Hi everyone, I don’t post much on here but I read lots of threads regarding Randy’s diy calcium, alk and magnesium recipes. I currently use Red Sea foundation liquids on my peninsula 500 and as you can imagine it’s very expensive. I have purchased 25kg of sodium carbonate to make my own mix. I see Randy basically makes sodium carbonate by baking bicarbonate. My question is can someone help me by working out the mix ratio so it’s very similar to red sea potency of 1ml/litre = 0.1 dkh increase. This way my dosing shouldn’t be too far off. Thanks in advanced.
DIY dosing recipes
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SPR1968
No, it wasn’t expensive dear....
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I mix it in exactly the same way as the Red Sea powder version because as far as I can see its basically the same
So 1kg into 10 litres
So 1kg into 10 litres
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You can use this calculator to make a sodium carbonate solution of any potency. Figure out how much is needed to boost the alk (0.1 dKH if you like) in whatever volume the recipe calls for (25 gallons?), then dissolve it in whatever supplement volume it says (1 mL).
Thanks for the reply Randy, I’m not sure if I’m being stupid but I’m struggling to use the calculator to work out my concentrations. I would like to make 1 gallon of mix that can increase my dkh 0.1. I would be very great full if you can take me through the calculator. regards
Per litre…I don’t see the supplement tab? I put my net aquarium volume to 430 litres, I have chosen sodium carbonate Alk value 8.0 and desired 8.1 dkh. It says I need 0.8g! Is this per litre? Or total to bring the whole tank to 8.1? This is where I’m confused. Thanks
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You need to know what tank volume (25 gallons? something else?)and how much of the material you want to add (I assume 1 mL) to get that 0.1 dKH.
Assuming it means 1 mL added to 25 gallons boosts alk by 0.1 dKH, then you add these to the calculator and find you need 0.17 grams ( I actually used 250 gallons and divided by ten to avoid the rounding errors in low alk additions) in one mL.
Since a gallon is 3785 mL, then you need to add water and 3785 x 0.17 = 643 grams of sodium carbonate to one gallon final volume.
643 grams is roughly 140 level teaspoons, or about 2.9 cups of dry sodium carbonate.
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That is total dry sodium carbonate needed to be added, regardless of how much water it is dissolved in.
Ok thanks Randy, so if I’m right there is roughly 22 gallons in 100l so using you maths to get a measure to usable is 22 x 10 = 220 I input the 0.1 dkh which came to 1.5g, this is divided by 10 giving 0.15g per ml..I can then make what ever amount by multiplying 0.15 by the volume in ml..say 2l, so 2000x0.15= 300g of dry carbonate. This should give the same concentration as red sea as it’s 1ml = 0.1 dkh per 100l.
is this correct? Thanks again.
Thanks Randy I will give this a go..do you know the max saturation of sodium carbonate without precipitation? the only reason I’m asking is sure it’s better to dose a lower quantity but higher concentration to avoid salinity swings? Thanks again
Please help me validate my calculations for a Rubidium solution made of RbCl. I'm aware of the debate about the usefulness or not of dosing Rubidium, but I don't want to reopen that discussion, at least that's not my question. I just want to validate my calculations.
Step by step:
1 gram RbCl in 1000 mL RODI. Concentration 700 mg/L. (should be 706 but I rounded it).
Adding 1 mL per 100 gallons boosts Rb by 0.7 mg/378 L = 0.00185 mg/L (1.85 ug/L).
Adding 10mL per 100 gallons boosts 0.0185 mg/L.
Adding 100mL per 100 gallons boosts 0.185 mg/L.
Adding 54ml per 100 gallons boosts 0.1 mg/L. (rule of 3)
Now if I want to use 1 gram RbCl in 500ml of RO instead of 1000mL, the solution is twice potent:
Adding 27ml per 100 gallons boosts 0.1 mg/L
Now convert it to 100 Liters instead of 100 gallons. Should divide by 3.79:
Adding 7.12ml per 100L boosts 0.1 mg/L.
Is this OK?
Step by step:
1 gram RbCl in 1000 mL RODI. Concentration 700 mg/L. (should be 706 but I rounded it).
Adding 1 mL per 100 gallons boosts Rb by 0.7 mg/378 L = 0.00185 mg/L (1.85 ug/L).
Adding 10mL per 100 gallons boosts 0.0185 mg/L.
Adding 100mL per 100 gallons boosts 0.185 mg/L.
Adding 54ml per 100 gallons boosts 0.1 mg/L. (rule of 3)
Now if I want to use 1 gram RbCl in 500ml of RO instead of 1000mL, the solution is twice potent:
Adding 27ml per 100 gallons boosts 0.1 mg/L
Now convert it to 100 Liters instead of 100 gallons. Should divide by 3.79:
Adding 7.12ml per 100L boosts 0.1 mg/L.
Is this OK?
