Hypochlorous Acid......a Deep Dive

which generator do you use? how long does your solution stay stable?

I use the EcoOne, yes it smells a bit like chlorine. I just make it as I need it. Simple, cheap to make and effective.

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A bit like chlorine or burn your nose hairs chlorine? At 500ppm I mean. Was using Athena Cleanse ($50/gal) and it is 280ppm and never assaulted my nostrils, so I am curious.

Doesn’t “burn your nose hairs” but it smells.

After dealing with PM for my first time a few years ago, this is one of the best investments I’ve ever made for growing. Septoria was raging last year and this stuff kept it at bay. You can use it as a bud wash. You can use it to clean your house!

Covered wagon, Medicine Show
Take you to a place where the healing flows, oh-ho
Weak in spirit we got the juice
Won’t save your soul it’ll shine your shoes, oh
Treated king to kangaroo
Santa Fe to Timbuktu, oh-ho
Don’t be fooled by imitation
This is the stuff that cured a nation
We took the tube and the high plains too
Never stopped long just passing through
A drop of the laughter of the maids of France
Makes a hopeless cripple dance, oh
It was really vile weather
When we got tarred and feathered
You could hear the six-guns sound
As they chased us out of town
Whoa-ho…
In India we’re all the rave
Discovered that it’s great as aftershave, oh-ho
Dropped in the sea just off Japan
Swapped twenty bottles for an aqua-walkman, oh
Immunity from ridicule
Improves your brains if you’re a fool, oh-ho
And I read in the Middle East
Traded some for a hostage release
Now if you’re bald it’ll give you hair
If you’ve got straight trousers it’ll give you flares
Feeling up you’ll get depressed
Out of style here’s a brand new dress, oh
It was really vile weather
When we got tarred and feathered
You could hear the six-guns sound
As they chased us out of town
Who the hell is that? One bastard goes in, another one comes out!
Turn him around! Turn around!
Turn him around! Turn around!
(Laughing)
I’m innocent of anything!
You making some kind of joke?
Oh, no.
(Laughing)
I don’t think it’s nice, you laughing.
The stuff we sell is just the best
Passing all consumer tests, oh-ho
Days of heaven, nights of sin
Voodoo stick and shark’s fin
When all around you seems like hell
Just one sip will make you well, oh-ho
Multi-purpose in a jar
If you ain’t ill it’ll fix your car
In days of yore for all bad feelings
Washing socks and stripping ceilings
Nowadays it’s used medicinally

:grin:

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Hey there! Love this thread…can you expand more on the ORP? Feel free to PM me if you want

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Sure, ORP measures Oxidation/Reduction potential.
I have mentioned it in the thread, but honestly, it is most valuable only in Hydro systems where you are adding hypochlorous acid in small amounts (about 2.5ml/gal irrigation water) and you want to check/adjust your system over time.
As HOCl reacts and kills pathogenic fungi/bacteria in the reservoir it slowly degrades…with an ORP meter you can accurately adjust your reservoir to the original ORP without overdoing/underdoing it.

I have used the Aquacleanse myself…it is an excellent 500 ppm material to use STRAIGHT !
It has been duly noted that hypochlorous acid is LOW pH ! It’s supposed to be and will not damage your plants at pH 2.6…

DO NOT ADJUST pH of HOCl ! If your take pH of hypochlorous acid ABOVE 5.5 you have just converted it to HYPOCHLORITE (bleach), and as photographs show,
WILL BURN THE SHIT OUT OF YOUR FOLIAGE!

HYPOCHLOROUS ACID is SURFACE ACTIVE ONLY ( that’s why the LOW pH has no effect on your plant tissue…unless the pH gets above 5.5

Aquacleanse has a very SLIGHT chlorine odor. If you observe ‘nose hair burning chlorine odor’ you are obviously dealing with hypochlorite (bleach) !!!

Hope that helps everyone stay on track! Bob

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Is it OK to use at a higher ph (5.5~6.5) in a hydroponic system b/c the concentration is lower? What happens if the PH drifts even higher (6.5+??)… is it just all bleach in my solution?

edit: Found this: timestamp at 8:10 he starts talking about HOCl in solution.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPEDX39i2SE&t=1131s

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Yes, absolutely.
That’s why the ORP meter is very valuable here.
You would mix your nutrients and balance pH of the reservoir. Then add the recommended HOCl per gallon. Take and record an ORP reading. Now you can continuously monitor and adjust the oxidative state of your reservoir until you change it out…

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So I have already decided t return the AquaCleanse to Amazon because I suspect that something is off with it. I measured the pH of the product after reading your excellent thread and I used 3 different pH pens and all of them were around 4.5…not 2.6 Anyway, I am going to try another brand that is around the same price ($25) but if it doesn’t work out, I will probably get a generator.

