BruceLeeroy
Active member
As we all know, in gardening there is a large focus on Ph and the acidity vs. the basicity of a solution. Yet we never hear about the Alkalinity of a solution, which is an important part of stabalizing Ph. Why is this? Why are they so misunderstood in hydroponics? Alkalinity and basicity are NOT the same thing, but they so often seem to be confused when it comes to hydroponic gardeing. can any Chemists enlighten us all? A high alkalinity buffers the Ph substantially but at a higher Ph range than most of us would ever want to keep our girls at, but low alkalinity makes for Ph shifts... which can be equally unhappy. Has anyone done anything interesting with tracking Alkalinity in their Hydro setups, or do we all just put our faith in the makers of our nutes that they properly and adequately buffer them? Many different plants and organisms benefit differently from given levels of alkalinity and Ph.... anyone have any science on it?
Out in left field here, and i know the age old argument that co2 in a rez does nothing for the plants as far as the co2 itself goes, but co2 disolving in water lowers Ph significantly. Many saltwater aquariums compensate for this by growing macro algae's that take Co2 out of the water, thereby raising the Ph. The basicity is unnaffected. so the "whatif" i have is if a person were to diffuse co2 directly into the res, and increase the Alkalinity of the nutrients via carbonate or bicarbonate and balance the two out to keep a good solid Ph, what would the effect be? It seems like certain salts, most importantly Calcium, Magnesium and Potasium, would me more readily available to the plants in larger quantities if Alkalinity were kept higher and using the co2 introduction in the res to keep the Ph lower, say 5.5-6.0
Obviously Alkali soils are typically bad for plant growth, but it seems this is due to the basicity rather than the alkalinity itself. couldn't lowering the Ph correct this problem? Anyone have an real chemisty knowledge or first hand experience playing with this?
Out in left field here, and i know the age old argument that co2 in a rez does nothing for the plants as far as the co2 itself goes, but co2 disolving in water lowers Ph significantly. Many saltwater aquariums compensate for this by growing macro algae's that take Co2 out of the water, thereby raising the Ph. The basicity is unnaffected. so the "whatif" i have is if a person were to diffuse co2 directly into the res, and increase the Alkalinity of the nutrients via carbonate or bicarbonate and balance the two out to keep a good solid Ph, what would the effect be? It seems like certain salts, most importantly Calcium, Magnesium and Potasium, would me more readily available to the plants in larger quantities if Alkalinity were kept higher and using the co2 introduction in the res to keep the Ph lower, say 5.5-6.0
Obviously Alkali soils are typically bad for plant growth, but it seems this is due to the basicity rather than the alkalinity itself. couldn't lowering the Ph correct this problem? Anyone have an real chemisty knowledge or first hand experience playing with this?
