Can I make my own "ph up" and "ph down"?

[Core]

dont know if it has been said but i use lemon juse 2 lower......

 

[mace_ecam]

sodium is really bad for plants, i mean really bad catalytic exchange
potassium hydroxide or potassium silicate as pH up
phosporic acid or a blend of phosporic and nitric acid as pH down
for hydro

peace,

mace

 

[sproutco]

sodium is really bad for plants

Here I will quote myself.

Sodium in small quantities is beneficial to plants in that it can do the same job (function) as potassium within the plant.

It is suitable for your water to contain up to 69 ppm sodium without problems. Sodium nitrate is a common fertilizer. A ton of sodium would, however, ruin soil structure. Sodium hydroxide is fine to use for ph up because so little is used for the effect and so little sodium is added.

 

[sproutco]

I was at work today.. working in the boiler room and found a chemical called
this came off the WHMIS sticker..
Series 5404 Quatic industries
Boiler Alkalinity adjuster & scale preventer
Sodium Hydroxide solution class 8(9.2) un1842 pks group 8

Now i have a small glass juice bottle half full.
I put 1 drop into 1.5L tapwater and it went up
Tapwater Ph 6.72 ec 301 ppm 150
one drop Ph 8.75 ec 334 ppm 167
checked with black hanna Ph/ec/ppm
You think this is safe in a recirc dwc system
I will be taking clones before anything
thanx and ttyl

As long as its pure sodium hydroxide and nothing else added it would be ok to use.

 

[simba]

heya..
so i went to find
potassium hydroxide
and
phosporic acid

i couldnt find either.. however i did find potasium carbonate.. or was it bicarbonate..
it was pool ph up..

where should i go to find the hydroxide and acid....
IE what kind of shops carry this..
ace doesnt.. nor lowes...

 

[Guest]

One good alternative to ph down is fulvic acid (and/or humic acid). This is not a "how to cut cost" type of alternative, but these organic acids have many benefits as well as lowering the ph. - strongly recommended espetially if using organics.

Instead of ph down, try using potassium silicate. It raises ph really well at the same time as being an awesome source of silica (which is what it is essentially used for). potassium silicates are hydro silica additive products such as GT Silica, Liquid Silicon, Baricade, etc. - allways follow the manufacturers recommendations and handle with care

These 2 ph adjustment alternatives I use myself and my ph is allways rock solid, infact I dont ever need to adjust ph, but that has a lot to do with other things I use as well as using very pure (0 EC) naturally sourced water (from an aquifer).
I recommend using ph adjustment additives which have other benefitial functions rather than adding a product just as ph up/down.

Thanks for answering this good question. nam-myoho-renge-kyo!

 

[Sundown]

Many Thanx 4 this thread Sprout. I'm currently counting the days till my next shipment from the hydro supplier gets here, because I'm very low on ph up. After reading this I was checking labels. Seems part b of genesis instruments' electrode cleaning solution is Sodium Hydroxide 0.1M. I guess I'll b using this 4 ph up if my shipment doesn't get here soon. At this point all the argument about whats easier or cheaper is academic, when U run out of Ph up U do what U have to to get the ph right!

 

[sproutco]

Now with more pictures! Bump.

 

[420KushMaster]

lousy thread

 

[Sunset]

Excellent thread I think!! For a first time grower like myself who has thrown a number of dollars into this. I am trying to save funds where ever I can.
All I can say is thanks Sproutco! I have my overwatering taken care of, my girl is growing fast now.

I wanted to ask, I read a link to a system done by Dr. Maynard Murray.
List shown- add 2 plain asprin to a gallon of water to go from 8.0 to 6.0 PH
Will this affect nute solution? Thinking about getting a bottle of battery acid anyway, need to top of my boat batteries. Just said to myself, hey asprin is cheap & have plenty here.
I grow in soil, 50%promix 25%verm, 25% perlite Floranova Grow & bloom nutes/distilled water.

