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Why does muriatic acid get a bad rap as a hydroponic pH down?

P

p0opstlnksal0t

Active member
i dont think Muriatic acid is as bad as it sounds... unless im completely off base with my past research on the use of Muriatic acid as PH down.

Hydrochloric acid is the salt of hydronium ion, H3O+ and chloride. It is usually prepared by treating HCl with water.

HCl + H2O -> H3O+ + Cl-

Hydrochloric acid can therefore be used to prepare salts called chlorides. Hydrochloric acid is a strong acid, since it is completely dissociated in water.

The chloride ion is the anion (negatively charged ion) Cl−. It is formed when the element chlorine (a halogen) gains an electron or when a compound such as hydrogen chloride is dissolved in water or other polar solvents. Chloride salts such as sodium chloride are often very soluble in water.

Chloride is the most recent addition to the list of essential elements. Although chloride (Cl) is classified as a micronutrient, plants may take up as much chloride as they do secondary elements such as sulfur.

The primary roles of chloride include:

Chloride is important in the opening and closing of stomata. The role of the chloride anion (Cl-) is essential to chemically balance the potassium ion (K+) concentration that increases in the guard cells during the opening and closing of stomata.

Chloride also functions in photosynthesis, specifically in the water splitting system.

Chloride functions in cation balance and transport within the plant.

Chloride diminishes the effects of fungal infections in an as yet undefined way.

Chloride competes with nitrate uptake, tending to promote the use of ammonium nitrogen. Lowering nitrate uptake may be a factor in chloride’s role in disease suppression, since high plant nitrates have been associated with disease severity.
Chloride is a critical component in the development of plants.

Factors Affecting Chloride Availability
Most soil chloride is highly soluble and is found predominantly dissolved in the soil water. Chloride is found in the soil as the chloride ion. Being an anion, it is fully mobile except where held by soil anion exchange sites. In areas where rainfall is relatively high and internal soil drainage is good, it may be leached from the soil profile. Also, where muriate of potash fertilizer is not regularly applied, chloride deficiencies can occur. Atmospheric chloride deposition tends to be rather high along coastal regions and decreases as you progress inland.

Chloride, nitrate, sulfate, borate, and molybdate are all anions in their available forms, and in that form they are antagonistic to each other. Therefore, an excess of one can decrease the availability of another. Little information is available on other specific interactions that may occur.

Chloride Deficiency Symptoms
Too little chloride in plants can cause a variety of symptoms.
Chloride deficiency symptoms include:

Wilting due to a restricted and highly branched root system, often with stubby tips, and

Leaf mottling and leaflet blade tip wilting with chlorosis has also been observed.
In particular, chloride deficiency in cabbage is marked by an absence of the cabbage odor from the plant.

Chloride Toxicity Symptoms
Too much chloride in plants results in symptoms that are similar to typical cases of salt damage.
Chloride toxicity symptoms include:

Leaf margins are scorched and abscission is excessive.

Leaf/leaflet size is reduced and may appear to be thickened.

Overall plant growth is reduced. Chloride accumulation is higher in older tissue than in newly matured leaves. In conifers, the early symptom is a yellow mottling of the needles, followed by the death of the affected needles.
Identifying toxicity in plants can help avoid long term damage.
https://www.tetrachemicals.com/Products/Agriculture/Chloride_-_An_Essential_Element.aqf
Click to expand...
 
Palindrome

Palindrome

King of Schwag
What I think you need to take in regard, is that Cl is a micro element. The plants need very little of this, so unless your running pure R/O water. Your most likely covered with Cl trace elements in your water source, as it's a common water treatment chemical.

My tab water contains Chlorid 100 mg/l, from the public Analysis Report from my water supply. Here the legal limit is 250 mg/l, but thats different from country to country.

Using an acid like Phosphoric acid, your adding Phosphate (PO4) to your nutrient mix, a macro nutrient.

When you add anything to your nutrient mix, your Ec/ppm is rising and your plant have a upper limit. If your nutrient mix's Ec get's higher then your plants Ec, a R/O starts and the nutrient flow is locked or reversed.

So you have a max Ec/ppm, but you want to have as much nutrients available for your plants as possible. Given that the extra Cl ions, will take up space. Where you could have PO ions, your plants will have less nutrients available. Not a optimal choice

Then there is the whole part of over feeding micro elements, it will lock out other nutrients. So if your not running a advanced hydro setup, with pure R/O water or otherwise have no Cl ions in the water source. There is little need and some risk, adding this to your nutrient mix.

I hope this helps :D
 
M

Mr Blah

Member
I'm no scientist by any means. I go on; What works,....go with it.
I understand a lot of this acid is probably no good for the plants...hell any acid in great amounts is not good.
But if the plant is not showing signs of torture than why not just use it especially if it is not going to be long term. (in my case I feel my well will naturally drop its own PH in the summer)
 
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