Done at home using pool test strips, so probably not particularly accurate (also probably not particularly necessary, but I was curious and had the strips, so away I went) Strips only had five pH options : 6.2, 6.8, 7.2, 7.8, 8.4

Rain gauge water (ie. straight from the sky) - 6.2

Concrete tank water collected off roof -6.8

House tap water (from this tank) - 6.8

Seems fair enough, the local lab says pure rainwater here is 5.7 but can rise as much as to around 7.0 stored in concrete tanks. Gets more interesting next. Did the following checks on 2L (1/2 gallon) house tap water.

added 1ml (1/5 tsp) Protekt - 8.4

added 1ml (1/5 tsp) Dynagro FP to this - 6.8

rechecked 6 hours later (the 2L TW with Protekt&FP) - 7.2

added 1/2 T white vinegar- pH well under 6.2 (off scale)

So, even though I doubt the numbers are exact, to me it indicate trends, the main one being that Protekt raises the pH amazingly, but then somehow the FP brings it back down. The fine print on the Protekt bottle does say it increases pH (& recommends you bring it back down to 5.8 - 6.8). Our water has a fairly low total alkalinity (40) and low total hardness (100) which might affect pH buffering, so the effects on your water could be different. The science on that area was hurting my brain.

As far as the vinegar goes, I was wanting to see how much it would take to make my water in the 5-6 range, but the strips dont record below 6.2 so for all I know what I added could have made it 3 or 4. So I didn't check adding less.

For houseplants, is a pH around neutral (what I get with protekt&FP added) good for watering? I'm not looking to make more work for myself if not needed. But what is the ideal water pH level for containerised citrus outside? Seems a lot of people like the results adding vinegar for them. What do you think?

This was the test kit I used (AquaChek)