Baking soda for dkh?

[Swampriss]

Has anyone used baking soda to raise dkh? I'm going to bake it for an hour at 300 celsius. My dkh has gradually dropped from 12 to 7, and some of my corals are feeling it. I'm just wondering if anyone else has experience doing so, or if anyone has any tips. I'm going to raise it super slowly over a week so I don't shock my system

 

[SPR1968]

You can use sodium bicarbonate you don’t need to bake it although I am aware of the difference

I changed to it from the Red Sea Foundation B about 2 months ago in my S650 and haven’t noticed any difference. It’s quoted as the ingredient in foundation B

I made a detailed post here about it

Monster Build - Shaun's 2000 Litre (530 USG) Living Reef & Red Sea Max S 650 LED Design & Build

oops me

www.reef2reef.com

 

[StlSalt]

You can use baking soda, it's much more potent before you bake it though so dissolve it in RODI. I slowly dripped my baking soda and RODI mixture from a homemade soda bottle/air line tubing doser I made. It seems generally accepted that you don't want to raise dkh more than .5 a day.

This is the calculator I used to determine how much Baking Soda to add.

Alkalinity supplement calculator

Calculator to work out the quantities of chemicals to increase alkalinity levels.

www.ultimatereef.net

 

[Ippyroy]

Check out Randy Holmes-Farley on here. He has 2 recipes for DIY 2 part. The second recipe is what BRS basically based theirs off of.

 

[redfishbluefish]

You can use sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) as an alk supplement, but I prefer the baked version....sodium carbonate (soda ash), because it is much more soluble in water and can therefore make a much stronger solution.

I too make my own by baking sodium bicarbonate....but NOT AT 300 Celsius!!! I do it at 350 F (ca 180 C) for an hour. If you're using Randy's original recipe, 2 1/4 cups baked for and hour should do it for a gallon of alk solution. Note that after baking you have approximately 2 cups of sodium carbonate.

 

[Swampriss]

Well my game plan is now to bake some at 350 F for an hour. From my calculations I need to add 3 g of the baked powder per day to raise it .5 a day. I have an 85 gallon tank and currently I'm sitting at 7 dkh. I'll add the 3 grams of powder to some tank water in a bottle and slowly add it over the day so nothing gets shocked

 

[Gtinnel]

I, like many others, use Randy Holmes-Farley's diy 2 part and use baking soda that I baked for the alk component. It has worked well without any issues.

Do you dose any 2 part already? If you do why not just increase the amount you're dosing? If you don't it seems like it's time for you to do something long term to replace the alk/cal that your tank is consuming.

 

[Swampriss]

No I've just been using water changes and the occasional calcium added. But its only recently my corals started to take off and I noticed a drop in dkh over the past few weeks. I'm still pretty new to this 6 months in about so I'm a wee bit lost on this 2 part dosing

 

[Swampriss]

I'm going to read this randy 2 part dosing here when I get home

 

[Gtinnel]

I'm still pretty new to this 6 months in about so I'm a wee bit lost on this 2 part dosing

It seems intimidating at first but once you get it setup it's one of those things that is really easy. I had been using my AWC to take care of replacing alk/cal but that didn't last long. The amount replaced by water changes is fairly insignificant. I then started dosing once a day by hand and that was tedious and I'd find myself missing days, so I setup dosing pumps, and now I shouldn't need to do anything to it for over a month (besides checking my parameters).

I was trying to avoid dosing because I also found it intimidating but once setup I wish I would've done it sooner.

 

[Auquanut]

It seems intimidating at first but once you get it setup it's one of those things that is really easy. I had been using my AWC to take care of replacing alk/cal but that didn't last long. The amount replaced by water changes is fairly insignificant. I then started dosing once a day by hand and that was tedious and I'd find myself missing days, so I setup dosing pumps, and now I shouldn't need to do anything to it for over a month (besides checking my parameters).

I was trying to avoid dosing because I also found it intimidating but once setup I wish I would've done it sooner.

^^ Exactly!^^

 

[homer1475]

I just use sodium bicarb, hate the long process of baking it.

Just google Randys DIY 2 part.

Use this calc to figure out how much to add(remember not to go ver 1DKH/24 hours).

Reef Chemistry Calculator

 

[Reef.]

You can use sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) as an alk supplement, but I prefer the baked version....sodium carbonate (soda ash), because it is much more soluble in water and can therefore make a much stronger solution.

I too make my own by baking sodium bicarbonate....but NOT AT 300 Celsius!!! I do it at 350 F (ca 180 C) for an hour. If you're using Randy's original recipe, 2 1/4 cups baked for and hour should do it for a gallon of alk solution. Note that after baking you have approximately 2 cups of sodium carbonate.

Once baked how long can it be stored for?

OP just a note on baking soda, check the ingredients if not using arm and hammer as some have other stuff added, I found my supermarket’s own brand of baking soda was 100% sodium bicarbonate at a fraction of the price of arm and hammer (that stuff ain’t cheap).

 

[homer1475]

Once baked how long can it be stored for?

OP just a note on baking soda, check the ingredients if not using arm and hammer as some have other stuff added, I found my supermarket’s own brand of baking soda was 100% sodium bicarbonate at a fraction of the price of arm and hammer (that stuff ain’t cheap).

I found in my walmart, if you go to the pool section, you can get a huge bag for the same price as the little box. It's the same exact stuff, just not labeled for food but for shocking pools. Been using it for 3 years without issue.

 

[homer1475]

I asked randy a while back when I was having issues how long it could be stored for, I was told practically indefinitely as long as it didn't evaporate.

 

[Swampriss]

Thank you yes I've been so intimidated, and scared to ruin everything I have. But that makes me feel better I'm baking the stuff now very interesting this hobby

 

[Reef.]

Thank you yes I've been so intimidated, and scared to ruin everything I have. But that makes me feel better I'm baking the stuff now very interesting this hobby

If you can do it, mines going in the oven too!

Was using it raw, baking seemed too much of a “Breaking bad” skill lvl

 

[Ippyroy]

Mix it with RODI. Test your Alk. Dose the amount needed. Wait 30 minutes and retest. Should be close to where you wanted to be. Wait 3 days and test again at the same time. Divide this amount by 3 and you now have your daily consumption rate. Dose equal amounts of soda ash and calcium each day. I prefer 1 in the morning and the other in the evening.
If you have high PH, over 8.4, you will need to use Sodium Bicarbonate. Soda ash will raise you PH. Dose it slowly in a high flow area.

 

[homer1475]

I gave up baking it a while back. Not that it's hard, just found it anohter tedious task to do for the tank. The small PH boost wasn't enough to offset the tediousness.

Of course you dose about twice as much, but baking soda is cheap.

 

[Reef.]

My tank is using around .4 a day, no corals or coralline algae, no idea where the alk is going, I’ve just started with All for Reef but that hasn’t kicked in yet, I believe it can take 24/48 for the alk in that to activate, the baking soda showed a raise within minutes.
I’m hoping the AFR will stabilise the alk. So baking soda isn’t needed.