Pool Chemicals....What's Reef Safe?

[dcombs44]

My wife and I have an above ground swimming pool, and we use a handful of grocery store items to treat it rather than paying boocoo bucks for pool chemicals. We treat with bleach (chlorine), borax (pH plus), pH minus (actual pool chemical), baking soda (alkalinity plus).

I was wondering if some of these items would be safe to use to adjust parameters in our tanks. I know that we use baking soda to adjust pH as described in Randy's 2 part recipes, but I was wondering about some of the others.

1) pH minus - the particular chemical I use is sodium bisulfate. Another option is phosphoric acid. I know some people do use muriatic acid in their reefs.

2) Borax - Standard Borax laundry booster is used to raise pH.

Of course, if they aren't safe, I'll buy recommended items instead, but since i have all of these on hand, I'd rather use them.

Thanks.

 

[bertoni]

1) I wouldn't use either of those products in a reef tank. I wouldn't dose muriatic acid, either, except in extreme emergencies due to alkalinity problems. High pH problems can be solved more safely by dosing some seltzer water.

2) Again, I wouldn't dose borax into a saltwater system. It can increase the pH, but adds alkalinity. Baking soda is better for a reef tank. I'm not sure about dosing it into a fish-only system, but I'd likely just buy Marine Buffer. The borate buffering in that product can help a bit with pH.

The pH of our tanks is controlled mostly by the aeration and amount of carbon dioxide in the ambient air, assuming the alkalinity level is in the normal range.

 

[builderguy]

Check out Sierra Chemical in West Sac...great prices on great products that are reef safe

 

[builderguy]

Ooops...sorry forgot I wasn't on the local club forum.

Anyway...look for a local chemical supplier for the same stuff you'd get at BRS, I bet you could save a bundle.

 

[dcombs44]

Yeah, I'm not worried about finding or ordering items to do it properly, was just curious as to whether or not some of the pool chemicals would be reef safe.

I've known people to use muriatic acid to adjust quarantine and such prior to adding fish. I don't think I'd use it if there were already animals in the system, but again..........I was just wondering.

It's funny that you mention that about borax raising alkalinity Bertoni. In the pool forums, they actually recommend using borax for the specific reason that it has less affect on alkalinity than other pH raising chemicals, such as soda ash, and baking soda is used specifically to raise alkalinity.

I only have the option of trusting what I read and testing for myself as understanding the actual affects of the chemical compounds and why is partially beyond me.......just curious though.

 

[bertoni]

Borax can do a very nice job of setting a good pH, but corals can't use it for their skeletons. They can only use carbonates for that.

 

[dcombs44]

Borax can do a very nice job of setting a good pH, but corals can't use it for their skeletons. They can only use carbonates for that.

Makes sense. Thanks!

 

[Boomer]

and elevated borate is toxic which is gong to happen if you use borax as a sup. You would have to have a borate test kit.

SeaChem Labs Marine Buffer is about the best there is for a FOT. I used it for 2 decades.

the particular chemical I use is sodium bisulfate. Another option is phosphoric acid. I know some people do use muriatic acid in their reefs.

Bad, bad thing for reef tanks

 

[HighlandReefer]

FWIW, from all the sources I could find on the Internet, there is no requirement that the pool chemicals being sold are required to be food grade, but instead industrial grade can be used. There is a difference between food grade requirements and plain old industrial grade which has no requirements that I am aware of. Industrial grade is much cheaper then food grade and I would assume unless otherwise stated on the product label that industrial grade is used. If you check the websites of the major manufacturers that sell the products we are interested in (There are only a few of them from my understanding), they usually sell both food grade and industrial grade chemicals and the food grade is more expensive.

What might be some of the concerns between the two grades of chemicals is the ammonia content from the method of processing the chemicals and the heavy metal levels, like copper, zinc, lead and mercury which are all quite toxic in reef aquariums. With the exception of ammonia, we can't measure the heavy metals. Food grade does limit the contents of these concerns as well as other possible contaminates that can cause problems in a reef aquarium. I use food grade myself, which is the same as pharmaceutical grade as best as I can tell.

 

[dcombs44]

and elevated borate is toxic which is gong to happen if you use borax as a sup. You would have to have a borate test kit.

SeaChem Labs Marine Buffer is about the best there is for a FOT. I used it for 2 decades.

the particular chemical I use is sodium bisulfate. Another option is phosphoric acid. I know some people do use muriatic acid in their reefs.

Bad, bad thing for reef tanks

See the acclimation section of this article. Not saying I agree, just that the methodology is out there. Thanks for the info Boomer and HighlandReefer.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2006/1/aafeature2#h3

 

[Eric45]

I've had a great experience using pool chemicals for my mixed sps/lps reef tanki. Their "Hardness Up" is calcium chloride; their Alk Up is baking soda and they sell soda ash as well. I use those with great success and significant savings. Been doing so for about a year and have seen no negative affects on the corals.

 

[Boomer]

A year is not enough time but it may be fine, as we do not know what grades they/you use and many pool grades may be just fine.

dcombs

You mean this

Muriatic acid , used in pool supplies

As long as one UNDERSTANDS what they are doing, what strength Muriatic acid and how much is needed to bring down the pH in SEAWATER, not a POOL.

 

[carlso63]

I'm not convinced that using a little Borax - in conjunction with Sodium Carbonate and Sodium Bicarb... is a bad thing.

I'm am trying it out right now with an alk buffering mix that is 6 parts Bicarb, 2 parts Carbonate, and 1 part Borax (Sodium tetraborate). Hoping to not only keep alk levels up, but maintain a pH of around 8.2 - 8.3...

I am thinking that is a low enough borate content.

Not too mention many, many of the hobby's commercial dosing products contain (as they call it) "borate salts"...

 

[Boomer]

Carlos that is an awful allot of borate and is tetra. Meaning, 4 Borate. Borate as 1 Borate is 3 % of the Alk in NSW. CO3-- 8 % and the rest is HCO3-. You are about 10 x to much. That buffer should be more like 6 Bicarb : 2 Carbonate : Borax 0.1 parts.