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From what i can tell it is the same thing as their reagent. The funny thing is they kicked me out of their group on FB bc of this post! no big deal, but them saying muriatic acid is dangerous and only buy our reagent is total BS! I have been using this DIY reagent for over a year about 18 months now with no issues.I realize it’s probably the same chemical as their reagent but it’s ok to put small quantities of muriatic acid into my tank?
I've been doing it for over a year now with no ill effects. Their reagent might be sulphuric and not muriatic but either or his previous posts make me feel that is fine.That’s like Red Sea banning people for bringing the design flaw in their 750XXL public.
I’d be curious to hear Randy’s take on muriatic acid being added to the tank?
I realize it’s probably the same chemical as their reagent but it’s ok to put small quantities of muriatic acid into my tank?
From what i can tell it is the same thing as their reagent. The funny thing is they kicked me out of their group on FB bc of this post! no big deal, but them saying muriatic acid is dangerous and only buy our reagent is total crap! I have been using this DIY reagent for over a year about 18 months now with no issues.
This seems to be a very helpful thread. However because I do nat have any background in chemistry it’s quite confusing. Can anyone give:
1) amazon link on the acid to use
2) ratio on acid to RODI
I would really appreciate anyone who can help me.
The only concern is purity. I expect it is fine as many folks drop the alk in their salt mixes with it using a lot more than used here.
That is great!!! Thanks! Will buy it today.The acid in the link is 1M. That is 2N. To get 0.1 N You will have to dilute it 20 times.
And then dilute it 4 times as in post 66. Or just dilute 80 times = 12.5 ml acid for 1 liter solution.
I normally use a scale diluting things but in this case the acid is a little bit heavier than water so You have to use a pipette for the Acid.
I gave up looking for a local source of reagent grade sulfuric acid and ordered some 0.1N sulfuric acid from amazon.com. Shipping was reasonable to Canada.
I was looking at Randy’s diy Alkalinity test, Table 1:
15mL of 0.1N acid to 500mL of aquarium water yielded a dKH reading of 8.4
Alkatronic aquarium water sample is calibrated to 50mL
so
1.5 mL of 0.1N acid to 50mL aquarium water
Alkatronic reagent is calibrated to 10mL
So I figure 4:1 rodi to 0.1N sulfuric acid would be a good starting point
1.5mL acid + 6mL rodi = 7.5mL
I mixed up 40 grams of rodi with 10 grams of acid on a scale
I ran 4 back to back tests within 42 minutes
Test 1: 8.55 - Alkatronic reagent
Flushed reagent pump/line
Test 2: 8.58 – diy
Test 3: 8.53 – diy
Flushed reagent pump/line
Test 4: 8.51 – Alkatronic reagent
if i remember correctly alk will be slightly higher with the 1.9ml reagent than the alkatronics, i got to a point where i was tired of fiddling with the exact formula, and this gave me consistent results so i stuck with that number.I have been away from this thread and reefing for awhile. Based on what you are showing here, it sounds like the Alkatronic undiluted reagent is 0.1N. Which if that is the case, is easy to source. I have 0.1N Hydrochloric acid on hand.
I also have 31.45% muriatic acid on hand. I plan to test @erky 's formula of 1.9 ml / L as compared to the OEM reagent.
Thanks to all the contributers to this thread, progress has been made to suggesting acceptable DIY versions of the re-agent.
Dennis
is that the same as their reagent? 4:1 mixing ratio or different?
is there a specific way to test what acid is vs another acid?The OEM reagent also uses a 4:1 mixing ratio. So if this works as suggested, then it is a pretty good assumption that the OEM reagent is 0.1N as well. I thought I read sonewhere that the OEM reagent is also sulfuric acid.
Dennis