Soda ash vs bicarbonate for alk dosing

[mrhasan]

So I am a bit confused whether to use soda ash or bicarbonate for dosing. Read that soda ash slightly increases the ph while bicarbonate slightly decreases the ph. Mine stays around 8.0 to 8.2. Is a bit higher pH better than bit lower pH?

Advice please

[daniella3d]

I would use the soda hash. My Ph is about the same as yours and I use the BRS soda hash because I don't want my PH any lower than 8 if possible.

[mrhasan]

Originally Posted by daniella3d

I would use the soda hash. My Ph is about the same as yours and I use the BRS soda hash because I don't want my PH any lower than 8 if possible.

Yah that's what I was thinking too since I would prefer my pH to be above 8 instead of being below 8. Getting it from BRS is not possible for me so I will search local or else I will order that from RA. Thanks for the input

[lastlight]

Agree about the soda ash. The majority of BRS users go with it rather than the bicarbonate.

[gregzz4]

Originally Posted by mrhasan

I will search local or else I will order that from RA

Make your own from baking soda

Courtesy of Randy;
Spread baking soda (594 grams or about 2 ¼ cups) on a baking tray and heat in an ordinary oven at 300°F for one hour to drive off water and carbon dioxide. Overheating is not a problem, either with higher temperatures or longer times. Dissolve the residual solid in enough water to make 1 gallon total. This dissolution may require a fair amount of mixing. Warming it speeds dissolution. This solution will contain about 1,900 meq/L of alkalinity (5,300 dKH). I prefer to use baked baking soda rather than washing soda in this recipe as baking soda from a grocery store is always food grade, while washing soda may not have the same purity requirements. Arm & Hammer brand is a fine choice. Be sure to NOT use baking powder. Baking powder is a different material that often has phosphate as a main ingredient.

[mrhasan]

Originally Posted by gregzz4

Make your own from baking soda

Courtesy of Randy;
Spread baking soda (594 grams or about 2 ¼ cups) on a baking tray and heat in an ordinary oven at 300°F for one hour to drive off water and carbon dioxide. Overheating is not a problem, either with higher temperatures or longer times. Dissolve the residual solid in enough water to make 1 gallon total. This dissolution may require a fair amount of mixing. Warming it speeds dissolution. This solution will contain about 1,900 meq/L of alkalinity (5,300 dKH). I prefer to use baked baking soda rather than washing soda in this recipe as baking soda from a grocery store is always food grade, while washing soda may not have the same purity requirements. Arm & Hammer brand is a fine choice. Be sure to NOT use baking powder. Baking powder is a different material that often has phosphate as a main ingredient.

Yap but its too much hassle to save $30 :P Since my tank is small, one 4lb box should go for months. Manual preparation would have diminishing return for me

[kien]

for the first couple of years that I was dosing I just baked baking soda in the oven. Cheap and easy. I baked like 3 large boxes worth and stored the result in zip loc bags. I tried soda ash recently and it was nice because it mixed a lot easier than baking soda. However, I ran out of it and kinda find it a pain to have to order more form BRS. Instead I just went to Superstore and bought more baking soda and baked it again. Anyway, I am using recipe #1 because my pH tends to be lower (7.9-8). If your pH tends to be higher you can use recipe #2 which doesn't involve baking.

[FragIt Dan]

Originally Posted by mrhasan

Since my mag (1380) and ca (440) remains within the desired value in between water changes, I was thinking of not touching them. Or should both Ca and Alk be dosed at the same time?

Ca and alk drop proportionately. For every degree of dKh you drop you lose about 20ppm Ca, they are simply combining in that proportion to produce Calcium Carbonate. It is possible your water changes are adding enough Ca but not enough alk to keep up, so you could just dose alk. Most of us have to dose Ca, alk and Mg in some ratio to each other to keep up between water changes.


Dan