Soda Ash Potency?

[Cole_Voeller]

Hello all.
So I use soda ash to dose for my KH, and have been for quite some time now. BRS stopped using the bags, and switched to the smaller containers, though both are 1 gallon mixes, so I doubt anything changed their. Regardless, I’ve been using the containers for quite a while now. My frag tank drops 2Kh per day without dosing, so consistency is extremely imperative. Well today, I found some extremely expensive acro frags dead, as well as expensive torches with receded flesh, and when I check my KH it was down to 6. I’ve been manually dosing KH as well, but the amount of soda ash I’m having to have my doser dose daily has increased substantially, just to keep the KH stable, not even to raise it. It used to be 90 mL, and I’m currently sitting at 120 mL per day. That’s a 33% increase in how much Soda Ash I have to dose. Has anyone had any similar issues with products like this? Sorry if bad spelling or grammar, kinda wrote this in a rush.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Hello all.
So I use soda ash to dose for my KH, and have been for quite some time now. BRS stopped using the bags, and switched to the smaller containers, though both are 1 gallon mixes, so I doubt anything changed their. Regardless, I’ve been using the containers for quite a while now. My frag tank drops 2Kh per day without dosing, so consistency is extremely imperative. Well today, I found some extremely expensive acro frags dead, as well as expensive torches with receded flesh, and when I check my KH it was down to 6. I’ve been manually dosing KH as well, but the amount of soda ash I’m having to have my doser dose daily has increased substantially, just to keep the KH stable, not even to raise it. It used to be 90 mL, and I’m currently sitting at 120 mL per day. That’s a 33% increase in how much Soda Ash I have to dose. Has anyone had any similar issues with products like this? Sorry if bad spelling or grammar, kinda wrote this in a rush.

There appears to be a bulk density change in the BRS material. It would have the same potency by weight, but not if you measure the solids by volume.

 

[rhykerdreef]

I've noticed a similar thing with the BRS Soda Ash. I don't seem to get any where near the rise in alkalinity that the calculator claims that I should. I bought the Single Use 1Gallon Pharma Soda Ash and mixed per the instructions. Is there a way to directly test the liquid soda ash for potency?