Awesome followup to the by weight process. I think Ive ordered my last bottles of Bluelab solutions! When making the 7.0 solution the preservative and food coloring would be mixed third and fourth, respectively?
Great video. Can this be used to make a 5.8 solution? Any ideas on making pH probe storage soluthion? Isn't it just KCL and distilled water? If so how strong do I make it? Does it need Sodium Benzoate? I was thinking not because there isn't any carbon. But, I not 100% sure.
Thanks for commenting! Sure, you can use this to make a 5.8 buffer if you wish. About the storage solution, a 4 pH buffer can be used for storage without issues. If you want a KCl storage solution, then that can be made by using KCl and distilled water at 260g per liter. You don't need any preservative for a KCl storage solution.
Thank you for this! Are there any alternatives to potassium citrate? Sodium bicarbonate maybe? Or can I just freeze the buffer solutions that came in the Apera pH meter, so they wont expire? 😅
Thanks for commenting. Bicarbonates will not work as the pH they set depends on atmospheric CO2, so they are unreliable and not suited to standard buffer preparations. You can indeed freeze the buffers that come with the Apera meter if you want them to last longer! (just make sure they have enough volume to expand when freezing)
No. An acid or base can be used to set a pH level, but the stability of a pH level depends on the buffering capacity of the solution which is created by the chemical equilibria of specific weak acids and bases at specific pH values.
Is it possible to add the sodium benzoate into the fertilizer as a preservative? Because when i prepare single microelement fertilizer like Sodium Molybdate after few days into the solution appears floccules (i don't know what it is). In case how much could I add in it? Thanks
Thanks for writing! You can add it, however the concentrations are different. Add it at 100mg/L of concentrate and also make sure the pH of your concentrated solution is below 4.
@@ScienceinHydroponics Thanks. The ph should be below 4 also for complete fertilizers (made with hydrobuddy)? Should i prefer nitric/sulfuric/phosphoric acid?
Hi Daniel,I got the same apera ph60 instrument,what if my Reverse Osmosis water measures 0.02 Ec-0.0.4Ec or 2-4 microSiemens?Can I use it to do this process?How long can I consider the buffer good?I would like to make 1l each and do not want to waste any water,water is precious.Thank you so much
Thanks for commenting. You can use your RO water. The buffer will probably be good for at least 6 months if you add the preservatives mentioned and store under cool temperatures (it will last more if stored in a fridge). You should keep some outside for regular use however, as the buffer needs to be at ambient temperature for it to be accurate.
Pure water does not have a pH of 7 in reality. This is due to the CO2 in the atmosphere, its pH will drop to somewhere in the 6-6.5 range and this will depend on the concentration of CO2 in its environment. Furthermore, distilled water might still have substances that affect pH - like volatile organic acids that get distilled with it - and, since it has no buffering capacity, even minute amounts of these substances can cause shifts in pH. Overall a buffer is needed to ensure small amounts of contaminants or outside influences do not radically shift pH.
Thanks for writing. The problem when you do this is that you introduce a lot of carbonates, for which the concentration in solution changes with time and is dependent on the room CO2 partial pressure and takes a long time to reach equilibrium due to the slow kinetics of this process. This means you will adjust the solution and then the pH will drift with time. For this reason, carbonates are generally not used as standard buffers for calibration.
@@ScienceinHydroponics thank you for your clarification. That must be the issue in real scientific world... For me that could work well enough since I'm not doing any critical laboratory studies nor tasks. I am growing plants which don't require space science... I have factory purchased with what I can every now and then calibrate the meter. One can make a research how long these regular household made liquid takes for to stabilize and how it changes... Then one can know enough well how and when to make adjustments to it. I know, this may be ridiculous, but it is the poors man way to go - in my case 😂 Again Thx for replying it's always appreciated 👍
@@cheebacheeo5876 Thanks for your reply. It can drift very significantly, a buffer you prepare that way might work for that instant, but a day later it might be off by 1 entire pH unit, which makes it a poor choice for calibration for hydroponic solutions given that plants tolerate a relatively narrow range of pH values and having your meter calibrated at least to +/-0.2 is essential. Potassium or Sodium citrates have a low cost per pound, so they are definitely nothing fancy or hard to get and will give you a much more stable buffer to work with! Bear in mind that the method in this video is far from the standard used in research labs. In cases where buffer precision is essential much higher quality reagents and truly standardized procedures are followed.
