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Yes, for 0.5g Ascorbic Acid in 900ml of RO/DI I was able to obtain a stable reading of pH3.2.
According to
PubChem Ascorbic Acid has a pH of 3 at 5g/L, to bring it down to a pH of 2 you need to add 50g/L, for pH2.5 you'd need around 25g/L. Before I had dug into the pH characteristics of Ascorbic Acid I tried this experiment myself trying to shift the pH lower than 3 using Ascorbic Acid, I was tipping teeny little spoonfuls beyond the initial dose and not seeing much of a pH shift until it dawned on me that pH is a log10 function and I would need approximately a 10x weight increase to shift one point in pH, so I stopped addition deciding I'd rather save the Acid than waste it.
The commercial preparations that I mentioned that have a pH around 2 and will probably be using either Hydrochloric Acid or Sulphuric Acid to regulate the pH because they are more aggressive at lowering the pH, it's also probably a whole lot cheaper than Ascorbic Acid because you would need to use less product to shift the pH to a greater degree. A commercial product would need to guarantee a decent shelf life with zero precipitation in the bottle, hence the low pH I measured for them.
Whenever I mix up a batch of BuceJuce™ I always follow the same order of addition of elements (never all together and never before acidifying the receiving water). The order I decided on was the first salt added to the acidified RO/DI was going to be the element I wanted at the highest mg/L concentration in the resultant solution excepting the iron as I always add the iron at the end as it changes clarity and makes it harder to detect precipitation (if any) in the minor elements. I added and observed for dissolution and any resultant reaction. The order turned out to be MnSO₄ - ZnSO₄.7H₂O - H₂BO₃ - Na₂MoO₄.2H₂O - CuSO₄.5H₂O - NiSO₄.6H₂O - FeGluconate - FeDTPA 11%. There were no issues after mixing. The longevity storing at an average ambient temperature of 20c in a light fast 500ml dosing bottle (a few months supply) the solution remained problem free for at least 30days before it started to grow mould on the surface, when it got to below the last third of the bottle after a couple of months the solution was going slightly milky so I made a new batch, I followed the same order as above but this time stored the resultant solution in the refrigerator and used a smaller dosing bottle holding only a 20day supply to keep everything as fresh and reaction free as possible. The solution stored in the refrigerator is as good as the day I made it, crystal clear with a ferrous hue, this tells me that the mixture out of the fridge above 20c is possibly temperature sensitive over time (increased biological reactions?).
Yes, although how much Ascorbic is too much I never tested out beyond doubling the dose and seeing no difference in reaction over the initial dose into RO/DI. If I were wanting longer shelf life and zero chance of precipitation I'd be using either of the acids I mentioned above, which one would depend on whether I wanted an extra Chloride content or a Sulphur one in the resultant mixture, either or both, I doubt it would make a huge difference to these levels, certainly not compared to the soup of extra elements acidifying down to pH2 with 50g/L of Ascorbic Acid would give you, I haven't tested so I don't know if that extra amount of Ascorbic would be fine when dosed to the tank.
I would add as much Ascorbic until the pH stopped shifting significantly (not far beyond pH3) and if possible use cooled water to make the mix and then refrigerate when done, you would need to test the solutions longevity at ambient temperature before precipitation/Mold issues are seen to give you an idea how long it will last out of he fridge in a dosing container. I haven't tested longevity in a completely sealed bottle that doesn't have access to ambient air like a dosing bottle would, but I have thought of packaging the ferts up in a sealed bag and dose like a saline drip would be relying on external air pressure to empty the bag, this would also keep it sterile and reduce the chance for microbes to grow in the solution.
@Zeus. Yes certainly I found this recipe to be a better targeted and less disfiguring PolyJuice Potion. Special note to commercial replicators 'Aguamenti Geminio!'
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Any issues other than the risk associated with those strong acids? And what about sulfuric acid?
