Raising the pH using the classic Balling system

[Koty]

I’m using the Balling system for quite a few years now very successfully fortifying them with the A & K elements, but I have a problem that the pH is always around 7.8. My question is can replace part of the B component with sodium hydroxide in order to get the desired pH of over eight
@Hans-Werner ?
Thanks in advance

 

[Pod_01]

I know bit of a late reply (seems Hans-Werner is not replying these days)…
I have used baked baking soda/ soda ash/ sodium carbonate and all I did was bake the Alk part. Baking recipe is provided by Randy Homes. Best pH boost I observed with baked baking soda is when I do number of small doses during the day (30 doses at 1ml each).

I also tried sodium hydroxide but I didn’t like the results, there was precipitate forming so you do need high flow area. Also I got pets and kids and hydroxide is strong base so do be careful. I keep spilling my containers all the time.

You will need to adjust potency if you want to maintain 1:1:1 dosing .

I inquired long ago and Randy Homes mentioned that the A and K elements can be mixed as before, there should be no reaction with Hydroxide.

Hope that helps,

Good luck,

 

[Hans-Werner]

Sorry that I have been offline for a while. I personally have the best results with sodium bicarbonate, maybe due to low phosphate concentrations I had for a long time, but technically there is no problem increasing pH by replacing some sodium bicarbonate with sodium hydroxide in the alkalinity part.