baking soda vs reef builder

[doctaq]

i made a solution of reef builder and diluted it and tested the alk 8, although that is arbitrary

i made the same solution of baking soda right out of the bag and diluted it the same and the alk was 12

has anybody made any similar findings?

 

seems to be as i switch over from reef builder to baking soda (not worried about the co2 because its being made into a solution first) i should cut my dose by 33% if i keep the same volume (my unit of measure for making the solution) or make my dose with 33% less powder by volume. make sense?

 

one observation though is that the reef builder never seems to completeley disolve and was still cloudy when i did the test, although this is consistant with my use of it since there is always (precipitation? i guess) in the dosing bottle, while the baking soda disolved much more easily

[bdare]

i made a solution of reef builder and diluted it and tested the alk 8, although that is arbitrary

i made the same solution of baking soda right out of the bag and diluted it the same and the alk was 12

has anybody made any similar findings?

 

seems to be as i switch over from reef builder to baking soda (not worried about the co2 because its being made into a solution first) i should cut my dose by 33% if i keep the same volume (my unit of measure for making the solution) or make my dose with 33% less powder by volume. make sense?

 

one observation though is that the reef builder never seems to completeley disolve and was still cloudy when i did the test, although this is consistant with my use of it since there is always (precipitation? i guess) in the dosing bottle, while the baking soda disolved much more easily

I'm not sure I understand your test. Did you add the same amount of each? If you want to figure out how much baking soda to dose just use THIS calculator and use recipie 2.

[doctaq]

thats giving me a completeley different result from http://reef.diesyst.com/flashcalc/flashcalc.html

 

as for my test i added the same amount of each into the same volume of water, i guess they are roughly equal but the difference was the increased solubility of the baking soda vs reef builder

[bdare]

thats giving me a completeley different result from http://reef.diesyst.com/flashcalc/flashcalc.html

 

as for my test i added the same amount of each into the same volume of water, i guess they are roughly equal but the difference was the increased solubility of the baking soda vs reef builder

Which recipie are you using? If you are using BAKED baking soda it's recipie 1. UNBAKED is recipie 2 They should be exactly the same.

[phiber_optikx]

Bulkreefs calculator is not correct. If you make your own soda ash the lvls are WAY off. I used their calculator and instead of bringing it to 9 like it said it brought it to 12. So be wary if using your own solutions.

[doctaq]

i did not bake it, which if anything should mean that it would raise alk less for the same volume of powder since there would be water and co2 as compared to the reef builder stuff

[Amphiprion1]

Which recipie are you using? If you are using BAKED baking soda it's recipie 1. UNBAKED is recipie 2 They should be exactly the same.

 

Recipe 1 is about 2x as potent as recipe 2. Soda ash raises pH much higher per unit of alkalinity. It also raises alkalinity higher per unit volume.

 

(Edit: should be per unit mass, not volume like I accidentally put).

[bdare]

Recipe 1 is about 2x as potent as recipe 2. Soda ash raises pH much higher per unit of alkalinity. It also raises alkalinity higher per unit volume.

Correct.

[MedicBMC]

Bulkreefs calculator is not correct. If you make your own soda ash the lvls are WAY off. I used their calculator and instead of bringing it to 9 like it said it brought it to 12. So be wary if using your own solutions.

 

Yeah Bulkreefs calculator can't be correct.

 

I have been raising my alk with baking soda, and I just plugged in my numbers. 75g 8 to 9 dkh and it told me to add 21tsp!

 

I've been using this calculator http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chem_calc3.html

My alk was around 6 when I started, now it's at 8 and I'm shooting for 9. It told me to add 1.8 tsp which sounds more like it.

 

Be careful using their calculator.

[phiber_optikx]

It told me to add 9.7 tsp to my 34 solana to raise it 2 dkh....And that was of the ash