Need help with altering the Balling to boost pH

[Koty]

Need help with altering the Balling to boost pH. Need to boost pH as it is around 7.8. IIf I bake the B salt mix to convert it to sodium carbonate without messing with the stoichometry relative to the A and C mix?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Need help with altering the Balling to boost pH. Need to boost pH as it is around 7.8. IIf I bake the B salt mix to convert it to sodium carbonate without messing with the stoichometry relative to the A and C mix?

If you take a fixed amount for the standard recipe and bake it, the total potency of the resulting baked solids in unchanged and it can be added to the same water volume to get the same per mL potency.

You can also use sodium hydroxide instead of the baking soda for an even larger boost to pH.

 

[Koty]

Great! Thanks a lot.

• Bake at 200°C (390°F) for 60 minutes?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Great! Thanks a lot.

• Bake at 200°C (390°F) for 60 minutes?

That sounds OK. Like a turkey, the more you bake, the longer it takes for the inside to get hot. You want it heated through to get the most effect, so spread it out on a baking tray.

There is no overbaking concern.

 

[Koty]

The standard oven size in the holy land does not allow baking a turkey. But spending 5 years at the NIH helps to relate to the example. Years ago, US Marins serving long time here called it the “land of chicken and honey” (no pork, and beef is a bit pricy)

 

[Koty]

If I get it right Sodium carbonate is more soluble than sodium bicarbonate so now I can make a 2X dosing solution as I am doing with the Balling A and C.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

If I get it right Sodium carbonate is more soluble than sodium bicarbonate so now I can make a 2X dosing solution as I am doing with the Balling A and C.

Yes, that is correct. :)

 

[Koty]

I call it "constructive idleness". Now I can have all three of my 5-liter A, B, and C containers with 2x Balling solutions.

 

[Koty]

It’s amazing that theories actually work sometimes:. After several days of disappointment I actually noticed a jump of the pH ftom 7.6-7 to a solid 8.0 . That is even before starting with Sodium carbonate that I am starting today. (pH meter is a Milwaukee and was two point calibrated 3 days ago).

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Sounds good.

Happy reefing! :)

 

[rtparty]

I have found almost no benefit to dosing soda ash over bicarb for a pH bump. It is so easily offset by a tiny bit of CO2 that it is next to pointless IMO. If you want a pH bump, go with sodium hydroxide

 

[Koty]

I have found almost no benefit to dosing soda ash over bicarb for a pH bump. It is so easily offset by a tiny bit of CO2 that it is next to pointless IMO. If you want a pH bump, go with sodium hydroxide

Indeed, 3-4 mls of the 2X (of baked TM B slalts) dosed every hour to a 100g tank will probably not affect the pH significantly. I would gladly use NaOH, but it is still not clear to me what the long-term effect is on the tubing. A leak of NaOH in my system the way it is set, will be a disaster. Any long term expirience with NaOH, 1M ? 2 M (M for Molar)?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Do you know the type of tubing?

 

[Koty]

Do you know the type of tubing?

Reef factory tubing is food grade silicon and the GHL motors are Neoprene
I also have RedSea tubings, which I understand are actually resistant to NaOH