Baking Soda.. How much?

[reefburnaby]

Hi,

Gulp....eh...its not quite so simple. Alkalinity is measure of how resistant it is to pH changes, but it involves two compounds...carbonates and bicarbonates. By adding baking soda, you are only adding one of the two compounds. The other compound is washing soda. I believe the ratio is 6 to 1 (baking vs washing)...I think [img]smile.gif[/img] Without washing soda, the alk can be elevated but it is less stable over time (i.e. burns off faster than usual).

Best way to work out how much you need to mix some saltwater. Measure dkH. Add a known amount of baking soda. Re-measure dkH. I think it should be pretty close to what commercial buffers (somewhere around 0.5 dkH per tblspoon per 20 gallons) since 60% to 90% of the commercial stuff is baking soda.

- Victor.

[ 30 July 2002, 15:58: Message edited by: reefburnaby ]