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Me too, but for a different reason.
My what the heck moment happened while titrating. Are we at the point of needing to prove first principles all over again to squelch vendor claims?
Thanks very much for doing this experiment!
Any chance we can get a Red Sea alk test on hydroxide with a similar alk rise or pH rise as the Boost pH+?
Sorry to seem demanding, but the more evidence we have, the easier it will be to convince Jack.
Ya. I raised my tank’s alk a bit last night after yesterday‘s experiment lol.Here it is with MiamiReef's NaOH comparison to Boost on Red Sea alk test. (The yellow data now is a paired test).
The yellow lines start at different points because the tank water had slightly different pH and alk on different days, nonetheless the trend is again almost identical for NaOH and Boost pH+ additions. Boost pH+ still adds at least as much alk as NaOH for the same pH increase.
I’m in the process of the experiment. One thing’s for sure: I need much more Brightwell boost pH + to get the pH jump than the 1N NaOH.
Check out plot in post #115. My data says an equivalent of alkalinity of Boost pH+ has the same effect on pH as an equivalent of alkalinity of NaOH regardless of the starting alkalinity.Related to that comment, Dan’s direct titration of the product would indicate it would take about 4x as much of the Boost pH to match 1 N NaOH:
“Titrated Boost pH+ this morning and it is 0.23 N”
Check out plot in post #115. My data says an equivalent of alkalinity of Boost pH+ has the same effect on pH as an equivalent of alkalinity of NaOH regardless of the starting alkalinity.
By the way, I ordered a Red Sea alkalinity kit and plan to relook at the alkalinity measurements with it, the Hanna Checker and titration with a pH meter. Additives will be Boost pH+, sodium acetate, sodium bicarbonate and sodium hydroxide. I will monitor color changes with a spectrophotometer along with pH to remove color perception from end point determination. Data collection will be complete after Christmas. My hypothesis is that I don’t have a firm grip on the science
There's an aspect of what you are looking at that I think is really interesting.Check out plot in post #115. My data says an equivalent of alkalinity of Boost pH+ has the same effect on pH as an equivalent of alkalinity of NaOH regardless of the starting alkalinity.
By the way, I ordered a Red Sea alkalinity kit and plan to relook at the alkalinity measurements with it, the Hanna Checker and titration with a pH meter. Additives will be Boost pH+, sodium acetate, sodium bicarbonate and sodium hydroxide. I will monitor color changes with a spectrophotometer along with pH to remove color perception from end point determination. Data collection will be complete after Christmas. My hypothesis is that I don’t have a firm grip on the science
There's an aspect of what you are looking at that I think is really interesting.
I wonder if you make a solution of the hanna alk reagent in saltwater and look at the color vs pH - does some ingredient in Boost pH cause the hanna alk color to vary from its normal ph-based color.
I've also heard one or two people say that Prime boosts their hanna alk result.
I don't actually have a good grasp on how hanna alk works, beyond your general explanations of what it likely does.What is the dye in the Hanna? Maybe it gets chemically reduced by Prime.
Yeah, that would be interesting! Will do.There's an aspect of what you are looking at that I think is really interesting.
I wonder if you make a solution of the hanna alk reagent in saltwater and look at the color vs pH - does some ingredient in Boost pH cause the hanna alk color to vary from its normal ph-based color.
I've also heard one or two people say that Prime boosts their hanna alk result.
What is the dye in the Hanna? Maybe it gets chemically reduced by Prime.
I was thinking of measuring the Vis spectrum and pH vs alkalinity to show how the method works. I assume the reagent is a mixture of acid and dye(s) and Hanna correlated color intensity to buffer capacity. Maybe I can find where non-linearity kicks in.I don't actually have a good grasp on how hanna alk works, beyond your general explanations of what it likely does.
there is only one piece of interesting info in the hanna SDS...I assume the reagent is a mixture of acid and dye(s) and Hanna correlated color intensity to buffer capacity.
Here is how the visible spectrum of the Hanna alkalinity test solution changes with increasing alkalinity.there is only one piece of interesting info in the hanna SDS...
So pH of 3.7, we can ponder what would happen to final pH if you mix a fixed amount of weak acid with a variable alkalinity saltwater.
the final pH might be something that you could map to the initial saltwater alkalinity.
hanna says "The reaction causes a distinctive range of colors from yellow to green to blue to develop." So something like univesal indicator or bromothymol blue could give those colors in the likely pH ranges...
And if your checker LED is 610nm, then an indicator like that is well situated to quantify the pH from the absorbance.
Bromothymol blue....
Universal indicator....
Took a quick look at this with my Prime opened about a year ago. For reference, 2 drops, ~0.12 mL, in 4 L is the recommended dose.There's an aspect of what you are looking at that I think is really interesting.
I wonder if you make a solution of the hanna alk reagent in saltwater and look at the color vs pH - does some ingredient in Boost pH cause the hanna alk color to vary from its normal ph-based color.
I've also heard one or two people say that Prime boosts their hanna alk result.
Still waiting delivery of a Red Sea alkalinity test to wrap up the subject of testing alkalinity with a Hanna Checker. In the meantime, tested the concern that Boost pH+ behaves differently in Instant Ocean than it does in aquarium water because of the organic content. For my rank water and Instant Ocean there was no difference. Here’s the demonstration.
I removed a a sample of aquarium water and adjusted the alkalinity and pH to bring them close to that of Instant Ocean. I then added Boost pH+ (0.23 N) and measured the pH increase. Below is the comparison between tank water and Instant Ocean. The two curves are parallel over the entire range of Boost pH+ addition. If I had tweaked the aquarium water pH 0.05 units, the curves would have overlapped.
I feel we can add to the study conclusions that Boost pH+ behaves the same in both IO and tank water, and therefore, there is no organic chemical effect, positive or negative.