Hi all. I am having difficulting keeping pH steady, so it's led me to think that the nutrient solutions I have been trying (medi-one and General Organics) have a buffer, because the pH wants to be 6.8. Buffers are usually in the form of either Calcium bicarbonate or Sodium bicarbonate. This is also known as total alkalinity and if you've ever tried to balance the chemistry of a swimming pool or hot tub you probably know the relationship between TA and pH.
I may have to pull the chemistry books off the shelf and donate several hours of reading to this but thought I'd just put it out there for anyone experience with chemistry. My plants have been looking deficient, especially in what appears to be nitrogen and/or magnesium. Besides the pH problem, I have been pondering some chemical reactions that might be occuring. I haven't had time to balance my own equations. I got these from web sources:
3 NaHCO3 + H3C6H5O7 --> 3 CO2 + 3 H2O + Na3C6H5O7
(sodium bicarbonate) (citric acid) = (carbon dioxide) (water) (sodium citrate)
CaCO3(s) + 2 HCl(aq) → CaCl2(aq) + CO2(g) + H2O(l)
(calcium bicarbonate) (hydrochoric acid) = calcium chloride, etc
Reaction #2 isn't particular to my case but I haven't found or done the work to figure out what it would be with citric acid (what I'm using).
My point in this being, if there is a buffer present in nutrient (say because it's geared toward soil and you're trying it with hydro) and you're reacting it with acid to get your desired pH, what potential is there to change pair bonds in molecules that would cause an excess of a mineral? I am wondering if I may have cause toxic calcium by breaking bicarbonate chains. Toxic calcium locks out magnesium. Would Sodium bicarbonate result in NaCl if Sodium Citrate continues to decay with chloride ions present? which can't be very good either...
My brain hurts... if yours doesn't, please respond
I may have to pull the chemistry books off the shelf and donate several hours of reading to this but thought I'd just put it out there for anyone experience with chemistry. My plants have been looking deficient, especially in what appears to be nitrogen and/or magnesium. Besides the pH problem, I have been pondering some chemical reactions that might be occuring. I haven't had time to balance my own equations. I got these from web sources:
3 NaHCO3 + H3C6H5O7 --> 3 CO2 + 3 H2O + Na3C6H5O7
(sodium bicarbonate) (citric acid) = (carbon dioxide) (water) (sodium citrate)
CaCO3(s) + 2 HCl(aq) → CaCl2(aq) + CO2(g) + H2O(l)
(calcium bicarbonate) (hydrochoric acid) = calcium chloride, etc
Reaction #2 isn't particular to my case but I haven't found or done the work to figure out what it would be with citric acid (what I'm using).
My point in this being, if there is a buffer present in nutrient (say because it's geared toward soil and you're trying it with hydro) and you're reacting it with acid to get your desired pH, what potential is there to change pair bonds in molecules that would cause an excess of a mineral? I am wondering if I may have cause toxic calcium by breaking bicarbonate chains. Toxic calcium locks out magnesium. Would Sodium bicarbonate result in NaCl if Sodium Citrate continues to decay with chloride ions present? which can't be very good either...
My brain hurts... if yours doesn't, please respond