Randy 2 part Alkalinity not clouding the water ?

jman77

jman77

New member
Hello Guys,

I just finished making my first batch of the Randy 2 part and dosed for the first time tonight. The strange part is that the Bionc alkalinity portion would make the water cloudy when i first added it. The DIY alkalinity part does not cloud the water?


Here is what i did to make the alk part...

Took the 2 1/2 cups of A&H baking soda and baked it for an hour in the oven. Then took it out and dumped the water on it. The bottom portion stayed hard so I left it over night and still found alot of it undisolved. I boild it on the stove this afternoon and disolved the remaing solids. Did i do somthing wrong ? I thought the DIY alk part would cloud up the tank water like the store bought alk would ?
 
I use Randy recipe #1 , make it exactly as you described. It Does not cloud up the water at all. Works geat for me. Cheap and easy too !!!
 
The pH of the tank has a lot to do with whether it clouds or not. A higher pH will show more clouding. If it does at all, it should only be local and dissipate within inches of where you are pouring it.
 
That's what the BIonic and the 2 little fishes sup did. It would cloud a little area and then dissipate. The DIY does not do this so i was wondering if i did something wrong when i was making it.

Dr

So your DIY alk part cloud the water when it's added ?
 
It doesn't with the non baked. I did the washing soda version for awhile (come to find out it just needed better aeration in my stock tank sump surface) and it did then. In fact at that time I had to set up little coca cola bottles with airplane bulkheads and a drip system or it would cloud the whole tank. That was a mess. BTW, don't use arm and hammer washing soda IMO. I had nothing but problems and I think there is something else in there with it because I had a heck of a time not causing precipitation events. Big ones too!
 
The solution I made was from the baked A&H baking soda not unbaked ?

What do you use to make the alk solution?
 
I use the Arm and Hammer Baking soda I just tried to make it easy by buying the Washing Soda. I don't bake mine now since my pH is always 8.1-8.3
 
The unbaked version should not cloud the water. The baked version may, but mine is more dilute than B-ionic and may have a lower pH if not fully baked, so it may cloud the water less.
 
first time I baked the baking soda I used a cookie dough bowl and it did not cloud the water... second time I used a large cookie pan (surfae area) and had great results.

I currently check the Ph of my 2 part (im the crazy controll freak) to see if I baked long enough.

Brian
 
Hello Guys,

Thank you for all the replies! I used a small bowl to bake the Baking Soda.... It didn't have that much surface area so that could be the reason :)
 
That sounds reasonable. It may just be the baking soda wasn't spread thin enough to release the water.
 
Thank you for all the replies! I used a small bowl to bake the Baking Soda.... It didn't have that much surface area so that could be the reason

:thumbsup:

Happy Reefing!
 
That was it ! I did a new batch and spread it thiner in a larger pan to give it more surface area while baking , and it clouds the water just like bIonic did :)

Thank you !!!
 
ok maybe someone can help me here. I mixed part 1 of the two part and had no problem with it fully disolving in the water. I baked my 2 1/4 cups of baking soda @300 degrees for one hour and added it to 1/2 gallon of hot R.O. water. Ive mixed and mixed and mixed.and shaken and cannot get all the baking soda to disolve or stay suspended. I am still getting quite a bit of settling in the bottom of the container. I added the other 1/2 gallon of water and am running a powerhead to get it mixed and am still having problems with settling. What am I doing wrong if anything? Or do I just have to shake it up to suspend it before adding? Help please.
 
Many folks report that. It just takes a lot to dissolve it. Warm it, even to boiling, and that helps. Vigorous stirring also helps. A little sediment left is not a concern. :)

Also, if it is not fully baked, it may not fully dissolve. You can add more water to salvage such a batch. :)
 
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