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[TUTORIAL] DIY PH Up and PH Down


Wild Bill

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Submitted By: Wild BillSubmitted On: Yesterday, 03:08 PMSubmitted In: Grow Room Tricks and Tips:Click here to go to tutorial

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I ran across these on another site and thought I'd pass it along.

 

 

PH Down

 

Supplies:

 

(1) 2 L Bottle - Labeled as ACID - $1

(1) Funnel - $1

(1) Box of battery acid - Auto Part Store - $7

(1) Set of measuring spoons - $1

(1) 1 gal of distilled water - $1

 

Grand Total: $11

 

Precautions:

 

Use safety glasses, rubber gloves, and well ventilated areas.

 

NEVER POUR WATER INTO ACID!!!

 

Always pour SMALL amounts of acid in LARGE amounts of water, SLOWLY!!!

 

Procedure:

 

Fill the 2 L bottle with about 3/4 full with distilled water. This bottle should already be labeled for its intents and purposes.

 

Prepare your battery acid and measuring spoons.

 

With your measuring spoons mix the acid from the store with water in a 1:10 ratio. That is ONE part ACID, TEN parts WATER.

 

For those lacking mathematical skill: ~180 mL of sulfuric acid in the 2 L bottle.

 

This should bring the solution from 33% acid to 3.3% acid. Still, VERY DANGEROUS TO STORE AND HANDLE.

 

Slowly pour the acid into the funnel, into the 2 L bottle making sure that the bottle doesn't over-heat. If it does, you are going to the hospital and forget any holiday pictures from now on.

 

Once you have enough acid in the container to have the 10:1 ratio, fill the remaining volume with distilled water. Seal the lid and gently turn the bottle up-side down and back until fully mixed. Do this slowly.

 

 

 

 

PH Up

 

 

Supplies:

 

(1) 2 L bottle - Labeled as BASE - $1

(1) Funnel - $1

(1) 2 lb dry sodium hydroxide by Roebic - Lowe's - $12.98+ tax

(1) Set of measuring spoons - $1

(1) 1 gal of distilled water - $1 (FREE! with a clean dehumidifier or reverse osmosis filter on a water outlet.)

 

Grand Total: ~$18.00

 

 

Precautions:

 

Use safety glasses, rubber gloves, and well ventilated areas.

 

NEVER POUR WATER INTO A BASE!!!

 

Always pour SMALL amounts of base in LARGE amounts of water, SLOWLY!!!

 

 

Procedure:

 

Fill the 2 L bottle with about 3/4 full with distilled water. This bottle should already be labeled for its intents and purposes.

 

Prepare your caustic base (sodium hydroxide, or lye) and measuring spoons.

 

SLOWLY pour (1) 1 tbsp of your base into the 2 L bottle. Slowly swish the solution to ensure a good mix of the dry granules. After all of the base has been mixed in slowly add more distilled water until nearly full.

 

Remember, if you mix this stuff too fast it will explode.. and possibly kill you.

 

Now, get an eye dropper and use three drops at a time on a test gallon to figure out the concentration. Unless you have the equipment to measure the granules by mass and calculate molarity of the aqueous solution you will have to test the strength of every batch. The good thing is, this is so cheap and effective it will be worth it.

 

Now you have enough pH Up for 2 years of constant use. This means 2 years for heavy hydroponics, a decade for soil if you ever need it.

 

Now, there is a better option than the sodium hydroxide. There are plenty of aquatic shoppes that stock calcium hydroxide, which would be a better choice since plants need the calcium anyways. You can also use potassium hydroxide.

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for the price of ph up and down you would be silly to attempt this.not to mention if the leo pulled you over and found them components they might think your making meth. why to save a few bucks would you take the chance of blowing yourself up. wow crazy

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i agree all them home rem ph up and down are weak at best to last long in a big dwc system with many big reservoirs ph down does cost a lot more. it wont poison ya for sure and drops the total cost per year way down! and is much more stable then vin,lemon juice or soda. thanks Wild Bill for this info very good!

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