baking soda

[chevron tang]

has anyone ever tried dosing their tank with baking soda? someone told me about it about a month ago and i tried it. i add about a teaspoon to every 10G once a week. it's raised my alkalinity a great deal which i think has contributed to such a rapid coraline algae growth. it's a great idea.

 

[happy hopper]

Hi a use it all the time works great

 

[joe's reefer]

what does it do?

 

[fishfreek]

How did it impact your pH? I tried it once and my pH went way up. <img src="graemlins//eek.gif" border="0" alt="[eek]" /> How did you add it to your tank?

 

[therock0861]

Can you add it regardless of your PH? I am interested in getting more coraline to grow in my tank.

 

[fishfreek]

I read on another board to mix baking soda & bakng powder toghther(not sure what the ratio was, something like 6:1, but not sure) This would be equilent to regular dry type buffer. Maybe someone knows the recipe.

 

[broomer5]

Hey Bob Fishfreak,
Don't believe everything you read as 100% pure reliable fact, including any posts anywhere for that matter.... including mine
But I can say this.
Don't use Baking POWDER in a saltwater tank.
It's composed of baking soda, cream of tartar and corn starch. The stuff works great if you're baking bread ... but I would never add these ingredients to my reef tank, no matter what someone said.
Baking SODA on the other hand is PURE Sodium bicarbonate. It will drive your pH SKY HIGH if overdosed as you mentioned, and can whack out the water chemistry like no tomorrow.
Marine buffers - yeah the ones that cost money, are a balanced mixture of Sodium bicarbonate, Sodium carbonate, sodium borate and other salts. They are mixed in the right ratio's to insure a balanced rise in your tank water's alkalinity and pH.
I'm sure there are some recipes floating around that hobbyists have had success with ... just be careful when trying to do these home cost cutting mixtures yourself.
Not directing this entire post at you Bob, so please forgive me if I appear to be doing so.
My new phrase;
Your tank - Your choice

 

[chevron tang]

broomer your right about your tank your choice. but a couple of my friends did it and it worked well for them so i chanced it and tried it and it works great. no my ph has not been affected in any way i just add a teaspoon of baking soda per 10G directly to my tank. some people add it to their sumps but i don't have one so i just add it to my tank.

 

[broomer5]

It sound like 1 teaspoon baking soda per 10 gallons freshwater works okay for you chevron tang ..... and that's cool.
I should have stressed my point of "overdosing" baking soda more than I did above.
But as we all know - overdosing "ANY" supplement or additive can cause ill effects on our tanks.
I still don't recommend it.
See ya

 

[jedimaster]

how often do you add the backing soda to your tank? just once? or do you do this on a regular basis?

 

[chevron tang]

do it once a week until you get your desired alkalinity.

 

[fishfreek]

Boomer, i was wrong in listing baking powder in my previous post i meant washing soda. I found the source on another board and it said to "use 6-parts Arm & Hammer baking soda and 1-part Arm & Hammer washing soda". I personally don't think i would try this in my reef just to save a few bucks. Buffer, IMO is really one of the least expensive additive i add to my tank, so i don't think this is worth fooling around with. Just thought i would through the idea out there and see if anyone had good results using it.

 

[broomer5]

Good deal Bob !!! - thanks for clearing that up.
I thought it sounded odd at first. I've heard of this homemade buffer too - I would guess the "washing soda" has some additional base/salts that are required to assist in raising the alk and pH. But this is just a guess.
Still - I agree with you and will continue to allow some of my money to make it's way to the lfs cash register.
He's helped me in the past and I will continue to support his little coral shop.

 

[robster]

hi i havent been on the bourd for awile but after keeping reefs for some years now and how much it can cost i think that it is crazy to cut corners in that area i think in time it would have to have some ill effect on the water or coral health after the thousands ive spent it is only the best for my tank

 

[happy hopper]

HI the best way to add baking soda to your tank is 1 table spoon per gall of water ( re top off water)(NOT IN LIME WATER) . This works great i cant stress how well this works it will put your ph and alk right on track. dont be fooled just becouse it is cheep its like this . 1 table spoon will ajust alk 1/2 ppm up. and ph 1/2 ppm up. test about 12 hours after soda is added for outcome of shift in ph. just add the soda to target the ph not alk it will **** later . should be like this ph was 7.5 added soda tested 12 hrs latter and the shift was from 7,5 to 8 in ph . in new tanks this will be a bit of a battle at first but when the tank gets about 9 monts old ph will level off at about8.2 ph

 

[broomer5]

Nine months to get your pH stabalized at 8.2 ???!!! <img src="graemlins//eek.gif" border="0" alt="[eek]" /> WOW
That's funky !
I may buy into the fact that using pure sodium bicarbonate baking soda may help raise your alkalinity over time, but you are only adding sodium bicarbonate, not all of the components necessary to maintain alkalinity.
Also, going from a pH of 7.5 to a 8.0 in a 12 hour period is drastic to say the least, providing you are actually measuring the affect of the baking soda, and not reading a typical day to night pH shift.
pH is not measured in ppm, but is a logarithmic scale from 0 to 14.
Jumping from pH of 7.5 to 8.0 in a 12 hour period is a fairly large induced pH jump in my opinion, and I feel may certainly cause some degree of pH shock, or at least some unnecessary stress to those that live in that tank, if done incorrectly - ie OVERDOSED.
But it would be in line with what has been discussed above regarding a dramatic rise in the pH .
Sorry dude - I'm still against using it as THE only method to control pH and alk. I'm not being fooled because it is cheap - I'm just not a fan of using it for my reef tanks.
If not done correctly - baking soda by itself can whack out your tank water faster than you can say Arm & Hammer !
Aside from lighting and food, I try to take care of my water and let the critters more or less take care of themselves.
My view

 

[chevron tang]

broomer i agree with you about the drastic ph increase. that's a little much i'm surprised that anything alive in your tank didn't go into shock. happy hopper i can't believe you add that much how is your tank doing? i'm just curious cause it's quite a jump from one teaspoon to one tablespoon.

 

[bammbamm74]

Ok, what about the Sea Lab blocks? They stabalize PH right? I know after 2 months mine is stabalized at 8.2 for at least 3 weeks not
BUT, everyone keeps saying Alkalinity and PH as different things. Remember, on the PH scale, water is 7-nuetral. Anything lower is acidic and anything higher is basic or alkaline. So, alkaline is anything with a ph of 7.1 or greater. Sodium Bicarbonate is an alkaline substance. That's why it's great for upset stomaches. Add a base to an acid and they nuetralize. Same with water. Add a base to a ph of 7.5 and it'll actually raise the ph.

 

[rolltide]

Hey Chevron, I notice you work at a pet store, what test kit(s) do you recommend to test all the parameters?

 

[luke]

Is anyone monitering CA as they mess with their Alkalinity with cheap non-reagent grade sodium bicarbonate??
A can of buffer costs at most 15 bucks and should last a year or more for a 50 gallon tank. That seems pretty cheap to me!!
Luke