Problem making Randy's Two part

[CeeGee]

I have run out of b-ionic and none of my LFS carry it and I haven't had time to order it from a online source.

That being said I still have some of the calcium part of the b-ionic so I thought I would go buy some arm & hammer and bake it for an hour and use that until all my b-ionic calcium is gone.

I got the baking soda and baked 2 1/4 cups for an hour at 300 degrees then slowly added it to RO/DI water until I had all the baking soda added making a 1 gallon mixture.

The problem is I can't get it all to dissolve no matter what I do I have some sitting at the bottom of the pitcher I mixed it up in. I have sat the pitcher in hot water and stirred and stirred and stirred and a few minutes later I have 1/4 inch of baking soda on the bottom of the pitcher.

When I stir it up good and add the same amount of the solution as I normally add the b-ionic part one I don't get as much precipitate and my ph doesn't go anywhere near as high as it does when I add the b-ionic.

From what I could gather using the chemistry calculator it takes roughly twice as much of randy's solution to equal the b-ionic.

Could someone please verify what is going on and help me get in the right direction before I kill all my corals?

Thanks for any and all help.

 

[bertoni]

I put the water and baking soda mix into the microwave, and bring it close to boiling. That should help.

The lower pH shift makes me somewhat concerned that the baking soda only partially converted to sodium carbonate. That would reduce the solubility, too.

 

[CeeGee]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12340396#post12340396 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bertoni
The lower pH shift makes me somewhat concerned that the baking soda only partially converted to sodium carbonate. That would reduce the solubility, too.

Not following you here. I am taking it that I should start over. Could you give me a good rundown of your procedure?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Starting over is one option, but you can also achieve some of the same effect with the boiling.

Also, if it is just too hard to dissolve, you can always add more water. Such as twice the amount. Then just remember that you need to add twice as much when using it.

 

[plc001]

I now bake for 2 hours at 325. That did the trick to me;-)

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

:thumbsup:

That should be adequate. I now recommend higher temps because some folks pile it pretty thick into pans, and like a big chunk of meat, can take a long time to actually heat up in the center.

 

[CeeGee]

I put mine on a cookie sheet covered in aluminum foil. My cookie sheets are kind of rough looking so I thought the aluminum foil would be a good solution. Do you think that has anything to do with my less than optimal results?

 

[NCC-1701]

When I used baking soda I added it to boiling water and it went into solution just fine. I had the same problem as you before I boiled the water.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I put mine on a cookie sheet covered in aluminum foil. My cookie sheets are kind of rough looking so I thought the aluminum foil would be a good solution. Do you think that has anything to do with my less than optimal results?

No, but insufficient heating (time or internal temp) will make it impossible to dissolve at the concentrations specified.

 

[Tranquility]

can I boiling (cooking) sodium bicarbonate solution For convert sodium bicarbonate to sodium carbonate

 

[bertoni]

No, the conversion to sodium carbonate is done by driving off carbon dioxide and water, which can't occur in solution.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Actually, I believe boiling it will drive off some CO2, but perhaps not as efficiently as when dry.

 

[Tranquility]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12356682#post12356682 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Randy Holmes-Farley
Actually, I believe boiling it will drive off some CO2, but perhaps not as efficiently as when dry.

thank u

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

:thumbsup:

Good luck.

 

[bertoni]

Really? That's interesting. How long might the process take?