Baking Soda really works!!!!

[Roo&Lis]

I've been battling with low alkalinity for some time. I finally got me a box of good ol' baking soda. I added just a little to fix my curiosity and dang it worked better than the my seachem reef carbonate additive by miles. Now I'm wondering if any of you use it in daily dosing. Is it just a quick fix or will it suffice for dosing, if manage properly?

[Richard]

Baking soda is fine to use. It can initially lower your ph when you add it so don't add too much at once. To avoid that some people use washing soda (sodium carbonate instead of sodium bicarbonate). But don't buy washing soda because it isn't food grade and you may get some unwanted impurities. Instead you can just bake the baking soda at ~350F for an hour and that will change it from sodium bicarbonate into sodium carbonate.

Here's a nifty calculator that will give you the amount to use for either baking soda or baked baking soda...
http://jdieck1.home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chemcalc.html

[jay3]

BTW Works great in a spa to increase alkalinity and Ph also.

[txav8r]

Actually, you do NOT want baking soda. Baking soda will LOWER your pH, in many instances. It's pH is around 7.8-8.0.

And, it will raise your alkalinity.

What WILL raise your pH and your alkalinity is anhydrous baking soda: Put box of baking soda into a baking dish (very clean), and put it in the oven for an hour at 350 degrees. This drives off the CO2 - which ist what lowers your pH - and make sodium bicarbonate into sodium carbonate. I take a box of this and put it in a 3 liter bottle of RO/DI water, and dose with it. The pH of sodium carbonate (anhydrous sodium bicarbonate) is 11.6 - and pH is a logorithmic scale (10 is 10x what 9 is).

This is a great link: http://jdieck1.home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chemcalc.html

I'd guess your biggest problem is too much CO2 OR a bad test kit - either pH or Alkalinity. As one who chased an Alk problem a few years ago because of a bad kit, HAVE SOMEONE ELSE TEST YOUR WATER! For pH, your water sample needs to be just water, in a sealed bag (no air).

Oh, yeah: If you dosed Mg, did you test for it? The cardinal rule in Reef Chemistry: "Don't dose anything you don't test for".


Just read this the other day. Passing it along.

[uriah]

There is a good dosing calculator on bulk reef supply. You can just use 1 1/8 cup baking soda and a gallon of ro/di for your kh dosing as part of your two part. Check out http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/i6/Calcium-and-Alkalinity-Calculator./information.html

[uriah]

IMO it is easier just to spend $10 on the two part. Expecially for the newer hobbyist... (Better to pay $10 on two part than alot more trying to fix a simple dosing mistake)

[brewercm]

I use it all the time in my pool rather than $10 for a 4lb box of PH up they sell.
Bill if you happen to read this is it that the PH doesn't get high enough with salt water which is why the cooking is required with regular baking soda?

[brewercm]

Oh yeah, you can also use Borax (straight borax: sodium tetraborate, like the 20 mule team brand) to raise your ph in your pool without affecting your alkilinity.

[Bill S]

Because of the extra carbonate, when you add sodium bicarbonate to water, CO2 is produced - which then forms carbonic acid - decreasing the pH. By driving off the extra carbonate, you produce CO2 in your oven instead.

It's been my experience that much of the low pH situation in reef tanks - mine included - can be improved with additional 02.