DIY Boron

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Are you asking for the pH rise expected from adding some borate?

Small but real and temporary. lol

That's because some is present in seawater as boric acid, so if you add all borate, some becomes boric acid, taking up H+ and raising pH:

B(OH)2O- + H+ --> B(OH)3

After it all settles down, the borate does more to stabilize pH day to night than to boost pH:

Chemistry And The Aquarium: Boron In A Reef Tank

This article also discusses the sources and sinks for boron in reef tanks, and shows that while typical tanks may be slightly depleted in boron with respect to natural levels, most are not so significantly depleted that any correction is required. Nevertheless, how to test for and supplement...

reefs.com

"So, a tank with a total alkalinity of 3 meq/L (typical of reef tanks) and normal boron levels, has 20% of it pH buffering provided by boric acid/borate. "

 

[Cory]

Are you asking for the pH rise expected from adding some borate?

Small but real and temporary. lol

That's because some is present in seawater as boric acid, so if you add all borate, some becomes boric acid, taking up H+ and raising pH:

B(OH)2O- + H+ --> B(OH)3

After it all settles down, the borate does more to stabilize pH day to night than to boost pH:

Chemistry And The Aquarium: Boron In A Reef Tank

This article also discusses the sources and sinks for boron in reef tanks, and shows that while typical tanks may be slightly depleted in boron with respect to natural levels, most are not so significantly depleted that any correction is required. Nevertheless, how to test for and supplement...

reefs.com

"So, a tank with a total alkalinity of 3 meq/L (typical of reef tanks) and normal boron levels, has 20% of it pH buffering provided by boric acid/borate. "

Im actually wondering if adding boron will keep my ph from falling so low. Last night it got to 7.74. I have a forced air furnace which runs now last night was -10c. Alkalinity is 7.8dkh so im not understanding the huge ph drop.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Im actually wondering if adding boron will keep my ph from falling so low. Last night it got to 7.74. I have a forced air furnace which runs now last night was -10c. Alkalinity is 7.8dkh so im not understanding the huge ph drop.

It may help with that, yes. But unless boron went from pretty low to normal or normal to pretty high, the effect will be small. I discuss that exact effect in the article.

 

[Cory]

It may help with that, yes. But unless boron went from pretty low to normal or normal to pretty high, the effect will be small. I discuss that exact effect in the article.

I suspect it was normal and i raised it to about 6 to 7ppm. Since in your article you stated 4 grams of borax will raise B by 2.4ppm per 100 gallons. So since my tanks 145 net gallons approximately, i just added 5.28 grams of borax. Im guessing 6 to 7ppm B isn't enough to stop the ph from dropping to 7.74. Ph probe hasn't been calibrated in about 4 to 5 months. Do i need to calibrate it yearly? Apex ph probe.

 

[Cory]

Heres a pic of my ph cycles:

 

[Nate’sTanks]

Hey @Randy Holmes-Farley I was curious if instead of Borax if we can use boric acid to be able to supplement. I understand it will adjust the pH a tad but being a weak acid I was thinking it shouldn't be a big issue. I have access to a ton of boric acid and would need to dose less compared to borax.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Yes, you can use boric acid. It will deplete alkalinity when used so you may want to monitor and boost that as needed.