green as grass
Active Member
I currently run Mad Farmer up and down with the whole line of H&G aqua flakes.
Whats the BEST?
Whats the BEST?
What's the Best Ph Up and Down to Use?
- Thread starter green as grass
- Start date
bowlfullofbliss
Well-Known Member
I personally use General Hydroponics brand. Plants have no issue with it at all. I have very hard water, and use a lot of it, no problem.
StonedBlownSkiller
Well-Known Member
I agree,,,GH is good,,,trusted for years.
green as grass
Active Member
Thats what i was using and then of course the swifty lil hydro store guy talked me into no dyes and shit blah blah blah. cool just wanted feed back.
Also is it ok to use in soil? I have another test run with H&G soil line up with all suppliments
Also is it ok to use in soil? I have another test run with H&G soil line up with all suppliments
StonedBlownSkiller
Well-Known Member
Fuck that...General Hydroponics is a great product. Cheap and has excellent results. The guys trying to sell new products...Works fine in soil. GH comes with directions for soil and hydro on every package.
green as grass
Active Member
Thanks bro. I'm sick of these fuckers lying and trying to pump out products that aren't compatible like chem nutes and great white. Like really bud...
sell sell sell!!!!!!!!
sell sell sell!!!!!!!!
GreenThumbSucker
Well-Known Member
GH PH DOWN is made from phosphoric acid, which makes your reservoir pump and hoses slimy, especially during flowering. When the phosphoric acid hits the P saturated solution, a plume of phosphorus hits the water and the solution cant hold it all, some of it changes form to a solid and it becomes slime that sticks to everything it touches. I use sulfuric acid and I get no slime at all, all I have to do is rinse out my system once a week, almost no scrubbing at all.
You can get sulfuric acid at any auto parts store, just ask for battery acid. Cost is anywhere from $3.99 - $5.99 per liter, very cheap. You have to ask for it, they keep it behind the counter. Wear rubber gloves and goggles while handling it. For weaker strength, use 1/3 of a cup per gallon. For normal strength use about a half cup per gallon. Make sure you use RO water or distilled water. You dont want the chlorine from your tap water interacting with the sulfuric acid. A $3.99 container of battery acid will make about 8 or 10 gallons of PH Down.
For PH UP use 100% pure lye. One level tablespoon makes a gallon, which lasts years. Lifetime supply for under 5$.
Read the ingredients on the lye to make sure it is PURE sodium hydroxide or pure Lye in crystal form. To make the PH UP, fill a gallon container 3/4 with RO or distilled water and drop one tablespoon of lye crystals in, then top off with the rest of the water. Wear rubber gloves and goggles. I will never ever have to pay 25$ per gallon for UP or DOWN again!!!
Get it online cheap:
http://www.amazon.com/Sodium-Hydroxide-Caustic-Cleaner-Making/dp/B0032LVYXQ/ref=pd_sxp_grid_i_1_0
or get it at the hardware store:
Just make sure it is pure lye or pure sodium hydroxide
Hope this helps.
gudkarma
New Member
school is in session.
dont know about most of you, but i'll be taking the big bus.
short one is for the herbal 'tards.
i hope ya'll just learned somthing... i know i did.
Dirty Harry
Well-Known Member
I have been using sulfuric acid for PH down for my last two grows. After spending $10 on a small bottle of fish PH down I see it contained sulfuric acid. Didn't take much for me to figure out the cheap way was the auto shop.
gudkarma
New Member
adding to this...
i just checked ebay &, if you can't get the sulfuric or lye in your area, you can buy it online.
i bought a soluable powdered humic acid from a guy on ebay after seeing AN grandma enngy (whatever its called) is nothing but.
i have a lifetime supply of liquid concentrate for $15. AN sells one quart for x2 as much.
i just checked ebay &, if you can't get the sulfuric or lye in your area, you can buy it online.
i bought a soluable powdered humic acid from a guy on ebay after seeing AN grandma enngy (whatever its called) is nothing but.
i have a lifetime supply of liquid concentrate for $15. AN sells one quart for x2 as much.
DragonKlutch
Member
I have a question in regards to using vinegar, I started to use it and it seems to stabilize my PH for a much longer time frame then what I was using. I use a sodium based crystal, for pools and spas, the only two ingredients are sodium sulphate and sodium bisulphate. We have a pool so I just use it to lower my PH; just ½ tsp per 5 gallons brings my water right to 6. You can purchase a 4 lb jar of it for 4 bucks at this time of the year.
So what about vinegar good or bad to use?
So what about vinegar good or bad to use?
green as grass
Active Member
man battery acid! holy smokes. you dont have any issues with it? im so down to try.
kevin
Well-Known Member
i can't tell you what's the best, but i can tell you that i have used general hydroponics for the last 3 years without a problem.
GreenThumbSucker
Well-Known Member
No issues at all. Battery acid is pure sulfuric acid mixed with a little pure water. Just be very careful handling it. It is best to use it up all at once and make several gallons then toss the container that it came in.
Vinegar also works well, but I have always found that it wears off quick.
With the lye make sure that Lye is the only ingredient (100% lye, 99.9% lye, or 100% sodium hydroxide) and that it is in crystal form.
Dirty Harry
Well-Known Member
Well, people use it in their fresh and salt water fish tanks. In salt water tanks the coral, fish, and other animals are NOT CHEAP.
When used correctly, all that lives in the water adjusted with it just fine.
I figure if it is safe for expensive fish, it should be safe for plants...when used correctly.
UrbanAerO
Active Member
This is what I use also, but its best not to add any PH. After I mix everything and PH is say 4.5 close to my target 5.8, I will add some more protekt silica and PH with that, but if I have to add too much( more than 2.5ml/gal) silica I will use the mad farmers PH(great product)
dudeoflife
Well-Known Member
Excellent Post!
I would also like to add a few things about the GH Down-
I am looking at the ingredients of the Dry Concentrate, which are:
Ammonium Sulfate, Citric Acid, and Urea Phosphate.
The slime you can get in your rez from the concentrate could be from the urea contained in that product.
Urea does basically nothing in hydro. The nitrification process, the process of turning urea into a usable source of N requires, ideally, soil and nickel (N). It just sits and sometimes flocculates in hydro.
So the slime can be attributed to the source of the phosphorus, rather than the phosphorus. The urea.
Which is yucky to add into any medium to begin with.
As far as using sulphuric acid--
100%. MJ plants, most plants, have a high tolerance to S, 150-200ish ppm, and most plants use very little of it. So it'll hang around for a while and keep the ph steady. It is an excellent micro to boost, and an excellent placeholder element-- meaning a good & cheap way to boost your ppm if needed, with no ill effects. edit-- IN HYDRO ONLY!!!
dudeoflife
Well-Known Member
Also -- in defense of GH Down, dry formula,
On the flipside, the urea in said product seems to agree with hard water. Still have to research that one. Notice how on the GH Flora Hardwater Micro bottle, that it also contains urea as a source of N. Go figure. Coincidence?
So maybe the GH Down doesn't agree with R.O. water. A possibility...
On the flipside, the urea in said product seems to agree with hard water. Still have to research that one. Notice how on the GH Flora Hardwater Micro bottle, that it also contains urea as a source of N. Go figure. Coincidence?
So maybe the GH Down doesn't agree with R.O. water. A possibility...
green as grass
Active Member
wow! thanks for the new found knowledge i jus gained.