muriatic acid as ph down...safe?

[StrapAssassin42]

I have access to free muriatic acid as well as a PH up chemical used for pools....are these safe to adjust my plant water with?

Any input would be greatly appreciated. thanks!

 

[dagnabit]

NOOOOOOOO!!!!!

muriatic acid is no bueno for human consumption.

 

[HueJass]

That stuff is potent, we used to make bombs with it when I was much younger. A 2 liter plastic coke bottle filled up 10% with the acid then 4 strips of crumpled tin foil. Put cap on tightly. Wait 2 min. Boom. 1 liter bottles worked for grenades and if you really wanted to go big you went with the 3 liter. The 2 liters used to completely level a mailbox if you put a nail in the front slot to hold it closed for the entire explosion.

My father used the acid to clean concrete, we used to poach it from him. He could never figure out why his acid kept disappearing.

I don't think I'd use it on plants.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Muratic is simply diluted HCl. It will work fine.

Of course you cannot consume it out the bottle...it has a pH of 2-3 and would burn the fuck out of you. But when it goes in the res it breaks down into the ions H+ and Cl-.. Only the Cl will be taken up by the plant. Smoking the resulting weed will be perfectly safe.

You just want to make sure not to use too much. Cl is necessary for the plant in very small quantities. Too much would be toxic to the plant.

Next thing you know people will be saying battery acid is not a good pH down.

 

[StrapAssassin42]

Muratic is simply diluted HCl. It will work fine.

Of course you cannot consume it out the bottle...it has a pH of 2-3 and would burn the fuck out of you. But when it goes in the res it breaks down into the ions H+ and Cl-.. Only the Cl will be taken up by the plant. Smoking the resulting weed will be perfectly safe.

You just want to make sure not to use too much. Cl is necessary for the plant in very small quantities. Too much would be toxic to the plant.

Next thing you know people will be saying battery acid is not a good pH down.

Thats kinda what i thought...not in technical terms but acid is acid.
I'm still leary to use it though, i probly just spend a few extra bucks and go with one designed for plant use.
Not to mention the fact that the fumes with knock your ass out! First time I caught a whiff i couldnt smell anything for the rest of the day!

 

[StrapAssassin42]

That stuff is potent, we used to make bombs with it when I was much younger. A 2 liter plastic coke bottle filled up 10% with the acid then 4 strips of crumpled tin foil. Put cap on tightly. Wait 2 min. Boom. 1 liter bottles worked for grenades and if you really wanted to go big you went with the 3 liter. The 2 liters used to completely level a mailbox if you put a nail in the front slot to hold it closed for the entire explosion.

My father used the acid to clean concrete, we used to poach it from him. He could never figure out why his acid kept disappearing.

I don't think I'd use it on plants.

Thats funny as shit! We used to use The Works drain cleaner and tin foil....same principal. We threw them off the roof of a business onto cars! I was a dumbass kid! LMAO!

 

[YosemiteSam]

True on the fumes. HCl is definitely nasty in that regard.

You could dilute it further with water which would reduce fumes.

Then again being comfortable with what you are doing counts for a lot. Good luck to you.

 

[foomar]

If you are lucky to have hard water with a natural low pH it hardly matters what acid you use as little will be needed , my tap water is pH 9+ and contains a considerable amount of calcium carbonate and needs large amounts of acid to bring down to optimum.

Useing hydrochloric in veg was seeing damage from some kind of defficiency/lockout , changeing to nitric acid removed this issue and the plants are really lush in veg.

We used to make similar bombs useing calcium carbide and water in tightly capped glass bottles , long before plastic was mainstream packageing , not sure how i survived my childhood but have an interesting collection of scars.

By dangerous trial and error we could judge the timeing pretty well , remember floating some downstream and scareing the shit out of anglers , like depth charges going off , happy days of misspent youth.

 

[wilbur]

difficult stuff to handle is hydrocloric acid. will work tho', as Yosemite suggests.
but better use vinegar, I think.

 

[crazybear]

So maybe a dumb question but how much vinegar do you need to use?

 

[GoneRooty]

Just use citric acid if you need a pH down. Lemon juice works great, and you CAN drink it right out of the bottle.

 

[ganja_hasi]

Just use citric acid if you need a pH down. Lemon juice works great, and you CAN drink it right out of the bottle.

 

[yesum]

I use lemon juice, about 1 tbsp per gallon of water for a ph lowering of 2 or so. You cannot make bombs with it though.

 

[StrapAssassin42]

I probly use the lemon juice...good info about the nitric acid but i like the availability and ease of use of the citrus, plus it's not dangerous.

On a side note...just heard on the national news the the feds are putting heavier regulations on ammonium nitrate to curb bomb making! Doesn't really affect us just ironic with all the bomb talk... lol