I mixed phosphoric acid and RO for my PH down, but could you add citric acid to make up half of the solution so I don't have to worry about adding in too much P?
Thanks for your comment! You should avoid doing that. While citric acid would help bring the pH down, plants and bacteria will aggressively uptake citrate and, in the process, raise the pH. This is why if you use citric acid as pH down you will see sharp bounces up within the next 24 hours.
Depends on the ionic strength of the buffer and the partial pressure of CO2 of the air. It also depends on whether water from the buffer evaporates or not. You must be able to put it in an air-tight container if you want it to last for a substantial period of time.
Thank you !
Thank you for watching!
Thanks for sharing knowledge! I do really love your sense of humor :)
Thanks for commenting! My wife is the channel's editor so she gets half the credit for the sense of humor :)
Subbed, long time fan of hydrobuddy, so happy to see you making videos. Please stick with it
Thanks for your comment! As long as you guys like, subscribe and share I will be happy to :)
Great video, next would like a video for making pH meter storing solution.
This is a common request, I will probably make that video sometime this year.
How long will this solution just made will be viable? Thanks for the two different videos of pH buffer.
If you use the proper preservative it should be good for at least 3-4 months.
Thank you very much,. This is really useful!
You're very welcome! Thanks for commenting!
Thank you so much for this and the other video on the subject!
When it expires, does the pH go up or down?
Or does it expire in another way?
Cheers :)
Thanks for commenting. It depends! But it will change, which is what we don't want.
THANKS
You're welcome!
Awesome followup to the by weight process. I think Ive ordered my last bottles of Bluelab solutions!
When making the 7.0 solution the preservative and food coloring would be mixed third and fourth, respectively?
Thanks for commenting! Provided you mix the coloring and preservative before the final pH adjustment, you'll be fine.
Thanks for sharing! Out of curiosity are there any other preservatives that could be used to substitute for sodium benzoate?
Thanks for commenting. Yes, there are several preservatives that could replace sodium benzoate.
Great video. Can this be used to make a 5.8 solution?
Any ideas on making pH probe storage soluthion? Isn't it just KCL and distilled water? If so how strong do I make it? Does it need Sodium Benzoate? I was thinking not because there isn't any carbon. But, I not 100% sure.
Thanks for commenting! Sure, you can use this to make a 5.8 buffer if you wish. About the storage solution, a 4 pH buffer can be used for storage without issues. If you want a KCl storage solution, then that can be made by using KCl and distilled water at 260g per liter. You don't need any preservative for a KCl storage solution.
@@ScienceinHydroponics Thanks.
I'm trying to booking some time on your web site. It doesn't seem to be working. Is email better?
Thank you for this! Are there any alternatives to potassium citrate? Sodium bicarbonate maybe? Or can I just freeze the buffer solutions that came in the Apera pH meter, so they wont expire? 😅
Thanks for commenting. Bicarbonates will not work as the pH they set depends on atmospheric CO2, so they are unreliable and not suited to standard buffer preparations. You can indeed freeze the buffers that come with the Apera meter if you want them to last longer! (just make sure they have enough volume to expand when freezing)
@@ScienceinHydroponics Thank you so much for your response, I really appreciate it!
Can't we create a solution similarly with any acid or base?
No. An acid or base can be used to set a pH level, but the stability of a pH level depends on the buffering capacity of the solution which is created by the chemical equilibria of specific weak acids and bases at specific pH values.
Is it possible to add the sodium benzoate into the fertilizer as a preservative? Because when i prepare single microelement fertilizer like Sodium Molybdate after few days into the solution appears floccules (i don't know what it is). In case how much could I add in it? Thanks
Thanks for writing! You can add it, however the concentrations are different. Add it at 100mg/L of concentrate and also make sure the pH of your concentrated solution is below 4.
