Ph down corrosive...

SamWE19

Well-Known Member
made a stupid mistake recently. Bought a bottle of ph down and it arrived with a slight leak.

I put the bottle at first down on laminate flooring when I got in the house, then I moved it to the kitchen counter top.

Then I took it to the grow room.

It's left white stains on the flooring where the colour has been removed, the kitchen counter tops the same and drips across a carpet on the way to grow room...

I don't want to have to replace all the laminate all the carpet and kitchen counter tops due to a bloody leaky bottle.

Anyone know of anyway to sort this shit out?

I've looked everywhere but most people don't have bottles of ph down in their house so it's not a common issue so I thought I'd ask on here.

Cheers
 

bird mcbride

Well-Known Member
In F&D tables you can use dolomite lime as a PH down. A bag purchased from a lumber yard will last like forever on a 1kw grow.
 

bird mcbride

Well-Known Member
Uh no. Not to mention getting calcium and magnesium way out of wack
I've been doing it for years. It turns out that dolomite lime takes a bit of time to break down to become absorbed by the plant's root system. By that time the res is long discarded. Unlike soil and other grows that rely on water absorbency in the medium, the lava rock/hydroton F&D system does not collect fine particles. They flush out and are found in the lower part of the res.

When using dolomite lime to PH down your F&D res, just like using liquid PH down, don't use too much.
 

Rakin

Well-Known Member
I've been doing it for years. It turns out that dolomite lime takes a bit of time to break down to become absorbed by the plant's root system. By that time the res is long discarded. Unlike soil and other grows that rely on water absorbency in the medium, the lava rock/hydroton F&D system does not collect fine particles. They flush out and are found in the lower part of the res.

When using dolomite lime to PH down your F&D res, just like using liquid PH down, don't use too much.

Ok I have got to try this now. I have dolomite and I have water but I don’t have F&D setup. I’m on my way to sprinkle some in tap and see what it does.
 

MichiganMedGrower

Well-Known Member
Bird said it drops ph and swears by it. I just had to see and so far not in my tap

Lime is calcium. It buffers the solution. It just takes time to break down and activate. It will naturally pull ph toward neutral. Or 7.

Hard water has high alkalinity because of calcium content.

Never heard or read anyone say it lowers ph before. It’s added to acidic peat to raise the ph to be used as potting soil.
 

Rakin

Well-Known Member
Lime is calcium. It buffers the solution. It just takes time to break down and activate. It will naturally pull ph toward neutral. Or 7.

Hard water has high alkalinity because of calcium content.

Never heard or read anyone say it lowers ph before. It’s added to acidic peat to raise the ph to be used as potting soil.

Yeah I know. That’s why I have it is for peat. Bird swore it lowered his ph in F&D for years. Anyhow I had to try to see if it was some magical thing in just water. I think he is thinking sulfur
 

bird mcbride

Well-Known Member
It’s pretty much blue now.
The dolomite lime I use is for concrete, I get it from a lumber yard. I get the water from a well, blue (over 7 ph), and I can use this type of lime to bring it down to lime green or almost yellow 5.5ph. On my test kit green is 6-6.5, depending on the shade. I've never used any lime made for gardening purposes.

There are all kinds of different mixes of lime and by itself lime is a ph up. The other stuff in the cement mix lime brings it down and stabilizes the mix.

Seriously, I've been doing this for years and I've already run into this discussion before on RIU.
 

Rakin

Well-Known Member
The dolomite lime I use is for concrete, I get it from a lumber yard. I get the water from a well, blue (over 7 ph), and I can use this type of lime to bring it down to lime green or almost yellow 5.5ph. On my test kit green is 6-6.5, depending on the shade. I've never used any lime made for gardening purposes.

There are all kinds of different mixes of lime and by itself lime is a ph up. The other stuff in the cement mix lime brings it down and stabilizes the mix.

Seriously, I've been doing this for years and I've already run into this discussion before on RIU.
I don’t doubt you man. If I run across any laying around somewhere I’m going to snatch it up and try it. My tap runs around 8 + and using ph down for my outdoor hempy buckets isn’t real practical
 

Rakin

Well-Known Member
Is it possible that particular dolomite is acid washed? Idk just thinking outside the box
 
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