baking soda and baked baking soda

[leptang]

I was wondering if i could mix the two together in rodi water to dose alkalinity?
I know sodium carbonate will raise the ph, and i know sodium bicarbonate will tend to lower the ph.

Will mixing the two cause any ph problems or alkalinity to drop?

 

[leptang]

Anyone?

 

[captainsaquarium]

I think Randy would be the best to direct you on this. Cheers!

 

[marke]

Randy will correct me if I am wrong, but yes you can mix carbonate and bicarbonate to make your alk solution. I do! But not 50/50, more like 85% baked to 15% unbaked. Unbaked takes a bit more chemical than baked. Make sure you are using quality powders. That is pharma or food grade not ungraded stuff.

 

[leptang]

I will use arm & hammer pure baking soda, America's #1 trusted baking soda if i do start using it.

 

[ahmed.boomer]

I will use arm & hammer pure baking soda, America's [URL=https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/usertag.php?do=list&action=hash&hash=1]#1 [/URL] trusted baking soda if i do start using it.

"Americas #1 trusted baking soda."
I laughed harder than I should have at this.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Yes, you certainly can mix them. That is what most commercial buffers do if they try to claim they hold the pH steady (which they do not, but at least they have no instantaneous effect on addition).

IMO, such mixing is often not the most desirable thing for an aquarium since most will benefit from a pH boost, but that said, a mixture of mostly unbaked with a little baked will be pH neutral at the pH of most reef aquaria. The reason is that baked baking soda has a substantial pH boost (about 0.35 pH units per 1.4 dKH (0.5 meq/L), while unbaked has a very small pH drop (about 0.05 pH units for the same alkalinity). So it takes less of the baked to even it out.

You will not be able to make the solution as concentrated as you could with pure baked baking soda because unbaked (sodium carbonate) has lower solubility in water.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Randy will correct me if I am wrong, but yes you can mix carbonate and bicarbonate to make your alk solution. I do! But not 50/50, more like 85% baked to 15% unbaked. Unbaked takes a bit more chemical than baked. Make sure you are using quality powders. That is pharma or food grade not ungraded stuff.

It takes more unbaked to have no pH effect in a mixture when added to seawater. Is that what you meant?

 

[glennf]

I am confused

NaHCO3 = sodium bicarbonate = baking soda and is a ph buffer which rises KH

Na2CO3 = sodium carbonate affects the ph directly while adding also to the rise of KH.

That is what i have been measuring while experimenting with both stuffs.

I have been experimenting with NaOH also to rise PH level. (It seems to work, but i am inconclusive about it yet)

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I'm confused about what you are confused about.

I would just correct the first sentence a bit:

NaHCO3 = sodium bicarbonate = baking soda and boosts alkalinity and has a small pH lowering effect on seawater
Na2CO3 = sodium carbonate = baked baking soda boosts alkalinity and has a substantial pH raising effect on seawater.

 

[glennf]

I'm confused about what you are confused about.

I would just correct the first sentence a bit:

NaHCO3 = sodium bicarbonate = baking soda and boosts alkalinity and has a small pH lowering effect on seawater
Na2CO3 = sodium carbonate = baked baking soda boosts alkalinity and has a substantial pH raising effect.

Ok, thanks for clearing that up.
I understood the other way around. All the "common" names confused me.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

You're welcome.

Happy Reefing.

 

[leptang]

Thank you Randy, vary much appreciated info.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Glad it was helpful.

Happy Reefing!