@@ScienceinHydroponics Thanks. The ph should be below 4 also for complete fertilizers (made with hydrobuddy)? Should i prefer nitric/sulfuric/phosphoric acid?
Hi Daniel,I got the same apera ph60 instrument,what if my Reverse Osmosis water measures 0.02 Ec-0.0.4Ec or 2-4 microSiemens?Can I use it to do this process?How long can I consider the buffer good?I would like to make 1l each and do not want to waste any water,water is precious.Thank you so much
Thanks for commenting. You can use your RO water. The buffer will probably be good for at least 6 months if you add the preservatives mentioned and store under cool temperatures (it will last more if stored in a fridge). You should keep some outside for regular use however, as the buffer needs to be at ambient temperature for it to be accurate.
I was just wondering Distilled water has ph of 7 so why we cannot use distilled water to calibrate pH meter .. your help will be appreciated. Thanks
Pure water does not have a pH of 7 in reality. This is due to the CO2 in the atmosphere, its pH will drop to somewhere in the 6-6.5 range and this will depend on the concentration of CO2 in its environment. Furthermore, distilled water might still have substances that affect pH - like volatile organic acids that get distilled with it - and, since it has no buffering capacity, even minute amounts of these substances can cause shifts in pH. Overall a buffer is needed to ensure small amounts of contaminants or outside influences do not radically shift pH.
Absolutely correct
Hi is it possible to use Citric Acid Anhydrous USP Grade instead of Citric Acid Monohydrate.
Yes, you can use the anhydrous form, no problem.
@@ScienceinHydroponics Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge!
But could you use also bakind soda and lemon to adjust the pH level?
Thanks for writing. The problem when you do this is that you introduce a lot of carbonates, for which the concentration in solution changes with time and is dependent on the room CO2 partial pressure and takes a long time to reach equilibrium due to the slow kinetics of this process. This means you will adjust the solution and then the pH will drift with time. For this reason, carbonates are generally not used as standard buffers for calibration.
@@ScienceinHydroponics thank you for your clarification. That must be the issue in real scientific world... For me that could work well enough since I'm not doing any critical laboratory studies nor tasks. I am growing plants which don't require space science... I have factory purchased with what I can every now and then calibrate the meter. One can make a research how long these regular household made liquid takes for to stabilize and how it changes... Then one can know enough well how and when to make adjustments to it. I know, this may be ridiculous, but it is the poors man way to go - in my case 😂
Again Thx for replying it's always appreciated 👍
@@cheebacheeo5876 Thanks for your reply. It can drift very significantly, a buffer you prepare that way might work for that instant, but a day later it might be off by 1 entire pH unit, which makes it a poor choice for calibration for hydroponic solutions given that plants tolerate a relatively narrow range of pH values and having your meter calibrated at least to +/-0.2 is essential.
Potassium or Sodium citrates have a low cost per pound, so they are definitely nothing fancy or hard to get and will give you a much more stable buffer to work with!
Bear in mind that the method in this video is far from the standard used in research labs. In cases where buffer precision is essential much higher quality reagents and truly standardized procedures are followed.
I mixed phosphoric acid and RO for my PH down, but could you add citric acid to make up half of the solution so I don't have to worry about adding in too much P?
Thanks for your comment! You should avoid doing that. While citric acid would help bring the pH down, plants and bacteria will aggressively uptake citrate and, in the process, raise the pH. This is why if you use citric acid as pH down you will see sharp bounces up within the next 24 hours.
@@ScienceinHydroponics That makes sense.
How long can a 7.0 buffer last exposed to air ?
Depends on the ionic strength of the buffer and the partial pressure of CO2 of the air. It also depends on whether water from the buffer evaporates or not. You must be able to put it in an air-tight container if you want it to last for a substantial period of time.
Por qué no hace contenido en español?
Porque no quiero.
Big buffer ain't getting anymore of my $
lol, thanks for the laugh.