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Thread: Lowering the pH

  1. #1
    Members aquaarche's Avatar
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    Lowering the pH

    I heard Vinegar lowers the pH but after a gallon if it in my system my water still stays at 8.5-9. which is way to high for the plats to take up nutrients.

    Any suggestions?

    the pebbles we purchased came from the sea and it may be why the pH is high. it was completely washed though but some say the shell fragments may be causing high pH.

    any natural ways to get the pH down to 7-7.5

  2. #2
    Moderator badflash's Avatar
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    Re: Lowering the pH

    If you are using coral as a substrate, or any carbonate rock, you'll not get your pH down. You need to replace it with something neutral like quarzite, granite, fired clay, etc.

    Carbonate rocks will buffer the water to above 8.5.
    The best fertilizer is the farmer's shadow

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    Moderator jackalope's Avatar
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    Re: Lowering the pH

    I found out the hard way that the acid in vinegar doesn't do any good if you've got the wrong kind of media in the growbed - it just lasted for a few hours and then went right back up where it started .... you have to use a good acid, as badflash told me ..... it was muriatic ..... be right back .... I'll get a link to the thread ...... here it is:Clik
    it's on page 11 of wolfracer's system build, and badflash says:
    You can condition your make-up water with a little Muratic Acid. You can get it by the gallon at home depot. It doesn't take very much, so be careful if you use it.
    and
    You could calculate it, but depending on the species of what is buffering the water, you need different amounts. I put in an eye dropper full (5ml) per 100 gallons, wait an hour and test. Repeat until the pH is where you want it. Be sure to have lots of flow to be sure it is all mixed. As the pH drops, more limestone may go into solution, so it can take some time to get it where you want it.

    Remember that pH is a log scale, so as you go from 9 to 8 it takes 10 times as much acid as it takes to go from 8 to 7. Go cautiously. Use rubber gloves and a face shield. You can't replace your eyes.
    Perhaps someday he'll enlighten us about how to calculate it, but the way he shows is good enuff for me His idea of getting rid of the rocks was a good suggestion .... when I took out all the "lava rock" which I found out was some sort of fake product made of clay (and probably cement and lime), my tomatoes started to fruit, and my Guppies are being fruitful and multiplying .
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  4. #4
    Moderator badflash's Avatar
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    Re: Lowering the pH

    The problem is "the pebbles we purchased came from the sea" That means coral. You'd have to disolve all the stone way to stop the pH from rebounding. The rocks are the problem. Without changing them I see no way to control the pH.
    The best fertilizer is the farmer's shadow

  5. #5
    Members aquaarche's Avatar
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    Re: Lowering the pH

    Hey everyone,

    I replaced the stones with river rock pebbles I put water from a well and rain water when I first started the PH was 7 the next day 9.0. so then I scrubbed out the fish tank. and replaced the water again. 7.5 when I started and 9 the next day.

    does anyone have any idea what I am doing wrong.

    did I need to totally sterilize all the plastic components of my barrelponics?

    it seems to be totally crazy. it has been five days since I changed the rock and four days since I scrubbed the fish tank. there was very little left of the bacterial growth and stuff in the system after that.

    should I just wait it out two weeks and see what happens. my beans and lettuce sprouted already.

  6. #6
    Moderator wolfracer's Avatar
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    Re: Lowering the pH

    It took a long time for my ph to fall because of limestones mixed in with my pea gravel. But it eventually came down to normal over time. Vinegar and muraitic acid only worked short term and were pretty hard on my plants. I thinks the limestone just had to dissolve out.

  7. #7
    Members aquaarche's Avatar
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    Re: Lowering the pH

    there is no lime stone in this rock. the average pH of the soil in the area where we got the river rock is 5.6 I know this becase someone charted the pH in this area when they did a study of the whole Island. that is why I find it strange.

    but they have done clothes washing in the area and it could be some pH is caused by the soaps used along the river by the people living along it. but I did a check of the pH of the water in the river it is 7

  8. #8
    Moderator wolfracer's Avatar
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    Re: Lowering the pH

    Something is buffering your ph. Has your sytem cycled? Do you have pictures, maybe it something like your tank or grow bed containers?

  9. #9
    Moderator badflash's Avatar
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    Re: Lowering the pH

    Ernie- his pH is high, not low. Either his test kit is wacked out, or something is adding caustic to the system. In my experience, shells do a great job of bringing pH up, but not down. Have you personnaly been able to lower high pH with shells?
    The best fertilizer is the farmer's shadow

  10. #10
    Moderator badflash's Avatar
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    Re: Lowering the pH

    The big problem with peat is that it is exhusted quickly and turns the water brown. Something in his system is buffering the water way high. He's be using bales of the stuff. I have to suspect there is something in the system, likely rocks that are doing this. Coral is still the big suspect in my mind.
    The best fertilizer is the farmer's shadow

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