Baking Soda

[Saltfinsax]

So my calcium reactor was putting out to much CO2 and was giving my sps's problems. So I turned it almost off now and have been using baked baking soda to keep my Alk up. All my corals are looking great and growing now.

 

Anyone use this for a long amount of time with any ill effects?

[ReeFit]

i hear pickling lime works too. I have been dosing BRS products with great success.

[grassi]

Baked baking soda and baking soda do work well for alk.

Pickling lime is chemically the same as kalkwasser and it is good for ca and ph, a different beast

When dosing and using reactors you should be good if you keep your water under control and test regularly. You can dose them with the same great results obtained with reactors (ca and kalk) and even more if you dose mg too and you set the dosing routine automatically

[gradth]

So my calcium reactor was putting out to much CO2 and was giving my sps's problems. So I turned it almost off now and have been using baked baking soda to keep my Alk up. All my corals are looking great and growing now.

 

Anyone use this for a long amount of time with any ill effects?

 

Steve what recipe are you using? I need to do something, my alks low again and I have not been able to swing buying some from BRS yet.

[Saltfinsax]

Hey Josh, best to look it up and make sure. It some place in RC chemistry thread, I think it was some thing like this. Bake it on a cookie sheet at 350 for at least a 30 min. For every Tbs it will raise the Alk 1 point of 50 gal. If you use unbaked baking soda it will also raise the PH.

 

I am not sure why this isn't used in a reactor just like Kalk. If we keep talking about it and show how dumb we are then someone smart will chime in.

[impur]

Actually unbaked baking soda will reduce the pH slightly upon dosing. Washing soda or baked baking soda will raise it. The reason you cannot use it in a reactor like kalk is that it dissolves too easily.

 

I use baked baking soda dosing in addition to kalk in my topoff.

 

Spread baking soda (594 grams or about 2 ¼ cups) on a baking tray and heat in an ordinary oven at 300°F for one hour to drive off water and carbon dioxide. Overheating is not a problem, either with higher temperatures or longer times. Dissolve the residual solid in enough water to make 1 gallon total. This dissolution may require a fair amount of mixing. Warming it speeds dissolution. This solution will contain about 1,900 meq/L of alkalinity (5,300 dKH). I prefer to use baked baking soda rather than washing soda in this recipe as baking soda from a grocery store is always food grade, while washing soda may not have the same purity requirements. Arm & Hammer brand is a fine choice. Be sure to NOT use baking powder. Baking powder is a different material that often has phosphate as a main ingredient.

 

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/rhf/index.php#5

[gradth]

So anyone else have a hard time getting that dissolved? I made up a batch just now, and its being a pain to dissolve. Soaking the bottles in some hot water now. See if that helps.

 

Im assuming I just add this to my auto top off and let it blend slowly.

[Saltfinsax]

See, Miles is wanting you to use all that math stuff too. Try doing it and start checking with your test kit to make sure your not going up to fast.

 

Thanks again Miles

[Gabe]

Before I built my kalk reactor, I used the method Miles described. I found it desolved best in a gallon of near boiling water, then cooled and poured into a food grade jug. I dosed with a food grade plunger pump, like what you pump ketchup at a fast food joint. I ran a 3/8 hose from the pump to the sump. 2 pumps a day was enough to keep alk up in a 55 without too many big stony corals.

[impur]

So anyone else have a hard time getting that dissolved? I made up a batch just now, and its being a pain to dissolve. Soaking the bottles in some hot water now. See if that helps.

 

Im assuming I just add this to my auto top off and let it blend slowly.

 

Are you trying to dissolve the baked baking soda or kalk? The directions above are not for kalk. For kalk you use 2 teaspoons per gallon and it will not all dissolve. The baked baking soda dissolves right away for me.

 

See, Miles is wanting you to use all that math stuff too. Try doing it and start checking with your test kit to make sure your not going up to fast.

 

Thanks again Miles

 

Me pleasure

 

+1 on testing until you get comfortable with dosing this stuff.

[gradth]

I did the baking soda recipe. I only dosed half a gallon into my auto top off. Not sure if its a good thing or a bad thing, but my alk has gone up to 4mEq/L and everything seems happy and not pissed. Everything I have read says 4 is about right. Mine was at 2, so it would seem to be an improvement. Just have to keep an eye on the calcium now.

[impur]

Hmm odd. I just made up a batch. I baked it and then i use a 1gal vinegar container, fill it half way with water, add the baked baking soda, fill it up the rest of the way. It dissolved immediately for me.

 

Just keep an eye on it, keep testing until you know the amount you need to maintain it. I add about 1/2 cup of the solution to a 3gal topoff container on my QT tank and it keeps alk up around 10dKH.

[Saltfinsax]

You might just try taking some of the warm salt water and mix it in that. It always seem to dissolve in that real well.

[impur]

I wouldn't use saltwater. It will reach a point where the alk will just precipitate out.

[dsoz]

If the baking soda was cooked properly, it would have turned into sodium carbonate, which when dissolved in water creates a large amount of heat. There is no need to warm the container, it will get hot on its own. I usually have trouble keeping it cool so it won't melt the plastic jug that I mix the carbontae in.

 

dsoz