Raising Alkalinity Level
 

I'm currently dosing arm and hammer baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) and I'm thinking to change BRS product. They have soda ash (sodium carbonate) and sodium bicarbonate. I'm not sure which one to use or use both. I would like to ask Canreef members opinion.
Thanks for your info.

Another good read by Kien post 335 how to mix and dissolve

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/sho...d.php?p=499780

Thanks guys I'll read them and search little bit more. I just tired to use baking soda. It takes more time and make mess.

How are you mixing it? Doesn't have to be messy. I put a tablespoon of baking soda into about 300-500 ml of RO , heat in microwave for 40 sec. and then mix.

Use this calculator to figure out how much to add to your water.
http://reef.diesyst.com/flashcalc/flashcalc.html

How ?
 

Hey there hillegom, something weird happened when I ran the calculator, maybe my browser ?

Cold always bake the baking soda to turn it into soda ash.

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Wierd, like what?
The link works for me. Anyone else have a problem?

I'm using Randy's recipe. I need 594ml or 2 1/4 cups of baked baking soda for 1 gal container. I mix it with RO warm water but still it dissolve clumps forming at the bottom, so I go little by little and it takes a lot of time and when I stir it always spill.

Mixing baking soda is a challenge for sure. The benefit to using baking soda is that it is cheap, and readily available. I use it from time to time when my BRS Soda Ash runs out. To make your life a little easier I suggest mixing it with a hand blender. Mixing it by hand is an exercise in futility in my opinion :-) (because I have weak hands).

As Randy's recipes suggest, you can convert Sodium Bicarbonate (Baking Soda) into Sodium Carbonate (Soda Ash) by baking it. This is an added step that some hobbyist find annoying. Myself included (sometimes).

Sodium carbonate has a pH around 10, whilst sodium bicarbonate has a pH of around 6.3. This means using Sodium carbonate will tend to raise the pH of your tank while using Sodium bicarbonate will tend to lower the pH of your tank.

This is why Bulk Reef Supply (BRS) sells Soda Ash (Sodium Carbonate). It is quite a lot easier to use as there is no baking involved and it mixes by hand easily, unlike baking soda (or even baked baking soda).