Baking Soda vs Soda ash SPS unhappy.

[deeznutz1]

Hello, so I have been dosing two part with calcium chloride and Soda ash to maintain my level. I've been noticing my PH was getting very high. 8.9 and some times 9.0. So I swapped out the soda ash for regular baking soda.

I've been doing this for a about a week now and I've noticed 1 colony with tip burn and another frag with stn on the base.

My question is, what have I done? Can I not switch between the two?

I've switched back to soda ash tonight and will be performing a 25% water change tonight.

thanks for the help

-dan

 

[ssdawood]

Why is the ph so high. Do you also dose kalk. I used to dose kalk and my ph was very high. This was causing precipitation of soda ash. I discontinued kalk and everthing is fine now. That high ph might not be good for reef tank. Try maintining 8.2 or around there.

 

[Reefvet]

And you're measuring pH with a recently calibrated probe ?

Not that you won't get useful replies here but this sure sounds like a topic for The Reef Chemistry Forum. Our resident chemists and RHF are all active there daily.

 

[kevin_e]

Soda ash has a pH of 11.4 at saturation. That's why your pH is climbing. Baking soda has a pH of 8.4. I would do some water changes to get the pH down and then jystvdise baking soda.

You're likely dosing too quickly with soda ash.

What is your alk ?

 

[deeznutz1]

Why is the ph so high. Do you also dose kalk. I used to dose kalk and my ph was very high. This was causing precipitation of soda ash. I discontinued kalk and everthing is fine now. That high ph might not be good for reef tank. Try maintining 8.2 or around there.

No I do not dose kalk. I've noticed it climbing over the last month or so.
Ph is always on the high side. 8.4. It went up a bit when i added a 4 bulb t5 light to the tank.

And you're measuring pH with a recently calibrated probe ?

Not that you won't get useful replies here but this sure sounds like a topic for The Reef Chemistry Forum. Our resident chemists and RHF are all active there daily.

Thanks for the direction. No my ph probe has not been calibrated. Maybe I should do that.

Soda ash has a pH of 11.4 at saturation. That's why your pH is climbing. Baking soda has a pH of 8.4. I would do some water changes to get the pH down and then jystvdise baking soda.

You're likely dosing too quickly with soda ash.

What is your alk ?

Thanks, I dose Soda ash at night around 10pm, when the lights have been on for a few hours. I'm on a reverse light cycle starting at 730.

I dose about 60ml all at once. My GHL doser screen is messed up so I cna't use that POS anymore.

I keep my alk at 8.5-9.0


Thanks for all the response guys. Gonna do that waster change and stick to baking soda. Calibrate my probe and hope for the best.

Anything else I should try?

 

[kevin_e]

The main issue is dosing at once. If you're dosing 1/4 cup of saturated soda ash, you're dumping a solution with a pH of 11.4 into a tank with a pH around 7.8-8.5.

You are likely upsetting your sps with that swing. If you must dose at once, do so with a solution with a pH more similarly reflecting that of your tank (baking soda).

If you have a ATO, I would dose with it.

 

[a.browning]

When you switched to bicarb, did you still dose the same 60ml? You generally need almost double the bicarb compared to carbonate to keep up the same dose. With the tip burn/RTN it would seem like you had an alk swing. Dosing all at once could certainly be a stressor as well. I would be very skeptical of those pH readings by the way.

 

[kevin_e]

I would be very skeptical of those pH readings by the way.

I wouldn't. I recently had to increase my pH from 7.2 (verified on a multi-thousand dollar, three point calibration laboratory grade instrument) to 8.0 as my SPS were shedding tissue.

I used limewater, which has a pH of 12.3, to raise my pH. I added less than a teaspoon to achieve this goal.

Dosing 2 cups of a solution with a pH of 11.4 in a weeks time will inevitably bring up your pH simply by increasing the number of hydroxide ions in your solution. Increasing from 8.2 to 8.9 is very realistic, as is causing a swing in alkalinity.

