Expert: Henry Boyter - 2/10/2011

Question
I'm thinking about purchasing a water filter that uses sodium ascorbate to neutralize the chlorine in tap water.  These filters are normally meant to be used to remove chlorine from shower or bath water.
I intend to use the filter to remove the chlorine from the water that I use to irrigate my indoor plants.
My concern is that I may end up with byproducts (salts etc.) that could be harmful to my plants.
What would be the byproducts produced by using this chemical?
Thanks for your help.

Answer
Sodium ascorbate + Hypochlorous acid ----->

Dehydroascorbic acid + Sodium chloride + water

The levels formed will have no impact on plants.
The Vitamin C analog will probably act as food.  The
salt formed will be much much less than is already in the water.

The thing to check is the pH.  Unless your water is already
very acidic,and this makes it too acidic it will not matter.  
The pH may lower around 0.5 units.

One change you may see is that if your water is alkaline 7.2 units
and it lowers to acidic 6.8, your plants
that have always seen alkaline, may show some changes.
It will not hurt the plants, but you may see something
(that is how you change the color of a snowball bush).