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Re: Muriatic acid to lower KH :-(
George,
A tiny bit of Cl is not the most harmful side-effect of using hydrochloric
acid. It could also cause some nasty burns and not feel too good if any
splashes into one's eye. :-(
Although Cloride ions are not desireable in excess, my feeling is that the
tiny amount needed to lower the pH and KH is not going to be enough to
introduce an unreasonable amount of Cl. Small amounts of Cl are needed by
plants anyway.
Using the atomic weights for Na (=11), H (=1) and Cl (=17), 3 gms of NaCl
will provide approximately the same Cl concentration as 2 gms (~2ml) of HCl.
Based on what I remember from my college chemistry, and as you and I both
know, that was a long, long time ago :-), extremely small amounts of HCl
(i.e drops) should be needed to make big change in pH, even in gallons of
water. I further note that one gm of salt is only about 0.1 teaspoon. I
don't think that is worth worrying about, unless we are talking about daily
treatment.
Or did I miss something?
--Neil