My understanding is they break down quickly and don't provide any kind of buffering so you have to check and adjust using them more often.
I would think a well buffered pH adjuster would be worth buying. Maybe use the grocery store items for a temporary fix until the buffered stuff arrives or until you save up the money to buy it.
It is really a pro vs con type of consideration. Does the extra cost of the buffered solution offset the extra man hours required to more frequently monitor and adjust the nutrients? I don't know the answer, but that is basically what it boils down to.

I found the GH up down kit for 15.00. I wanted to double check my meter anyway. I hear raves about the GH ph tester so I guess I will try it.

That's good deal. In a pinch on his ACME spring, Wile E. Coyote recommends 1 tsp honey + 1 tsp GH pH Down as a substitute for Naval Jelly:

When he has Naval Jelly but needs (phosphoric acid) pH Down, he grows his Roadrunner Special veggies using just a drop of Naval Jelly dissolved in and a few drops of flat Diet Coke which is somewhat better buffered than vinegar and works fine.

When using Coyote ingredients, though he prefers white vinegar w/o the extra sugar and flavors. All of the elixirs do work, the question as Grizz mentioned is whether it helps buffer, plus, what organic things you feel good about in your rez.

I am confused, but no worries, waiting on the ph kit.

Sorry about that Rio, if you were in the mood, it was that people seem to have tried just about everything but the kitchen sink, and vinegar is on top of the list.

Of all the acids commonly available, Naval Jelly could be used as well (or better) than vinegar as pH down, and it is highly concentrated. We all have preconceived notions about what is gross and what is organic and what is clean. Vinegar is one of those in debate.

Sounds like you are doing fine with that good deal on the commercial product, but it is interesting to know there are people out there who have successfully managed pH with the oddest sounding things. That's all, plus, it was a slight dig, not at all to you, with my respects, but rather to just point out that phosphoric acid has potentially gross as well as delicious applications, so part of what seems healthy is in the mind when picking out chemicals you can be comfortable using.

(vinegar is a half-fermented product; naval jelly 'dissolves' rust off anchors, Coca Cola is reputed, incorrectly, to turn your stomach lining white)

Even Coca Cola could be used, at pH 2.5, though a good part of it' pH is from carbonation and it really doesn't have as much phosphoric acid as most people think. So flat Coke might be better if you ever wanted to give your plants a sip of Coke.

Hope to have cleared all up the craziness I introduced;-?

Ya, your fine, I got it, just took a bit to sink in.

Ya, your fine, I got it, just took a bit to sink in.

With ph 8 water, I am gonna go broke adjusting it. Guess I will see if they sell ph down by the gallon.

Sounds like you have a huge useage. I've been collecting rainwater in six totes each time we have a decent rain. Last time we got an inch and a half, I got 19 gallons. Now that I'm into it, the rain has an EC of only 0.006 mS/cm. That's under 3.5 ppm or so, probably from my containers anyway.

If you depend on your water for Cal-Mag the pH down might be worth it. But I'm really happy with this, and I don't fight my water's natural buffer. Just sticking the totes out in the clean rain, collect, bring in pour through a filter and I already have a backlog of rainwater. No roof residue to deal with and it is kind of fun to actively harvest the rain in clean flats, and feeding the plants clean rain. I just toss the totes back in the house without washing since that washing with the tap would only dirty them ;-)