Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Does any on know if hydrocloric acid is bad for plans and fish to bring down the ph in a system? I have see somewhere of sulfuric acid being used to lower ph but not hydrocloric.

AP

How high is your pH AP?

VB PH 8.2

Ap

Hydrochloric acid would split to H and Cl ions (I forget the polarities)
Cl being chlorine ions would have to be bad for one's fish I would imagine? Being that we take such pains to remove chlorine from our makeup water?

Chemistry was never KP's strong suit

Lemon juice and vinegar are safe alternatives.

KP, I think I stuffed up by raising concerns in a previous thread ...not much wrong with Cl- ions in water, depending on the concentration...after all that's what you get when you dissolve sodium chloride in water

Doesn't mean I think it's safe, but Cl ions are not as bad as they sound.

Yep - I'd be inclined to use diluted hydrochloric acid. AP - if adding before your fish even arrive - then any Cl ions (albeit probably at safe levels anyway) will have burnt off by the time the fish come. If still concerned - you can always add some neutraliser.

see my post in monyas farm thread..............

http://backyardaquaponics.com/forum/vie ... 003#102003

for the record, common salt is also an ionic bonded compound and dissasociates in to Na+ and Cl- in solution.....................

not the same as having Cl dissolved in water which forms underchloric acid (HOCl) (i think there is a more common name.............

for anyone that is interested;

How does chlorine disinfection work?

Chlorine kills pathogens such as bacteria and viruses by breaking the chemical bonds in their molecules. Disinfectants that are used for this purpose consist of chlorine compounds which can exchange atoms with other compounds, such as enzymes in bacteria and other cells. When enzymes come in contact with chlorine, one or more of the hydrogen atoms in the molecule are replaced by chlorine. This causes the entire molecule to change shape or fall apart. When enzymes do not function properly, a cell or bacterium will die.

When chlorine is added to water, underchloric acids form:
Cl2 + H2O -> HOCl + H+ + Cl-

Depending on the pH value, underchloric acid partly expires to hypochlorite ions:
Cl2 + 2H2O -> HOCl + H3O + Cl-
HOCl + H2O -> H3O+ + OCl-

This falls apart to chlorine and oxygen atoms:
OCl- -> Cl- + O

Underchloric acid (HOCl, which is electrically neutral) and hypochlorite ions (OCl-, electrically negative) will form free chlorine when bound together. This results in disinfection. Both substances have very distinctive behaviour. Underchloric acid is more reactive and is a stronger disinfectant than hypochlorite. Underchloric acid is split into hydrochloric acid (HCl) and atomair oxygen (O). The oxygen atom is a powerful disinfectant.
The disinfecting properties of chlorine in water are based on the oxidising power of the free oxygen atoms and on chlorine substitution reactions......

why "under"chloric? because of the oxygen?

idunno! not like i did chem!

oic... cool, you just sound so much more intelligent guessing about chem than I do... so I assumed. I haven't done Chem since year 10 or 11 can't remember (repressed memories) I always loved balancing equations though, no1 else could do it... but then I've always been a math nut :-)

much is self taught.................

tends to get complicated with ions in solution that form compounds that cant exist out of the water.

H2O is really an AMAZING compound

You 2 should get a room