Too Much Baking Soda

[MatthewN]

I think I added too much baking soda to the tank. It does not seem to be dissolving and now the water has turned white with little particles of baking soda floating around. Is there a way to fix this without doing a 100% water change?

[Tired]

What filter and filter media do you have? 

[MatthewN]

I have a felt filter sock, MarinePure 8” x 8” x 1” Plate Ceramic Biomedia, and a Brightwell Xport-NO3 Biological Filtration Plate.

 

Edit: and a Reef Octopus Classic Protein Skimmer

Edited September 2, 2021 by MatthewN

[rough eye]

i would think your ph is now very high and 100% water change might be too sudden a drop. not knowing what's in there, how sensitive the inhabitants would be to big swings in ph, i'm not qualified to say.

[MatthewN]

11 hours ago, rough eye said:

i would think your ph is now very high and 100% water change might be too sudden a drop. not knowing what's in there, how sensitive the inhabitants would be to big swings in ph, i'm not qualified to say.

I also figured my ph would be way too high. ph is actually a bit low. I think maybe I should have paid more attention in chemistry.

[MatthewN]

I think I finally figured out my problem. New Life Rock. I should have done some significant scrubbing before putting them in the tank. I did not. Lesson learned.

[Clown79]

On 9/5/2021 at 7:50 PM, MatthewN said:

I think I finally figured out my problem. New Life Rock. I should have done some significant scrubbing before putting them in the tank. I did not. Lesson learned.

Caribsea life rock? 

 

Used it numerous times, never scrubbed it, just dipped in fresh rodi to remove dust.

 

7.8 ph is not a huge issue.

 

Don't chase ph, it fluctuates all day long.

 

I'd be concerned about alk and ca

[jservedio]

On 9/2/2021 at 6:00 PM, MatthewN said:

I think I added too much baking soda to the tank. It does not seem to be dissolving and now the water has turned white with little particles of baking soda floating around.

Why are you adding baking soda directly to the tank at all?

 

Baking Soda is going to increase your Alkalinity, without also increasing your Calcium. When you increase alkalinity, you also need to increase your Calcium in a balanced fashion, otherwise you start seeing precipitation. I bet what you are seeing is precipitation of Calcium Carbonate. You need to check your Alk and Ca and see where you need to go from here. I'd bet your calcium is super low right now.

[MatthewN]

4 hours ago, jservedio said:

Why are you adding baking soda directly to the tank at all?

Yes, that is the question! It was a terrible idea. You're right, I had a precipitation of Calcium Carbonate that covered everything. My whole tank turned white. I ended up tearing it down scrubbing it with vinegar and rebuilding. It worked and now the water is clear.

[jservedio]

1 hour ago, MatthewN said:

Yes, that is the question! It was a terrible idea. You're right, I had a precipitation of Calcium Carbonate that covered everything. My whole tank turned white. I ended up tearing it down scrubbing it with vinegar and rebuilding. It worked and now the water is clear.

For future reference, the precipitate is entirely harmless and there was zero reason to tear down your tank or clean anything. It'd have cleared up on it's own or been filtered out eventually with floss or socks. All you had to do was some water changes to get your alkalinity down to a reasonable level if it wasn't already within range and then adjust your magnesium (if needed) and calcium up to normal levels.

 

You don't need to add anything in a new tank. Do not ever dose anything to your tank unless you first know exactly why you are dosing it, have confirmed your reason via testing, and understand exactly what you are dosing will do to the chemistry of your water. While baking soda is definitely dosed (I use it), it's first mixed into RODI and dosed in very precise amounts to match exactly what my corals consume on a daily basis (measured directly by testing alkalinity). However, you need to be dosing it with calcium chloride mixed to 2x the molarity of the baking soda (since baking soda is bicarbonate) to ensure you are not taking your calcium and alkalinity out of balance and causing a precipitation storm like you experienced.