Re: Acids to lower pH

[Fredrik Ljungberg <Fredrik.Ljungberg@saab.se>]

"Beaudry, Kyle : SEN" wrote:
> 
> Kim or Steve:
> 
> I have noticed that the majority of the commercially available pH down's are
> comprised of sulphuric acid.
> You said that you use muriatic, if I remember correctly from my First year
> Chemistry classes muriatic is Hydrochloric acid which when dissolved in
> water will dissassociate into Hydrogen and Chlorine ions. I spend a whack of
> cash buying water treatment product to remove chlorine from my tap water
> before doing my WC's. I assume you have been using the muriatic for some
> time, and you have not noticed any ill effects? Probably a simple
> explanation for this... it just got me to thinking and I was curious because
> one litre of muriatic is sure cheaper than the commercially prepared pH down
> out there. It was the thought that adding HCl to my tanks would cause
> problems so I refrained. Could anyone shed some light?
> 

Don't know exactly what muriatic acid is but if it's HCl then it
should lower your pH alright. Something to consider when using
HCl is that it has no buffering in itself so you have to be careful
of the 'pH bounce back' that will occur. Using phosphoric acid
is in that respect better, as I would think sulphuric acid is,
because these have their own buffering systems. When you lower
pH to very low levels you put the normal buffering system out
of play so it's beneficial to add another.  

I have tried HCl and it worked fine if I filtered through peat to
keep the pH down and stable. I have since moved to phosphoric acid 
and I think it works even better. Even in tanks where I don't use 
peat the pH is stable and fairly reliable. I have soft tap water 
with low buffering capacity which of course plays an important part.

I haven't noticed any ill effects using phosphoric acid. I am very
observant regarding algae because of the added phosphor but have
not seen any bad effects yet that I can blame on the acid. I am 
a bit hesitant to put sulphuric acid in my tank.


Regards
Fredrik L.


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