New DIY Two Part Recipes with Higher pH Boost

[Miami Reef]

Does sodium hydroxide supply the same then as soda ash?

If you follow the recipes provided by Randy Holmes-Farley, both recipes provide the same concentration of alk.

Hydroxide can be made a little more concentrated, but the calcium chloride will be limited (it’s already near its max solubility limit).

My recommendation is to keep the same stock recipe that Randy provided for these 2 reasons:

1) It’s simpler to dose: dose the same volume of each part to maintain alk. Calcium and magnesium will then remain in line. Easy to remember and less math required.

2) Less finicky: at higher concentrations, local precipitation near the dosing line considerably increases. You will need to increase turbidity near the dosing lines and slow down the flow rate of the alk line to prevent precipitation, which wastes the solution and can cause a mess in the sump.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I agree making the dosing solution more potent is not optimal unless there’s a strong need to do so.

 

[so_so_reef]

If you follow the recipes provided by Randy Holmes-Farley, both recipes provide the same concentration of alk.

Hydroxide can be made a little more concentrated, but the calcium chloride will be limited (it’s already near its max solubility limit).

My recommendation is to keep the same stock recipe that Randy provided for these 2 reasons:

1) It’s simpler to dose: dose the same volume of each part to maintain alk. Calcium and magnesium will then remain in line. Easy to remember and less math required.

2) Less finicky: at higher concentrations, local precipitation near the dosing line considerably increases. You will need to increase turbidity near the dosing lines and slow down the flow rate of the alk line to prevent precipitation, which wastes the solution and can cause a mess in the sump.

Makes sense! The concentrated hydroxide two part I buy commercially is almost a solid when it goes into the sump, and has to be chopped up by a powerhead.

Thanks for the explanation.

 

[so_so_reef]

I can buy 99% sodium hydroxide pearls for a decent price, or 99.9% pellets for double the price. Do you think the .9% makes a difference?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I can buy 99% sodium hydroxide pearls for a decent price, or 99.9% pellets for double the price. Do you think the .9% makes a difference?

Grades matter more than percent. Is either one food, ACS, or other high grade?

 

[so_so_reef]

Grades matter more than percent. Is either one food, ACS, or other high grade?

Yes one is ACS.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Yes one is ACS.

I’d pick the graded one. Food grade sodium hydroxide is usually quite inexpensive. You don’t want to pay more for high percent if that just means a bit less water or something like potassium or chloride in it.

 

[so_so_reef]

I’d pick the graded one. Food grade sodium hydroxide is usually quite inexpensive. You don’t want to pay more for high percent if that just means a bit less water or something like potassium or chloride in it.

Thanks, Randy.

Can I please just quickly run these metric measurements passed you before I make up my solutions? I took the Magnesium measurements from post #3 here.

Thank you so much for all your help!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Thanks, Randy.

Can I please just quickly run these metric measurements passed you before I make up my solutions? I took the Magnesium measurements from post #3 here.

Thank you so much for all your help!

I'm confused. You intend to combine the two alk parts and combine the two magnesium parts?

Combining hydroxide and bicarbonate will just give carbonate, so you might as well just start with sodium carbonate.

The magnesium parts are more potent than my recipes. They should total about 480 g/L using the hydrated forms (heptahydrate and hexahydrate).

 

[Allen749]

Hello Randy, I have a question about the measurement units used in the recipe. How do I calculate when it uses grams? I'm sorry, in my country we generally use metric units, so I don't quite understand. Could you please help me with this..

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Hello Randy, I have a question about the measurement units used in the recipe. How do I calculate when it uses grams? I'm sorry, in my country we generally use metric units, so I don't quite understand. Could you please help me with this..

You want it in grams, or in something else?

Are you asking about my part 3? The first post in this thread gives the parts 1 and 2 recipes in grams. :)

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

FWIW, I think the best recipe is a three part using Balling part C for the third part.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/diy-chemistry-archive.987116/

 

[Allen749]

You want it in grams, or in something else?

Are you asking about my part 3? The first post in this thread gives the parts 1 and 2 recipes in grams. :)

Yes Randy, I don't quite understand the measurement units used in the third part.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Yes Randy, I don't quite understand the measurement units used in the third part.

OK, so my DIY part 3 is based on about 64 dry solid ounces total, which is 1814 grams. In a recipe that is 5 parts magnesium chloride hexahydrate and 3 parts magnesium sulfate heptahydrate, that means 1134 grams of the magnesium chloride and 680 grams of mag sulfate per gallon of RO/DI water. :)

 

[Allen749]

OK, so my DIY part 3 is based on about 64 dry solid ounces total, which is 1814 grams. In a recipe that is 5 parts magnesium chloride hexahydrate and 3 parts magnesium sulfate heptahydrate, that means 1134 grams of the magnesium chloride and 680 grams of mag sulfate per gallon of RO/DI water. :)

I have one more question. If using all three parts of the recipe together, will that increase the salinity? And to maintain chemical balance, would I need to use a salt without sodium chloride?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I have one more question. If using all three parts of the recipe together, will that increase the salinity? And to maintain chemical balance, would I need to use a salt without sodium chloride?

It does increase salinity. part 3 is designed to reduce some of the imbalance concerns, and should not be used if you also use Balling Part C or other non sodium chloride salt.

Using Part 1, Part 2 and Balling part C is a fine way to go, but then you'd use a revised magnesium recipe (10:1, not 5:3) and less of it (1/3 as much) to make a good part 3.

 

[Allen749]

It does increase salinity. part 3 is designed to reduce some of the imbalance concerns, and should not be used if you also use Balling Part C or other non sodium chloride salt.

Using Part 1, Part 2 and Balling part C is a fine way to go, but then you'd use a revised magnesium recipe (10:1, not 5:3) and less of it (1/3 as much) to make a good part 3.

I understand now. If I only use your recipe, how quickly would the salinity increase? I think doing water changes should help mitigate the rising salinity, or adding fresh water to dilute and balance the salinity level.

 

[so_so_reef]

I'm confused. You intend to combine the two alk parts and combine the two magnesium parts?

Combining hydroxide and bicarbonate will just give carbonate, so you might as well just start with sodium carbonate.

The magnesium parts are more potent than my recipes. They should total about 480 g/L using the hydrated forms (heptahydrate and hexahydrate).

No, I want to have two separate alk parts, one I'll use in the winter to maintain higher pH and one for summer when pH isn't an issue.

Okay so I should divide 480g into 5:3 ratio of Mg chloride to sulphate? But above you give higher amounts per litre. Sorry if I'm causing confusion!

Thanks!

 

[so_so_reef]

No, I want to have two separate alk parts, one I'll use in the winter to maintain higher pH and one for summer when pH isn't an issue.

Okay so I should divide 480g into 5:3 ratio of Mg chloride to sulphate? But above you give higher amounts per litre. Sorry if I'm causing confusion!

Thanks!

Sorry, I think I am confusing things as I decided to use your three part recipe now, so I can have more control over calcium and magnesium. So the above numbers I included in the chart are for the three part.

EDIT: I noticed a calculation error for the Mg part. Here is the updated metric recipe based on post #793 above.

 

[Allen749]

It does increase salinity. part 3 is designed to reduce some of the imbalance concerns, and should not be used if you also use Balling Part C or other non sodium chloride salt.

Using Part 1, Part 2 and Balling part C is a fine way to go, but then you'd use a revised magnesium recipe (10:1, not 5:3) and less of it (1/3 as much) to make a good part 3.

Thank you so much Randy. I used to worry about low pH levels, and I really appreciate everything you've done to help. I hope you have a wonderful day.:):)