Some results from sodium hydroxide dosing

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Hi Randy, I’m using all for reef too, i dose 29 ml per day and 5.4 grams of sodium hydroxide at night , Mg 1350 mg/L Ca 450 mg/L and alkalinity of 9.4 dKH nothing moves from this parameters, pH 8.43 at the highest point, 8.11 lowest and the average is 8.29 (apex readings) should i change something?? I read in one of your answers that sodium hydroxide will slowly acumulate sodium , should I be worried in my
Case ? I think that it is a small amount of hydroxide, should I do water changes? TIA Greetings from Mexico

What size system are we talking about?
The sodium hydroxide is dry solid grams?

 

[fufoow]

What size system are we talking about?
The sodium hydroxide is dry

What size system are we talking about?
The sodium hydroxide is dry solid grams?

My system is 480 lts. Like 120 US Gallons, I disolve the 5.4 grams in a 500 ml RODI water bottle and from the moment my lights goes out I start manually dosing this water until I go to sleep, I pour like 4/5 of the water during this lapse of time and the first thing that I do when I woke up is to pour the last 1/5 of the mix , i want to buy a dosing pump it can dose all night with minimum swings of pH, but I don’t know if the tubing can handle the pH of the mix.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I think both silicone and the Santoprene in a BRS pump can handle high pH.

You are adding about 0.8 dKH of alk that way. Are you doing water changes? It’s a complicated issue whether to do anything about the sodium accumulation when not using calcium chloride, but if you are doing water changes, it is likely ok to not do so, and also likely fine to use Balling Part C based on that alk dosing.

 

[fufoow]

I think both silicone and the Santoprene in a BRS pump can handle high pH.

You are adding about 0.8 dKH of alk that way. Are you doing water changes? It’s a complicated issue whether to do anything about the sodium accumulation when not using calcium chloride, but if you are doing water changes, it is likely ok to not do so, and also likely fine to use Balling Part C based on that alk dosing.

I’m not doing water changes, I think I’ll start to doing it, probably is the easiest way to avoid the sodium accumulation by doing the water changes, thank you very much

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I’m not doing water changes, I think I’ll start to doing it, probably is the easiest way to avoid the sodium accumulation by doing the water changes, thank you very much

You’re welcome.

Without water changes, calcium will drop under your scenario, and maybe even if you do them.

Happy Reefing.

 

[wildreef1989]

Hi every one,
Reading this thread has been super helpful.
I would just like some extra help confirming my situation.
I have a 450gal set up using 85ml of all for reef per day dosing that whole amount early in the morning as per their instructions via my apex dosing system.
The alk sits at 8.14 in the morning/midday and drops to 8.03 during the night so not much variation there.
I am having concerns with my Ph how ever it drops to 7.6 over night and raises to 7.8 during the day.
Would I be able to add sodium hydroxide to increase the Ph in conjunction with the all for reef. Hoping that the increase in ph will also increase the consumption in alk and balance out?

 

[wildreef1989]

Hi every one,
Reading this thread has been super helpful.
I would just like some extra help confirming my situation.
I have a 450gal set up using 85ml of all for reef per day dosing that whole amount early in the morning as per their instructions via my apex dosing system.
My alk ranges from 8.14 in the morning to 8.03 during the night so that’s pretty dialed in. Apex testing that 4x per day
I am having concerns with my Ph how ever it drops to 7.6 over night and raises to 7.8 during the day.
Would I be able to add sodium hydroxide for the boost in ph and the consumption of alkalinity offset that? Or am I hoping for too much.

 

[Miami Reef]

I am having concerns with my Ph how ever it drops to 7.6 over night and raises to 7.8 during the day.

Recalibrate the probe. Getting 7.6 at night is pretty rare and unlikely.

Would I be able to add sodium hydroxide for the boost in ph and the consumption of alkalinity offset that? Or am I hoping for too much.

You need to switch completely over to hydroxide IMO. Adding less than 0.5 dKH per day will not yield a substantial pH boost.

Here’s the full recipe for sodium hydroxide:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/diy-balling-method-recipe.1098905/

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Hi every one,
Reading this thread has been super helpful.
I would just like some extra help confirming my situation.
I have a 450gal set up using 85ml of all for reef per day dosing that whole amount early in the morning as per their instructions via my apex dosing system.
My alk ranges from 8.14 in the morning to 8.03 during the night so that’s pretty dialed in. Apex testing that 4x per day
I am having concerns with my Ph how ever it drops to 7.6 over night and raises to 7.8 during the day.
Would I be able to add sodium hydroxide for the boost in ph and the consumption of alkalinity offset that? Or am I hoping for too much.

I think it may be asking too much for their to be no alk rise when adding sodium hydroxide to the existing AFR dosing. That would sort of suggest that one could never meet the alk demand with hydroxide alone, which is not the case.

 

[Miami Reef]

Right.

Sodium hydroxide should be used as an alk additive with the pH boost as a side effect.

If you don’t add the other parts (calcium, magnesium, etc) then you’ll dilute them overtime.

 

[huttoreefer]

May I know if I can use red sea doser for sodium hydroxide? Currently using baking soda for alk following with Randy's recipe.

My pH is at 7.5 - 7.6.