Which part bothers you? The "battery" or the "acid". It only becomes "battery acid" when you put it into a battery. Until that point, it's just acid. BY definition, ALL ph down products will be some sort of acid.Holy crap battery acid really, phdown, take a swig of either i dare you! You can use lemon juice, or citric acid both food grade and you can buy at any grocery store! Sorry but WOW cant believe people really give there plants battery acid!!!
Bsafe
A buffer is something that stabilizes the PH. It kind of keeps it from changing. That being said, I have ran many systems and different plants using battery acid and I have never had any issues at all with PH swings. It stays where I set it or ticks up .1 over a few days. If you have PH swings, there is something else going on.What does "buffer" mean?
Rock salt isn't concentrated, salt is salt. Sulfuric acid works better than vinegar. Sulfuric acid is about 10xs cheaper than vinegar as 1 quart of sulfuric acid makes many gallons of PH down. Vinegar smells like shit.this is blarney! 7$ for a qt of battery acid? why spend that on a caustic solution when a qt of applecider vinegar can be had for 2.99? battery acid is known to contain heavy metals and lead that will end up in your plants. i liken this thread to someone using rock salt on there french fries because its so concentrated they can get it for cheaper than table salt.
Table salt contains .006% potassium iodine as a health additive for thyroid issues. Not all salt contains this, they sell non iodize table salt too. It is sodium chloride just like rock salt. You have no idea what you are talking about. They sell rock salt in the baking aisle, btw. Guess why they call corned beef 'corned' beef.organic apple cider vinegar is beneficial to the grow. table salt is not the same as rock salt. rock salt is more concentrated halite form of sodium chloride. table salt has iodide added to it giving it less sodium chloride than rock salt. the only reason i can think of someone getting a chunk of rock salt for their fries is if they have an industrial sized pepper mill. ur making the point that its better to buy a concentrated chemical to save 3 dollars in the long run even though it can cause blindness. good job next thing youl be talking about using human feces as a nitrogen fert
yes we use bleach all the time in our grows.Table salt contains .006% potassium iodine as a health additive for thyroid issues. Not all salt contains this, they sell non iodize table salt too. It is sodium chloride just like rock salt. You have no idea what you are talking about. They sell rock salt in the baking aisle, btw. Guess why they call corned beef 'corned' beef.
Battery acid isn't going to make you blind unless you put it in your eyes. It is right up there with bleach which most of us use all the time. Concentrated acetic acid will do the same thing(Thats what is in vinegar.)
Sulfuric acid is so violently toxic that people put it in their fishtank full of expensive fish to lower the ph - it comes in a bottle that says fish ph down on it. It must be deadly poisonous. Hydroponic growers don't go to the store to buy fish equipment and storage containers either, right? I use sulfuric acid from the autoparts store for my berry bushes. Why are you bothering to argue something you don't know anything about?one advantage of acetic acid is that it dissolves insoluble calcium salts and if water is abundant they will leach away. So sulfur and iron sulfate amendments and occasional vinegar treatment may work for most situations. sulfuric acid is blarney. blueberry growers do not go to the store to buy battery acid.
Vinegar concentrate isn't equal to sulfuric acid concentrate for one. It isn't beneficial in any real sense, and it doesn't work as well. No one would argue this except someone who is half ass at growing. It is like arguing CFLs are better than HIDs.your arguing that the cheapest of cheap no matter the dangers or ill conceived premonitions of any benefit are superior to a slightly more expensive alternative that just happens be 10 times more beneficial to your plants.
organicapple cider vinegar will benefit your grow 10 fold the results youd get from sulfuric acid. not only does the aerobic bacteria in the vinegar break down nutrients to be made readily available to the roots, it fights of anaerobic bacteria creating a highly oxygenated environment that your plants will thrive in. The following USDA website indicates that cider vinegar contains some essential mineral nutrients, including significant amounts of potassium (730 mg/liter), phosphorus (80 mg/liter), calcium (70 mg/liter) and magnesium (50 mg/liter).
http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/
it contains calcium phosphorus magnesium copper zinc manganese and selenium.
if this isnt reason enough to switch over from diluted acid i dont know what to tell you. the benefits outweigh the extra 5$ your going to spend on it. VERY IMPORTANT EDIT:
reacting sulfuric acid with potassium nitrate can be used to produce nitric acid ,
nitric acid reacts violently with many organic materials and the reactions may be explosive.
potassium nitrate just happens to be a main ingredient in many hydroponic grows, makes sense now why most ph downs are made from phosphoric acid. once again organic apple cider vinegar comes out the winner as the superior ph down. just a foot note citric acid is acceptable as well it is used in general hydroponics 2 pound bucket of ph down along with phosphoric acid. im still surprised people are buying battery electrolyte for there grow when 2.24 lbs of ph down is 6$ lol. so you spend 7 $ on sulfuric acid and get sic[300 gallons from one cup] (more like 1 qt of electrolyte at 33% = 3.75 gallons at 2.35714% or 1.86 $ per gallon.) compare that with apple cider vinegar at $3.83 a gallon at 5% concentration and 2.5% concentration would = $1.65, at the concentration of 2.35714% that would = $1.56 per gallon.
in conclusion sulfuric acid is a terrible way to ph down, not only can it cause blindness, burns and dehydration , it also negatively impacts organic matter even diluted and for this reason is not used in commercial ph downs. it causes violent reactions when exposed to potassium nitrate which happens to be a main ingredient in most if not all hydroponic fertilizers. it is 16.13 % more expensive than apple cider vinegar which can in itself be made cheaper by manufacturing your own unfiltered , un processed acv (another thread all together) it lacks the trace nutrients and minerals that acv contains.it doesnt kill of anaerobic bacteria. it doesnt add aerobic bacteria to help make nutrients available to the plants readily. it doesnt create a highly oxygenated environment in which your plants can thrive in. there are absolutely no benefits to using sulfuric acid over acv. balls in your court mr. chemist
gotcha, now i expect a reply about a porsche and an rc car and about them being in the same league(baseball?)Vinegar concentrate isn't equal to sulfuric acid concentrate for one. It isn't beneficial in any real sense, and it doesn't work as well. No one would argue this except someone who is half ass at growing. It is like arguing CFLs are better than HIDs.
yes calcium nitrate would also be acceptable and aid in flowering and trichome production cell division etc. but remember dont over do it as it binds to phosphates if your using calcium acetate. calcium nitrate however is a good fert to use for calcium uptake and does not bind to phosphatesWhat about calcium acetate? I think calcium acetate is one of the few ways a plant can directly intake calcium, isn't it?