baking soda to raise alk

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jun 12, 2017

Engloid said:
Does it look like dandruff?
I set up the pump today. I mixed 10 level tsp into a gallon. I only set for 1ml a day for now. I know it wont do much or anything, but I have not yet settled on my plan.

Is baking soda what you would advise? I have some of the red sea part b (alk) on the way also, so I can use either.

Btw, your calculator is great. Thanks.

It can look like general cloudiness, or a little chunky/flaky. I show some pics here:

What is that Precipitate in My Reef Aquarium? by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-07/rhf/index.htm

from it:

Figure 3. The transient cloud of magnesium hydroxide that forms when high pH additives are added. In this case, the alkalinity portion of B-ionic was added to a fairly still portion of one of my reef aquaria.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jun 12, 2017

Either of those alkalinity alternatives will be fine. :)

Engloid · Jun 12, 2017

I will read into that a little bit after work. Thanks for the help

cwk84 · Jun 18, 2018

I tried drip dosing baking soda. I added 1 tsp in one gallon of RO/DI water and adjusted the drip to roughly 1 -2 drops per second. Everything in my tank got shocked. I measured alk just now and it didn't rise AT ALL. I measured twice. I thought baking soda is supposed to raise alk?! The fact that everything got socked in my tank means that I must have dosed TOO much. But 1 tsp in 1 gallon of water isn't even a strong solution and I maybe only dripped 100ml.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jun 18, 2018

You added almost nothing. Of course it did nothing. Nothing got shocked (unless the tank is less than 5 gallons water volume)

I’m not sure what size your tank is, but you added 0.026 teaspoons of baking soda, which, if added to 25 gallons of tank water, will boost alk by 0.05 dKH.

cwk84 · Jun 18, 2018

Before I dripped everything was happy and open, even my anemone! Now my anemone has a gaping mouth and is shriveled up, my mushrooms are all closed up, my glove polyps display signs of stress, and my SPS are closed up as well. Why do you think I asked? Do you think I don't know that I barely dosed anything?! That's the point of my question. I barely dosed anything yet my corals display signs of stress.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jun 18, 2018

cwk84 said:
Before I dripped everything was happy and open, even my anemone! Now my anemone has a gaping mouth and is shriveled up, my mushrooms are all closed up, my glove polyps display signs of stress, and my SPS are closed up as well. Why do you think I asked? Do you think I don't know that I barely dosed anything?! That's the point of my question. I barely dosed anything yet my corals display signs of stress.

You certain it was baking soda, not baking powder?

What brand?

Quality baking soda is used very widely and has no such effect.

Flippers4pups · Jun 18, 2018

@cwk84, what size tank do you have?

cwk84 · Jun 18, 2018

It's roughly filled up to 40g. It says baking soda, not baking powder.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jun 18, 2018

What brand? Large numbers of people have used Arm and Hammer without issue.

Flippers4pups · Jun 18, 2018

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
What brand? Large numbers of people have used Arm and Hammer without issue.

I still use it. Not the soda ash, but bicarbonate for years and years. No issues.

cwk84 · Jun 18, 2018

The brand is Nature's Choice.

Flippers4pups · Jun 18, 2018

cwk84 said:
The brand is Nature's Choice.

I really think that there's something else happening here with your tank, @cwk84. The amount that you posted shouldnt have done anything at all chemistry wise to your system. If it was completely dissolved in RO/DI water, there shouldn't have been any coral response. I've even dosed 6ml at one time and nothing in my system changed at all.

One thing though is to never dose directly into a DT all at once and definitely without dosing into water flow to disperse the alkalinity before it can reach any living thing. In smaller systems, it's best to dose into a sump with high flow. Even smaller tanks without a sump, drip dosing is best into a powerhead.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jun 18, 2018

When I google Natures Choice baking soda, the only hit I get is baking powder. Does the product list ingredients?

Flippers4pups · Jun 18, 2018

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
When I google Natures Choice baking soda, the only hit I get is baking powder. Does the product list ingredients?

I just did the same thing. Just baking powder, not baking soda. Totally different in every way. Wow.

cwk84 · Jun 19, 2018

Ph is 8.8. The solution is dark violet (API testkit). Usually, it's brownish which corresponds to a ph of around 8.0. Maybe I accidentally confused the baking soda container with the kalkwasser container and dropped kalkwasser. I haven't really gotten a lot of sleep lately due to all that researching and reading about tank stuff. I'll do a big water change today and wait a couple weeks for everything to settle.