DIY alkalinity standard

[trevorhiller]

I do not know if this standard is a curate for the Hanna. See this post earlier in the thread:

DIY alkalinity standard

For folks who may want to evaluate the accuracy of their alkalinity test kits, here are two suggested ways to do it. One is DIY and one is a mostly commercial standard with one DIY step. Method 1 Standard solutions could be made with sodium bicarbonate, but it can be hard to be sure it hasn't...

www.reef2reef.com

Don't know how I missed that! Thanks for bringing it to my attention

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Randy, can Soda ash be substituted for method 1 here?

The recipe uses soda ash (sodium carbonate). Bake it first to be sure it is dry and is not partly bicarbonate.

 

[Miami Reef]

Dissolve the 10 grams of powder in 1.0 liter (1000 g) of RO/DI or distilled water. The more accurate you are with this measurement of water, the more accurate the standard will be.

Just making sure, for the first step, the volume will be more than 1,000mL when the powder is dissolved into the water, right?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Just making sure, for the first step, the volume will be more than 1,000mL when the powder is dissolved into the water, right?

Probably, but if you go by mass there is no error from this effect, and at most the volume change is a few mL so less than a 1% deviation from the mass based answer.

 

[Miami Reef]

Probably, but if you go by mass there is no error from this effect, and at most the volume change is a few mL so less than a 1% deviation from the mass based answer.

What do you mean by ”by mass?”

I plan to use a 1L volumetric flask.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

What do you mean by ”by mass?”

I plan to use a 1L volumetric flask.

When looking closely at my directions:

Remove 15.1 grams (or 15.1 mL) of Stock Solution #1 and combine the 15.1 g with Ro/DI or distilled water to a final total mass of 1000 g or a volume of 1000 mL.

I suggest one can take the 15.1 g by mass or volume. In any case, the error will be very small. Much smaller than any hobby kit can detect, I expect.

If I were you, I'd use 1 L before mixing. It might be interesting to mix in the volumetric and see roughly what volume change one gets.

 

[Miami Reef]

When looking closely at my directions:

Remove 15.1 grams (or 15.1 mL) of Stock Solution #1 and combine the 15.1 g with Ro/DI or distilled water to a final total mass of 1000 g or a volume of 1000 mL.

I suggest one can take the 15.1 g by mass or volume. In any case, the error will be very small. Much smaller than any hobby kit can detect, I expect.

If I were you, I'd use 1 L before mixing. It might be interesting to mix in the volumetric and see roughly what volume change one gets.

I did it adding the 10g to the 1L. The volume went slightly above the volumetric line.

I got a perfect 8dKH result with my titration. I’m happy with the results.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I did it adding the 10g to the 1L. The volume went slightly above the volumetric line.

I got a perfect 8dKH result with my titration. I’m happy with the results.

Sounds good!

 

[Danchik]

Method 2.
For those who do not want a pure DIY, but want a highly accurate standard, you can start with a premade solution of 0.01 N sodium hydroxide, such as this one from amazon for $16.45:

LabChem LC242001 Sodium Hydroxide Solution, 0.01N (0.01M), 500 mL Volume

As it arrives, this solution contains 10 meq/L of alkalinity, or 28 dKH. You could use that without dilution with a test kit, but will typically need a lot of titrant to reach the endpoint, wasting the titrant.

If you take 250 mL of this fluid and 750 mL of RO/DI water (or any volumes that are a 1:3 ratio), you will have a fluid that is 7 dKH and is ready for titration kit testing.

Hello @Randy Holmes-Farley,
I would like to ask you if you could recalculate the "dKH" for "Method2" with a different value of 8 dKH, because I'm afraid I'll make a mistake...(
If:
Sodium Hydroxide Solution, 0.01N, 500 mL Volume

Thank you!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Hello @Randy Holmes-Farley,
I would like to ask you if you could recalculate the "dKH" for "Method2" with a different value of 8 dKH, because I'm afraid I'll make a mistake...(
If:
Sodium Hydroxide Solution, 0.01N, 500 mL Volume

Thank you!

I'm confused. I gave a recipe for 7 dKH. Why would you want or need to test 8 dKH?

 

[Danchik]

I'm confused. I gave a recipe for 7 dKH. Why would you want or need to test 8 dKH?

Since my average value in the aquarium is =>8 dKH, I would like to get closer to this value
I understand that 7 dKH will do, but it is further from my average value

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Since my average value in the aquarium is =>8 dKH, I would like to get closer to this value
I understand that 7 dKH will do, but it is further from my average value

I do not think that is a significant concern for a test that is linear with titrant added. However, if you feel you want 8 dKH, use 286 mL mL of 0.01 N NaOH diluted with RO/DI water to 1 L total final volume.