Second New DIY Two Part Recipe with Higher pH Boost

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I dose kalk at night about 2 gallons and 3 part 170 ml of soda ash, 170 ml calcium chloride, 45 ml mag sulf/ mag chl mix in the day. 4 separate jugs. If I wanted to boost ph and use sodium hydroxide, what would that look like?

do I stop kalk?

do I still dose 170 ml of cal and NaHO

do I still use the brs 2 part msg maintenance mix?

always curious about this, but do not want to change if everything is great. Just hate the summer ph slums in AZ.

the sodium hydroxide method of this thread just swaps it in for for sodium carbonate.

 

[Cjeippert]

the sodium hydroxide method of this thread just swaps it in for for sodium carbonate.

Pretty simple then thanks Randy.

I agree nothing to be fearful of. sodium hydroxide is in a lot of things… concrete mix, toothpaste, lime / drain cleaner, hair straightener, salifert test kits for calcium, co2 scrubbing media, F- aiptasia, Soap...

one thing I would fear is triggering a dreaded precipitation event. I think after my next big bucket of sodium carbonate is done, I might give it a try.

 

[Miami Reef]

I agree nothing to be fearful of. sodium hydroxide is in a lot of things… concrete mix, toothpaste, lime / drain cleaner, hair straightener, salifert test kits for calcium, co2 scrubbing media, F- aiptasia, Soap...

While I agree that sodium hydroxide is in many things in our day-to-day lives, I don’t think it’s fair to minimize the risks of hydroxide.

First, the dose makes the poison. Highly concentrated sodium hydroxide will be VERY hot when initially mixed due to the exothermic reaction.

Sodium hydroxide can dissolve skin. The slippery feeling is the oils and fat from the skin reacting with hydroxide to turn into soap. But high enough concentration and exposure and eat through the skin itself…and the heat only hastens the effect.

The most important thing is to not get it in your eyes. But any skin exposure causes dermatitis and itchiness. Rinse immediately if you ever feel soapiness on your skin while working with hydroxide.

I personally am very cautious with it.

 

[Cjeippert]

While I agree that sodium hydroxide is in many things in our day-to-day lives, I don’t think it’s fair to minimize the risks of hydroxide.

First, the dose makes the poison. Highly concentrated sodium hydroxide will be VERY hot when initially mixed due to the exothermic reaction.

Sodium hydroxide can dissolve skin. The slippery feeling is the oils and fat from the skin reacting with hydroxide to turn into soap. But high enough concentration and exposure and eat through the skin itself…and the heat only hastens the effect.

The most important thing is to not get it in your eyes. But any skin exposure causes dermatitis and itchiness. Rinse immediately if you ever feel soapiness on your skin while working with hydroxide.

I personally am very cautious with it.

True. Serial killers use it too

 

[Miami Reef]

True. Serial killers use it too

Exactly! I was gonna say that but didn’t want to get too grotesque. :)

 

[Cjeippert]

Exactly! I was gonna say that but didn’t want to get too grotesque. :)

 

[Cjeippert]

Ok, definitely using goggles, gloves and mix it outside

 

[Miami Reef]

Ok, definitely using goggles, gloves and mix it outside

I personally don’t think mixing outside is too necessary. It doesn’t give off fumes the way HCl (muriatic acid) does. But mixing outside will protect your home in the event that you spill it. :)

 

[Cjeippert]

I personally don’t think mixing outside is too necessary. It doesn’t give off fumes the way HCl (muriatic acid) does. But mixing outside will protect your home in the event that you spill it. :)

I just hate how my captiv8 kalk makes big powder clouds and gets on my hands, cloud in my face, and gets everywhere in my garage. I just wipe it with wet paper towel. I hope sodium hydroxide is more granule than powder. Also tingles when i breath it in my nose. So i will add mask to ppe list

 

[Miami Reef]

I just hate how my captiv8 kalk makes big powder clouds and gets on my hands, cloud in my face, and gets everywhere in my garage. I just wipe it with wet paper towel. I hope sodium hydroxide is more granule than powder. Also tingles when i breath it in my nose. So i will add mask to ppe list

Sodium hydroxide is more granular and does not puff up the way calcium hydroxide (kalkwasser). That’s not a concern IMO.

There might be a little amount of fumes once the hydroxide heats up the container, so don’t put your face directly above the container, but it’s not that bad. HCl is some power house chemical that fumes a lot worse. It burns the nasal passages when inhaled from a distance.

Hydroxide is much safer in that regard IMO.

 

[Cjeippert]

the sodium hydroxide method of this thread just swaps it in for for sodium carbonate.