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@BudBusterPro thanks dude! I’m sure you’ve already answered that question a couple times here… I’m due for a re-read of this one :+1:

I’ve been trying not to buy another meter, so Ive been adding it when I initially mix my nutrients and then let it ride until the next swap.

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Also, just for shits and grins, I reached out to the folks who make Danolyte and Agrowlyte and they said that the reason it has such a strong chlorine smell is because that happens when it is more acidic. They said that they make their products more pH neutral in the range of 6.5-7.0 and therefore it only has a slight chlorine smell.

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If you look back through the thread, I think you’ll see a Wave pH chart that shows where you have HOCl and where it turns to HClO (hypochlorite/bleach). I state pH 5.5 as being on the safe side. You’ll see as pH rises the concentrations of hypochlorite/bleach rise pretty quickly…

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??? Check the chart !

Good luck guys !
Bob

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I am using 500ppm hypochlorous acid from Brio Pro. This one:

It has a mild chlorine smell. Nothing that burns my nose.

And so far, for me, it has been safe at high doses. When I was fighting root rot in a DWC system I have, and after I decided to just scrap the DWC run, I decided to experiment to see how high of a dose of this HOCL I could put in the water and I got up to 100ml into 10-12 gallons and it didn’t burn the roots or anything.

Yesterday (after seeing how another brand burned plants here) I also decided to try putting the pure Brio 500ppm HOCl on some extra rooted clones I had (just as an experiment for y’all here). I dumped it pure right onto the clone and when I checked it today it looks perfectly normal. It was under very low light though.

I also used this Brio brand hocl to take care of a bit of white mold one clone had growing on its leaf in the clone tray. I washed off the mold under tap water. Then I put 10ml of HOCL into about 14oz of water (a solo cup filled up about 4/5ths of the way), submerged the clone in the mix and put it in a separate clone dome/tray. The mold has not come back. I first tried using 5ml of HOCL in the same amount of water, but the mold came back. 10ml took care of it.

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I just got this one today - Amazon.com: Hypochlorous Acid 1 Gallon - 500ppm - Professional Strength - Multi-Clease - Hypocleanse : Health & Household

Also 500ppm…and I measured the pH as soon as I opened the bottle and it was 3.6 This one has a very mild chlorine smell similar to what I am used to with Athena Cleanse. Waiting for my test strips to arrive so I can verify the ppm.

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I almost ordered that same one myself! It was between that one and the BrioTech. The brio went on sale for $21 and that decided it. lol

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It’s funny you mentioned it ! I actually have used both Brio and Aqua cleanse I
Besides my plants, I have a cat with a autoimmune disease called ‘pillow foot’ I dipped his feet in it twice a day.
If you have pets with wounds or rashes it is indeed the best antibiotic! It is painless for the pet and if they lick it (LIKE THEY ALWAYD DO) it’s absolutely harmless…so keep it in mind ! :wink:

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The only local available product is a superoxidized water solution, a hypochlorous acid solution with a concentration of free chlorine of 250mg/l and a PH of 6±1

According to ypur explanation this high PH would kill the leaves
Is this also correct for a very humid environment? For instance potassium soap kills your leaves on dry weather but on humid weather doesnt

Can I bring the PH of the product down somehow? I would like to try, it is not cheap though. It is a product for desinfecting used at hospitals. This is a ready to use locally made product for desinfection sold at the pharmacies

I think there are available in the local market hypochlorous acid pills to dissolve on water but I have no clue how to keep PH down nor how to measure it. Somebody sells it to the hospitals.
I cant buy anything on amazon, it is too expensive here, it is considered import and pay very high taxes and shipping fees

Thanks for help

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Been using this stuff for a bit now and my roots are bright white and reservoirs have zero biofilm… I’m mc’lovin it.

However I came across this from comment at scienceinhydroponics.com from the author “Remember to use no ammonium in your nutrient solution, as ammonium reacts with active chlorine to generate chloramines that can be toxic to plants. Make sure your calcium nitrate contains no ammonium”.

But, Athena core also uses ammonium and obviously they suggest running their HOCl product alongside of it.
Athena Core MSDS

Couldn’t find a lot of information on this for our uses, wondering if anyone has any more insight into this combination?

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@funky , sorry for the late reply…

YES, that is a 250ppm (0.025%) hypochlorous acid solution…
You can easily and effectively(safely) lower the pH of your acid with white (distilled) vinegar…
I don’t believe it will take much vinegar to lower that pH to about 5.5 and that will store much better for you if you don’t use it all immediately !

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