Question about Randy Recipe

[Regal]

I make a stock for my two part additive based on RHF recipe (improve formula). But i have 2 problem that makes me confuse :

1. If i go to chemical store, i said i want to buy sodium bicarbonate but what i get is sometimes natrium bicarbonate sometimes baking soda, they said they all the same product. Is this true? If not, what is the different between them? Which one that i must avoid?

2. Up until now, i make a 1 gallon natrium bicarbonate/baking soda solution stock based of your recipe. But what makes me confuse is, when it is a new solution (i mean i just made it), then i pour to the tank, the water is not become a milky appereance, it just looks like a mix of freshwater with salt water. But, later (i forgot how many days), but may be after i was using about 1/2 gallon of the solution then when i pour the solution to the tank, it will makes a milky mix after the solution mix with saltwater tank. The solution usually finish in about 1-1,5 months. Question is, is this normal? If not, is this dangerous to the tank inhabitant? Why this happen? Or maybe something wrong with me in making the solution? Am i keep the solution too long?

Thank you very much.

 

[bertoni]

1. Baking soda should be food grade, which generally seems to be safe. Other grades might be a problem in terms of contaminants.

2. I don't know why the solution starts making the tank water milky after a while, but it's not harmful. The solution might be rising in pH, I suppose.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

said i want to buy sodium bicarbonate but what i get is sometimes natrium bicarbonate sometimes baking soda, they said they all the same product. Is this true?

Same product, yes, but the grade may vary, as Jonathan mentions. Natrium is sodium in German.

 

[Regal]

The chemical store said that the sodium bicarbonate is food grade.
How long the solution can be keep for safety use?
The stock solution when still in the 1 gallon jar is clear solution like tap water appearence, but when i pour it to the tank, then it just start become a milky after it mix with the water tank, so this is normal?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

That's fine and it will last as long as you want it to.

Milky is normal for an additive that raises pH. This is normal for a high pH two part addition, although unbaked baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) does not normally raise pH. :


What is that Precipitate in My Reef Aquarium?
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-07/rhf/index.htm

from it:

Figure 3. The transient cloud of magnesium hydroxide that forms when high pH additives are added. In this case, the alkalinity portion of B-ionic was added to a fairly still portion of one of my reef aquaria.

 

[MrRyanT]

Wow! Great picture! Definitely worth a thousand words.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Thanks.

Happy Reefing.

 

[Regal]

Wow thats a great pictures, that what happen when i pour my baked baking soda to my tank.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

:thumbsup:

The article describes exactly what is happening.

Happy Reefing