Dosing Soda Ash - going from manually by hand to a doser...

Lylelovett · Feb 9, 2021

Hi all,

I have been dosing manually by hand each day - up until now... I have a new GHL Doser I am setting up.

Up until now, I have been mixing 1tsp of Soda Ash in RODI water and manually adding it to the tank each day. This has been keeping my Alk and pH right where I want them. Now that I will be mixing up a batch for dosing, I'm trying to understand concentration.

Can I :
A. Mix a solution of 1 cup of RODI water with 1 cup of Soda Ash and continue to dose 1tsp(5mL) of liquid per day to achieve the same result?
B. Mix a solution of 2 cups of RODI water with 1 cup of Soda Ash and dose 2tsp(10mL) of liquid per day to achieve the same result?
C. And so on...

Am I making sense? Does that work? I'm trying to avoid having to start over with a new concentration and a new volume to determine a new dosage.

Thanks!

Saltyreef · Feb 9, 2021

Idk how the ghl program is but simple math should suffice here.

Instead of doing a consumption log and making a 1gal stock solution like most of us do,

If you want to make say a weeks worth of solution and dose with a doser, if its 1 tsp per day, Just add the 7 tsp to however much water you want to dose.
I would recommend like a 1/4 gal at first then set ur doser to dose the quarter gal over 7 days.

Jekyl · Feb 9, 2021

Figure out the same amount you have been dosing daily and duplicate it. If 1tsp in rodi lasted you 3 days then duplicate that with the doser. Make 1 tsp get dosed in over a 3 day period. Or w/e your ratio was

homer1475 · Feb 10, 2021

While all that will work just fine, I'm not sure why someone wouldn't just want to mix up @Randy Holmes-Farley stock solution(makes 1gal), and dose that using one of the popular dosing calculators?

Randy's DIY 2 part:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/rhf/index.php

Popular calculator:

Reef Chemistry Calculator

Depending on which solution you make up, just choose the appropriate solution in the calculator.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Feb 10, 2021

Lylelovett said:
Hi all,

I have been dosing manually by hand each day - up until now... I have a new GHL Doser I am setting up.

Up until now, I have been mixing 1tsp of Soda Ash in RODI water and manually adding it to the tank each day. This has been keeping my Alk and pH right where I want them. Now that I will be mixing up a batch for dosing, I'm trying to understand concentration.

Can I :
A. Mix a solution of 1 cup of RODI water with 1 cup of Soda Ash and continue to dose 1tsp(5mL) of liquid per day to achieve the same result?
B. Mix a solution of 2 cups of RODI water with 1 cup of Soda Ash and dose 2tsp(10mL) of liquid per day to achieve the same result?
C. And so on...

Am I making sense? Does that work? I'm trying to avoid having to start over with a new concentration and a new volume to determine a new dosage.

Thanks!

No, you cannot do A or B. Not even close. The concept is right, but you cannot make those solutions. Sodium carbonate is not nearly that soluble.

If your doser cannot dose 1 L per day, then you can up the concentration to something like my recipe shown above, or maybe a little bit more, but not a lot more.

Lylelovett · Feb 13, 2021

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
No, you cannot do A or B. Not even close. The concept is right, but you cannot make those solutions. Sodium carbonate is not nearly that soluble.

If your doser cannot dose 1 L per day, then you can up the concentration to something like my recipe shown above, or maybe a little bit more, but not a lot more.

Thanks everyone for your input.

Since all the experienced folk (in this thread and others) seem to recommend Randy's mix, I'm going to go that route. Gonna try recipe 2 since my pH tends to hover around 8.4/8.5.

Saltyreef · Feb 13, 2021

Lylelovett said:
Thanks everyone for your input.

Since all the experienced folk (in this thread and others) seem to recommend Randy's mix, I'm going to go that route. Gonna try recipe 2 since my pH tends to hover around 8.4/8.5.

And its nice not having to bake the baking soda