Question(s) About Dosing Sodium Bicarbonate

[Itchy Trigger]

So... What I've been doing when I notice that alkalinity has dropped, is to just use the BRS reef calculator and then add the appropriate amount of their Sodium Bicarbonate mix to bring dKH back up to the 8.6-8.8 range.

I'm thinking I might switch to just plain old Arm & Hammer baking soda for this as it's much cheaper. Good idea? I've read of others doing it with no issues. My next question would be - would the measurements be the same as with the BRS mix? Meaning, is Arm & Hammer baking soda the SAME thing as their mix essentially?

Also, would it be a better idea to automate this and dose small amounts daily with a dosing pump or ok to let dKH fall and then replenish? I don't have many corals really, but I do have a nice amount of purple plating coralline algae, which I like.

Thoughts?

 

[nereefpat]

Yes. Any sodium bicarbonate is the same. If arm and Hammer is cheaper, go with that.

If the corals you have don't seem to mind the alk swings, then I wouldn't change anything... unless you want the added convenience of a doser.

 

[Itchy Trigger]

Cool, thanks, Pat. That's what I was hoping to hear.

 

[mcgyvr]

yep.. no problems its quite a bit cheaper too..

 

[Itchy Trigger]

:thumbsup:

 

[minus9]

I use both soda ash and sodium bicarbonate. I bake the baking soda (arm & hammer) and make my own soda ash, then I mix baking soda (unbaked) to make sodium bicarbonate. I use Randy's recipe (which I would follow) and it's working great. I dose 24/7 once an hour with soda ash, then I dose sodium bicarbonate from 12pm to 8pm to keep my pH from going past 8.6. You'll have to dose twice the amount of sodium bicarbonate than soda ash.
Here's a link to Randy's recipe:
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/rhf/

 

[Ron Reefman]

I have 4 tanks so I've gone from Arm & Hammer baking soda to swimming pool sodium bicarbonate or soda ash (5 gallon bucket). Been using it for 6 or 7 years now and it works just fine.

 

[jda]

Soda Ash is usually Sodium Carbonate - it does the same thing, but does not lower the PH in the slight way that Sodium Bicarbonate does. They both do the same thing with alk. Arm & Hammer is just fine. Pool Soda Ash is just fine. The BRS stuff is the same thing only repackaged at a multitude of pricing.

You can bake Sodium Bicarbonate in the oven for a while and make Sodium Carbonate.

 

[Itchy Trigger]

Thanks for all the info everyone!