To dose Baking Soda or not

Daimyo68

Daimyo68

Active member
Starting to think about dosing Baking Soda. My params are at the bottom of this post. Tank info in my Sig.

Over the past month, my Cal and Mag params finally started dropping from high lvl's down to acceptable levels. But I have seen a small drop in Alk, and my pH fluctuates. (I did use Purple Up for almost 2 weeks prior to this and have since stopped).

I did have Phosphates show up and started running Phosban 1.5 weeks ago, and it now shows at 0. (was at .5ppm and wanted to get it before it went anywhere).

I know the pH will shift over night, I have seen it up to 8.3 during the day, and as low as 7.8 (lights out). I have a window open and a fan blowing fresh air towards the tank/stand. (Apex Logs)

My Alk however has dropped from 8 to 7 and been there for 3 weeks.

I've performed 3 - 15g WC's and the last one was 20g, over the past month.

Will dosing Randy's Alk/Baking Soda recipe benefit/stabilize/raise my Alk and pH to normal levels? I'm going to shoot for 10dKh and hopefully my pH will come to be more stable.

Any input is greatly appreciated :)

4 weeks ago:
Salinity -- 1.025
Temp -- 79.1 Degrees
pH -- 8.09 (at time of testing)
Alkalinity-- 8 dKH
Ammonia-- 0
Nitrite -- 0
Nitrate -- 0
Phosphate-- 0
Calcium -- 520 PPM
Magnesium-- 1600 PPM


Tonight:
Salinity -- 1.025
Temp -- 78.7 Degrees
pH -- 8.13 (at time of testing)
Alkalinity-- 7 dKH
Ammonia-- 0
Nitrite -- 0
Nitrate -- 0
Phosphate-- 0
Calcium -- 420 PPM
Magnesium-- 1450 PPM

Tank inhabitants:
SPS - 13 items
LPS - 14 items
Fish - 4, 1-3"
1 Crocea Clam
 
Raising the alkalinity will raise the pH a bit, but using baked baking soda (recipe 1) will increase pH more than plain baking soda. Either way, daily supplementation likely will help the tank.
 
I agree with bertoni. I just dose straight baking soda based on tank size around 2-3 tsp in my 5 gallon ATO bucket. (for a 55g with 14g sump)

This is enough to keep my alk stable between 9 and 10 and my ph has always remained 8.2 since the start of my tank.


I stopped dosing and even with water changes my alk dropped down to between 7 and 8. Mixing it in my ATO seems to dilute it enough that it doesn't over power the tank and allows everything to remain stable.

Just my experience. Cheap solution that works great!
 
I'd love to use it in my ATO, but that's a 20g container, and since I am unsure of what the daily dosage would be, I am assuming that's not the best way to start off (although that would make it easier and hope to do this once I have it figured out).

According to the Reef Chemistry Calculator © By: JDieck, to achieve a 10dKh, I need to add "18.2 grams, approx 3.9 tsp, or 0.6 oz" .

After reading through RHF's article, I'm assuming this will be my initial dose to achieve a 10dKh, and then the dosing would be .6ml per day.

I did recently pickup a Kent AquaDoser and will start with that if recommended, (Dosing pumps in the near future) but could use a little help with the math and "kick-off" here.

Thanks,
/D
 
Last edited:
yep, I use randys recipe as well and it works great. I dose about 250ml per day of the baking soda, the money I save I can buy more live stock. I would also recommend investing in dosing pumps for your alk and ca.
 
I am not sure what it is off the top of my head but there should be a balance between alk and cal....I would think your second numbers are better then your first. The key is to figure out what your tank is using and dose accordingly to keep the parameters seady.
 
I understand figuring out the needed dosage, but unsure about the initial dose.

Do I add enough in 1 shot to get to 10dKh (I don't think so), or add over time to get to 10dKh? If over time, how much would that be? a day, week?
 
Daimyo68 said:
According to the Reef Chemistry Calculator © By: JDieck, to achieve a 10dKh, I need to add "18.2 grams, approx 3.9 tsp, or 0.6 oz" .

After reading through RHF's article, I'm assuming this will be my initial dose to achieve a 10dKh, and then the dosing would be .6ml per day.

I did recently pickup a Kent AquaDoser and will start with that if recommended, (Dosing pumps in the near future) but could use a little help with the math and "kick-off" here.

Thanks,
/D
Click to expand...

So, I will start dosing slowly and get to 10dKh, and then see what my drop is and then figure out how much to maintain that.
 
Last edited:
Ok, sitting down and figuring the numbers, with what I came up with using the calculator:

(18.2 grams, approx 3.9 tsp, or 0.6 oz) I need to drip 7.5 drops per hour (1 drop every 8 minutes) if using Baked Baking Soda.

(28.9 grams, approx 6.1 tsp, or 1 oz) I need to drip 3 drops per hour. If using non-baked Baking Soda.

I will be using the Kent Aquadoser which delivers so my drip rate is based off of their instructions of 1 drop every 43 seconds will deliver 200 ml of solution per day (50 drips = 5 ml) )

Can someone confirm this for me.
 
I have a 144 gallon tank with a 15-20 gallon sump.....
I go through alk like crazy....
any idea's?

Kinda expensive to keep buying the buffer....
I have heard baking soda and vinegar?

Anyone know how much and when to do it and how often?
 
I'm not sure why you'd want to dose vinegar for alkalinity, since it doesn't contain any. It will lower alkalinity temporarily, until bacteria consume it.
 
Ok, posting back with some results here..

Dosed un-baked Baking Soda - My ph was dropping to 7.6 at night.

Dosing Baked Baking Soda - Ph down to 7.9 at night, I'm ok with that, but...

When i started this on 4-28-10, my Alk was at 7dKh. Now, at almost 200ml a day, I'm still at 7dKh. Thought it was my test kit, had it confirmed at a LFS and by a friend, still at 7dKh.

Any suggestions besides upping the daily dose? I don't want to nuke the tank with Alk, and I'm not sure if 200ml is too much for what I have (LPS/SPS frags, average size is 2-3").

Thanks
 
The first day I measured after 12 hours, I was dosing ~77ml per day (according to the calculator). So I waited for 48, and then 72 hours. (The Alk test is cheap, and I'd rather spend a few more $ on an extra test kit or 2 than nuke the tank).

Since then I've been testing daily, and when I up the dosage I check twice a day.

I would think that I should have seen some rise, but then again, I've never dosed before. I thought maybe it was the phosban somehow affecting it, but my dKh has been at 7 for over a month now, and I only started running the phosban about 2 weeks ago.

Should I keep upping the dosage until I see my target of ~10dKh?

Thanks
 
Why target 10 dKH? 10 dKH is a fine goal, but I wanted to make sure you had a good reason for selecting it, rather than 7 dKH.

One expects the alk to jump instantly on dosing, then steadily decline until the next dose. Many/most tanks require daily dosing, so if you measured long after dosing, you'd expect it to have dropped considerably by then.

There is nothing wrong with 7 dKH, so I wouldn't agonize over dosing higher unless your goal is to have a higher alkalinity for some reason. If it is, then dosing more may be fine, as long as you are not experiencing excessive calcium carbonate deposits on pumps, etc.
 
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