How to dose sodium hydroxide

[huttoreefer]

Hello,

I'm gonna follow Randy's new recipe adding sodium hydroxide to boost my pH up which is currently 7.4 - 7.6

Can I dose it straight to my main tank which has high flow or to the sump? Also I wonder if I can use Red Sea Reefdose for daily dosing?

Thanks,

 

[vandy]

If you use randy's recipe, dose it the same way you would with any 2 part alkalinity solution. I would split up the dosing times a little more than you would with soda ash as it has a substantial increase in ph. You can dose it via dosing pump for daily dosing

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I would dose to a high flow area in a sump, unless the sump is very small.

 

[CHSUB]

Is there any concern about tubing and the dosing pump with sodium hydroxide?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Is there any concern about tubing and the dosing pump with sodium hydroxide?

Silicone, polyethylene and polypropylene should be fine. Santoprene should also be ok, I expect.

 

[underwaterwonders]

I had some trouble with precipitation on pumps while dosing Sodium Hydroxide, even while concurrently running a calcium reactor, and keeping ph below 8.5. If you have a high alk demand system it may be tricky to keep the ph low enough so that doesn’t happen, can really increase the pump maintenance you need to do. I dosed it right after the filter sock on a 85 gallon sump and the Vectra pump would seize up every few months. If you have trouble, could maybe try dosing to the overflow box so it has even more time to react before hitting the return.

 

[Miami Reef]

Santoprene, like the material found in the 1.1 mL/min BRS dosing pumps, have withstood heavy sodium hydroxide use for several years now. I believe these pumps are best as they drip the solution very slowly. I don’t have precipitation issues. I can’t imagine using a fast pump with sodium hydroxide.

These BRS pumps require a timer to adjust the dose, and I personally use it with my Apex controller, but even a cheap timer can work.