mrg02d Posted March 18, 2012 Share Posted March 18, 2012 Hey guys, I've been reading up on dosing baking soda as a means to keep alkalinity stable. My dKH drops from 8dkh (after a pwc) to 7dkh after a day or so. Ive got some very large montiporas in my tank and figure they are the culprit. Is this method considered reasonable for long term, or is it meant for a quick fix only? I'm assuming that I can just follow any of the recipes online, correct? I don't want to lower my ph, so I read that I need to bake the baking soda. What can I use to bake the soda on that won't contaminate the tank? Finally, could someone here recommend a quantity of baking soda + water to use? For instance, if I mixed up a gallon of water, how much baking soda should I use? Once that is figured, how much of this liquid baking soda do I dose each day? (ml per gallon) Thanks guys! Matt Link to comment
68sting Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 I believe its 2.25 cups per gallon of water. The amount to dose will vary on your demand. I used a gallon a week on my 215 and just started dosing a few oz a day to my nano. Link to comment
phineous Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 Please don't use baking soda. It probably contains a silicate anti caking agent not listed on the label and it'll cause a huge algae bloom. That's what happened to me. I've been banging my head against this problem for days till I found this: http://www.reefaquariumguide.com/forum/aqu...h-adjuster.html Link to comment
JDK Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 I believe you can bake the baking soda on tin foil. However unbaked baking soda has very very little affect on lowering PH. It is very minimal. Baked baking soda on the other hand does significantly raise PH. There are many many more tank crashes from using baked BS than unbaked BS. High PH will most definately crash a tank (8.6 or more). Just be extra careful if you are gonna use the baked stuff. Use the BRS calculator to determine how much to use: http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/store/reef-calculator I am in the same boat as you. My tank uses up about 1.2 DKH per day. I take a 1/2 a Teaspoon of unbaked BS and mix it with about a 1/2 cup of RODI water and dose it at night. Always pour into a high flow area never into a sump or return pump. My tank uses so much I am currently in the process of starting a dosing routine. I added a large maxima clam and it is sucking up ALK and CAL like crazy. Considering using dosing pumps on a RKL control. Please don't use baking soda. It probably contains a silicate anti caking agent not listed on the label and it'll cause a huge algae bloom. That's what happened to me. I've been banging my head against this problem for days till I found this: http://www.reefaquariumguide.com/forum/aqu...h-adjuster.html I have read literally hundreds of threads about dosing baking soda and have never heard of this ever. Did you ever consider the guy making these claims is selling ph buffer and ALK supplements? Michael Del Prete CEO Aqua Craft Products www.AquaCraft.net If its good enough for BRS its good enough for me. I trust their opinion over some guy selling buffer and ALK when for years people have used baking soda. Link to comment
igotreefermadness Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 The reason unbaked baking soda doesn't raise your PH is because it contains carbon dioxide which will react to create carbolic acid in your tank. This carbolic acid is a weak acid which will actually lower PH versus the raising effect that baked baking soda will have. I use baked baking soda all the time, along with hundreds of other members on this site and have no adverse effects. Yes it can be used as a long term dosing regime, you need to find a recipe and use their millequivalent per liter measurements or their mg/L ratings to know how much to dose, but you should start SLOWLY and raise it as you go, because alkalinity swings will kill SPS colonies. Link to comment
phineous Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 My best guess is that the baking soda from BRS doesn't have silicates for anti caking. Just for any noobs that stumble across this, Arm & Hammer definitely does have something for anti caking and it's probably bad. That stuff can sit in the fridge for years and still pour like dry sand. I noticed that he was selling product, as I've noticed many posters are, but it was the post farther down where the guy added grocery store BS to his QT and with no light had a cyano outbreak. Link to comment
mrg02d Posted March 20, 2012 Author Share Posted March 20, 2012 My best guess is that the baking soda from BRS doesn't have silicates for anti caking. Just for any noobs that stumble across this, Arm & Hammer definitely does have something for anti caking and it's probably bad. That stuff can sit in the fridge for years and still pour like dry sand. I noticed that he was selling product, as I've noticed many posters are, but it was the post farther down where the guy added grocery store BS to his QT and with no light had a cyano outbreak. Nope. http://www.hescoinc.com/msds/ah84010.pdf There's the msds for baking soda from Arm and hammer. 100% I mixed 1/2 cup into 12 cups of DI water. I put in about 40ml over the course of a day. My dkh went from 7 to 9dkh at the end of the day. I'll watch the dkh and add a few ml when it drops again. Btw, I baked it for one hour at 350deg. No change in any corals, so I guess that's a good sign. Matt Matt Link to comment
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