So is 170 ml of sodium carbonate equal to 170 ml sodium hydroxide for purposes of increasing dkh? Because I know sodium carbonate (soda ash) is twice as strong as sodium bicarbonate ( baking soda ) in terms of ability to raise dkh

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

So is 170 ml of sodium carbonate equal to 170 ml sodium hydroxide for purposes of increasing dkh? Because I know sodium carbonate (soda ash) is twice as strong as sodium bicarbonate ( baking soda ) in terms of ability to raise dkh

No. The recipe is on post 1 of this thread.sodium hydroxide is more potent in a weight basis.

 

[Cjeippert]

No. The recipe is on post 1 of this thread.sodium hydroxide is more potent in a weight basis.

I understand that 283 grams of sodium hydroxide is added to 1 gallon of rodi. If I dose 170 ml of the alk part a day with soda ash, what would be my daily dose of the sodium hydroxide solution? So the calcium chloride solution and sodium hydroxide solution would equally be daily dosed as a starting point, correct?

 

[Miami Reef]

I understand that 283 grams of sodium hydroxide is added to 1 gallon of rodi. If I dose 170 ml of the alk part a day with soda ash, what would be my daily dose of the sodium hydroxide solution? So the calcium chloride solution and sodium hydroxide solution would equally be daily dosed as a starting point, correct?

If 170mL of the soda ash from the recipe on BRS maintained your alkalinity, then 170mL of this sodium hydroxide solution will also maintain your alkalinity. They are created to be the same potency once you made the solution.

Both the BRS and this recipe were created by Randy.

Randy’s recipe (the calcium chloride and sodium hydroxide/soda ash/sodium bicarbonate) are intended to be equally dosed.

Not all 2 part systems are intended to be equally dosed, but most are.

 

[USMA36]

Dumb question I am confused on the types of magnesium. Can I use either esv magnesium which I have a gallon of lying around or Brightwell Magnesion P for my part 3. I plan on using BRS calcium pre measured 1 gallon packets for part 1 and Randy’s Part 2 from the first post in this thread. Will part 3 need to be dosed everyday or will I be able to get away with manual dosing once or twice a week? I am using a trident if that helps at all.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Dumb question I am confused on the types of magnesium. Can I use either esv magnesium which I have a gallon of lying around or Brightwell Magnesion P for my part 3. I plan on using BRS calcium pre measured 1 gallon packets for part 1 and Randy’s Part 2 from the first post in this thread. Will part 3 need to be dosed everyday or will I be able to get away with manual dosing once or twice a week? I am using a trident if that helps at all.

You could use those, accepting some ionic imbalance they will cause when used in this recipe, but that’s not a perfect recipe.

The magnesium part need not be frequently dosed at all. Once a week is plenty.

 

[USMA36]

You could use those, accepting some ionic imbalance they will cause when used in this recipe, but that’s not a perfect recipe.

The magnesium part need not be frequently dosed at all. Once a week is plenty.

Will using your recipe for part 3 reduce the likelihood of ionic imbalance? Thank you again for am the help you provide.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Will using your recipe for part 3 reduce the likelihood of ionic imbalance? Thank you again for am the help you provide.

My part 3 is not perfect, but it is designed to keep the chloride to sulfate ratio at natural levels, and is a very different ratio of chloride to sulfate in it than a stand alone magnesium supplement.

Balling Part C is the best part 3 to use with this recipe, but it is more costly. It keeps other important ions at natural ratios, such as potassium.

 

[USMA36]

My part 3 is not perfect, but it is designed to keep the chloride to sulfate ratio at natural levels, and is a very different ratio of chloride to sulfate in it than a stand alone magnesium supplement.

Balling Part C is the best part 3 to use with this recipe, but it is more costly. It keeps other important ions at natural ratios, such as potassium.

Thank you. I think I’ll give your recipe a go. I am using reef moonshine trace elements so I am not sure how that will work out dosing balling c because I don’t know how much of what trace they are using. If I do go with balling C can it be dosed once a day manually or does it need to be on a pump. Using your part 3 may be better to use with reef moonshine as there are no trace elements to contend with. Using your part 3 I would dose 16% of what ever my part 2 dose is correct? Is it safe to dose that once per day or once a week? Lastly since your recipe has magnesium wouldn’t I be raising my magnesium beyond 1350 since there’s much less uptake or is that why we dose at 16%.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Thank you. I think I’ll give your recipe a go. I am using reef moonshine trace elements so I am not sure how that will work out dosing balling c because I don’t know how much of what trace they are using. If I do go with balling C can it be dosed once a day manually or does it need to be on a pump. Using your part 3 may be better to use with reef moonshine as there are no trace elements to contend with. Using your part 3 I would dose 16% of what ever my part 2 dose is correct? Is it safe to dose that once per day or once a week? Lastly since your recipe has magnesium wouldn’t I be raising my magnesium beyond 1350 since there’s much less uptake or is that why we dose at 16%.

Balling Part C should not ever be thought of as a trace element supplement. It adds ions ONLY to prevent the required salinity corrections due to the added sodium and chloride from dropping everything else.