PH Info

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SlumpAwakens

Member
so I use baking soda and lemon juice to go up or down with my ph and I was wondering if anyone has made a solution with a certain ph to add like 1ml to 1gal to increase or decrease by 1 point. Does anyone know of a solution/mixture i could make in a water bottle. Basically a honeade up/down kit.
Any info is appreciated thanks everyone.
 
Shape Shifter

Shape Shifter

Well-Known Member
I make my own pH down. 2tsp citric acid powder + about 200ml water.

1.5tsp of the citric acid water takes my pH down 1.5 points per gallon. This ratio was a happy accident.
 
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SlumpAwakens

Member
Awesome thank you ive been trying to find this answer out for a while now and its kinda tedious measuring half an 1/8 of a teaspoon of bakingsoda lol. Or 2 ml lemon juice having varying ph.
 
Shape Shifter

Shape Shifter

Well-Known Member
You can custom make your own solutions. Powdered citric acid works pretty good. The pH will rise a bit over time , but not too bad. Citric acid also works well as a cheap flushing agent.
 
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spek9

Well-Known Member
SlumpAwakens said:
Awesome thank you ive been trying to find this answer out for a while now and its kinda tedious measuring half an 1/8 of a teaspoon of bakingsoda lol. Or 2 ml lemon juice having varying ph.
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It's not a good idea to use baking soda (Sodium Bicarbonate) as a pH up for extended periods. The salts can build up in the medium which can cause all manner of issues.
 
StareCase

StareCase

Well-Known Member
Acetic Acid and Citric Acid will bring your pH down ... but both of those acids do not maintain that level in your substrate for very long. It also takes quite a bit of either to drop your pH. When I did use 7% pickling vinegar, 2 - 3 tbsp to drop pH to the correct level.

Have since made the switch over to 18% phosphoric acid. H3PO4 does a better job of maintaining pH and you don't need much of either to drop pH down from 7.3 down to 6.8. Usually 6 - 8 drops does the trick.
 
Shape Shifter

Shape Shifter

Well-Known Member
It's true that citric acid is not the most stable acid, but it works fine for me. I see a rise of 0.2 over 7-10 days. Not enough to matter. Most of the water was drunk before that.
 
Renfro

Renfro

Well-Known Member
Citric acid won't keep a stable pH in hydro thats for sure so you keep adding it and ppm keeps going up. It's fine for soil perhaps.
 
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spek9

Well-Known Member
Shape Shifter said:
What are you going to use for pH up? Someone shit on baking soda and provided no alternative.
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I didn't shit on anything. I very politely stated that using Sodium Bicarbonate over a long period will cause salt buildup.

I didn't feel inclined to post an alternative for alkalinity as I rarely ever have to use anything, therefore I have not the need to make my own. Besides, I was just providing a friendly note about fending off a possible future problem.

Renfro already stated to simply buy a bottle of pH up. Is that not alternative enough for you?

How about this:

Potassium carbonate, Silicic acid and Potassium salt. That better? You've just made your own pH up.
 
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spek9

Well-Known Member
Shape Shifter said:
Calm down dude.
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Use proper words to describe situations accurately, dude.

The way you phrased what you did makes it sound like I was claiming that baking soda was shit as a pH up. That is not what I said at all, and your statement has the ability to confuse future new members of the site.
 
Shape Shifter

Shape Shifter

Well-Known Member
You said it's not a good idea to use it for extended periods. Sounds like shit to me. You also provided no alternative. That was the point of the whole thread. So the only thing you have done so far is shit on it and now you got your knickers in a twist.
 
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spek9

Well-Known Member
Shape Shifter said:
You said it's not a good idea to use it for extended periods. Sounds like shit to me. You also provided no alternative. That was the point of the whole thread. So the only thing you have done so far is shit on it and now you got your knickers in a twist.
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Thank you for your insight.

Happy growing!
 
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