or just because its sumner and things are growing as they would. 🤷🏻‍♀️🤔 But I’m going to keep using it! Can’t hurt! --- _Source: the Planta community (https://getplanta.com). Reading is open to everyone. To post, comment and like, get the Planta app: https://getplanta.com/download_