Thanks again for the countless number of times you have helped myself & so many

 

[TGT]

i think this info is great to know> if you are just a samll time closet garden< ya it is probably much easier to just buy the samll bottles of ph up and ph down> but if you are doing a lot of plants on a consistant basis this information is great> it is always good to know how anything works or its ingrediants< so even just for this fact this thread is great! great work and i will definitel resort back to this thread from time to time> great info!

ps: sorry for the weird characters and all small case< i spilled coffee on my keyboard and now it is all buggered up!

tgt

 

[Patsheba]

I like all the chemical information. I prefer to use the white vinegar myself, altho my partner wants me to use the official PH lowerer (in 2 years, never had to raise the ph yet) all the time. I was using a gallon bottle of that stuff a week during our summer's peak!

Does ph actually get too low sometimes?

 

[stonedage]

thanx for the GREAT tip dont know why everyone is complaining that you are trying to help people save some money. I see there is great savings in making your own up and down. I small bottle of store bought vs 1 huge tub of homemade for the same price makes a lot of sence to people using huge amaounts of h20 in their systems. Sure if you are only using a few ml.s everyone in a while, it may be easier to just by it but if you are using alot often, well then shit it only makes sence to make your own version in a large quantity, exspecially remembering that this is essentially the same thing they are selling in a nice fancy bottle with pretty labels(come on people do ya actually think that you arent paying for those pretty little bottles that the up and down comes to you in?) Thanx, Ill make my own, the store can keep theirs
SA

 

[cremater]

BEing a kinda DIY guy by nature, this info is great! You see I dont just want to make something that works, I want to know WHY it works, and how it works. Thats like 80% of the fun I get out of doing this stuff.

Now to the point about all the bickering.

Why bicker? I mean in all reality all of the information on this site is simply a whole bunch of people getting together with one thing in common and presenting thier own individual methods and ideas on how they achieve the final common result....happy healthy plants. Some of us grow in Hydro, some in soil, some indooors, some outdoors, some with a particular brand of nutes, some using others, some making all thier own stuff even if it is available on the market.

To me, whether I use this formula for making my own PH adjusters or if I choose to go buy them from the Hydro store, the information is valuable in itself. It is simple there are other options available, this being one of them, that give each of us the ability to customize our individual grow methods to those methods that best suit us. DIY or buy the box, either way works for me and its really up to the individual. If it wasnt, every time you went to buy a taco no matter where you went to buy it from it would be the same.

Props to thinking things thru, props for simply getting info out there!

Peace and Green

Crem

 

[Guest]

FWIW I have been useing sulfuric (Battery)acid for about 3 weeks now it works great! I am really pissed of at all the money I spent on ph down over the last 2 years.

Thank you Sproutco.

 

[simba]

LOL i have switched also and im loving it..

i usto water down my ph's any ways.. just so i could pour and not worry each time how much is added..

 

[smokeymacpot]

heres what ive used in the past to adjust the ph down : Sulphate Of Iron http://www.gardenhealth.com/product_range/straights/iron.php

it doesnt cost alot and you get a big box of it.

far safer than using sulphuric acid!!

 

[sproutco]

heres what ive used in the past to adjust the ph down : Sulphate Of Iron http://www.gardenhealth.com/product_range/straights/iron.php

it doesnt cost alot and you get a big box of it.

far safer than using sulphuric acid!!

Your right. Iron sulphate does lower ph. But, your adding alot of iron. This can cause a manganese, zinc, or copper deficiency. Remember, some of the micros compete against each other getting in the plant. Sulfuric acid adds sulfur which is neutral in the fact it does not cause a deficiency of another element even if alot is used.

 

[smokeymacpot]

Your right. Iron sulphate does lower ph. But, your adding alot of iron. This can cause a manganese, zinc, or copper deficiency. Remember, some of the micros compete against each other getting in the plant. Sulfuric acid adds sulfur which is neutral in the fact it does not cause a deficiency of another element even if alot is used.

iirc you only need a tiny bit of it to drop your water ph down.

how much iron does a weed plant need/like ? i think iron sulphate is 20% iron.
i think the iron stops yellowing leaves as well, or it was the acidity allowing nutrients to get taken in by the plants more easily. im a bit rusty lol

do you know where to buy (CMEMORY) ph paper in the uk? you only get the soil testers in garden centres here and theyre about £2 per test!!

 

[sproutco]

how much iron does a weed plant need/like ?

A few parts per million iron is needed by plants in order to function. More iron does not easily harm plants but may cause a deficiency of another element...probably manganese first.