CHEMISTRY COMMUNITY

Is it correct that in acidic solutions, we balance H by adding H₃O⁺ for each H needed, and in basic solutions, we use OH^- instead?

According to the book, after you've balanced all other elements besides O and H, you do the following:
For acidic: balance O using H2O, then balance H using H+
For basic: balance O using H2O, then balance H by adding H2O to the side that needs H and adding OH- to the other side (by adding H2O to one side and OH- to the other side, you are essentially adding a single H)

So it can be a little more complex for basic solutions, meaning you can't always simply add OH-. Hope this helps!

Technically, you could use H30+ for acidic solutions and balancing from there, but you'll end up with a mess balancing things out. It's much easier to just use H+ since you only have to worry about balancing the H's.

^^, and if you would like to have H3O+ in your final balanced reaction, do the process using only H+ first, then change them to H3O+ and account for a change in O accordingly.