 

[Aqualund]

sps will always be stressed if you are doing a single dose daily. You need to get a timer and doser and dose the alkalinity preferably every 30 mins over the course of the day to maintain stability.

The swing in ph and alkalinity from morning to night will cause you nothing but problems, especially when you get more corals of the sps variety.

 

[Av8bluewater]

sps will always be stressed if you are doing a single dose daily. You need to get a timer and doser and dose the alkalinity preferably every 30 mins over the course of the day to maintain stability.

The swing in ph and alkalinity from morning to night will cause you nothing but problems, especially when you get more corals of the sps variety.

+1
SPS=Stability Promotes Success.

 

[deeznutz1]

The main issue is dosing at once. If you're dosing 1/4 cup of saturated soda ash, you're dumping a solution with a pH of 11.4 into a tank with a pH around 7.8-8.5.

You are likely upsetting your sps with that swing. If you must dose at once, do so with a solution with a pH more similarly reflecting that of your tank (baking soda).

If you have a ATO, I would dose with it.

So right! I was worried at first, but I was dosing for months with no problems until recently. Might have to do with the winter weather??? I'll be dosing baking soda for now until I can get new screen for my GHL doser. I can't even make out one word on the display. Kinda sad really for a $500 POS.

When you switched to bicarb, did you still dose the same 60ml? You generally need almost double the bicarb compared to carbonate to keep up the same dose. With the tip burn/RTN it would seem like you had an alk swing. Dosing all at once could certainly be a stressor as well. I would be very skeptical of those pH readings by the way.

Yes, I was dosing aprrox 90ml of BS. All at once as it's the only time I have unfortunately.
I've just performed a fairly large water change of a 25%.
I recalibrated my ph probe and it now rereads 8.10 and before hand was reading 8.56.

I wouldn't. I recently had to increase my pH from 7.2 (verified on a multi-thousand dollar, three point calibration laboratory grade instrument) to 8.0 as my SPS were shedding tissue.

I used limewater, which has a pH of 12.3, to raise my pH. I added less than a teaspoon to achieve this goal.

Dosing 2 cups of a solution with a pH of 11.4 in a weeks time will inevitably bring up your pH simply by increasing the number of hydroxide ions in your solution. Increasing from 8.2 to 8.9 is very realistic, as is causing a swing in alkalinity.

Thank you for this.

sps will always be stressed if you are doing a single dose daily. You need to get a timer and doser and dose the alkalinity preferably every 30 mins over the course of the day to maintain stability.

The swing in ph and alkalinity from morning to night will cause you nothing but problems, especially when you get more corals of the sps variety.

Thank you for the info. Now i have to figure out where to get a replacement screen for my doser. Any ideas?

+1
SPS=Stability Promotes Success.

So true.

 

[joe22883]

If the demand is light enough then dosing all at once is doable. Probably why it works for you right now.
A browning was right on the money. When you switched to soda, you dropped your ph and kh thus causing some burnt tips. Soda ash is more efficient.
Higher ph speeds up calcification and seems to help PE. Your ph was probably perfect and not too high.
Keep the ph probe clean of algae film etc, just wipe off or toothbrush it.

 

[deeznutz1]

If the demand is light enough then dosing all at once is doable. Probably why it works for you right now.
A browning was right on the money. When you switched to soda, you dropped your ph and kh thus causing some burnt tips. Soda ash is more efficient.
Higher ph speeds up calcification and seems to help PE. Your ph was probably perfect and not too high.
Keep the ph probe clean of algae film etc, just wipe off or toothbrush it.

Thanks man, so should I go back to Ash or keep with the Soda?

When I dose Soda ph jump from .20, where Ash bumps it .40.

 

[Oldude]

When you switched to bicarb, did you still dose the same 60ml? You generally need almost double the bicarb compared to carbonate to keep up the same dose. With the tip burn/RTN it would seem like you had an alk swing. Dosing all at once could certainly be a stressor as well. I would be very skeptical of those pH readings by the way.

I agree with this.

 

[aquaph8]

I agree with alk swing causing the burn and also think those PH readings are testing errors.