Borate and sulfate in alkalinity supplements

Myka · Apr 13, 2016

I'm looking at an alkalinity powder that lists ingredients as, "Inorganic salts of carbonate, bicarbonate, sulfate and borate." Are the sulfate and borate by-products of the source, or why would these be in here? The product is Brightwell Aquatics Alkalin8.3-P.

GMay · Apr 13, 2016

These are all anions in the salt mix used to raise the alkalinity. Most likely this product is a mixture of sodium carbonate, sodium bicarbonate, sodium borate and magnesium sulfate.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Apr 13, 2016

There is no reason or benefit of sulfate in an alk supplement, and I have no idea why they add it except perhaps to look different from other products to people who do not know what it is. But it won't hurt anything either. Sulfate is the third most abundant ion in seawater by weight, so it doesn't hurt anything to add some.

Borate is a natural buffer in seawater, but I generally would not add it to a reef tank since it is not reduced by calcification. That said, I have no idea how much they add.

Myka · Apr 13, 2016

GMay said:
These are all anions in the salt mix used to raise the alkalinity. Most likely this product is a mixture of sodium carbonate, sodium bicarbonate, sodium borate and magnesium sulfate.

Absolutely. I'm just wondering why there would borate and sulfate in an alkalinity supplement. What would the benefit be?.

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
There is no reason or benefit of sulfate in an alk supplement, and I have no idea why they add it except perhaps to look different from other products to people who do not know what it is. But it won't hurt anything either. Sulfate is the third most abundant ion in seawater by weight, so it doesn't hurt anything to add some.

Borate is a natural buffer in seawater, but I generally would not add it to a reef tank since it is not reduced by calcification. That said, I have no idea how much they add.

Ok thanks, I'll shoot them an email and see what they say. Their magnesium blend lists sulfate before chloride as well, so I'm curious why they would do that too besides sulfate being cheaper. Haha.