Randy Holmes-Farley
Reef Chemist
Staff member
Super Moderator
Excellence Award
Expert Contributor
Article Contributor
R2R Research
My Tank Thread
See my poll here on a potential new type of two part:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/attributes-of-an-improved-to-part.324511/
from it:
The alkalinity part of two part additive system can generally be formulated with bicarbonate and/or carbonate. Bicarbonate gives a slight pH lowering effect and carbonate gives a pH boost, and any mixture of them can be used to get any desired pH effect in between.
But those are not the only choices. Hydroxide can also be used, and food grade sodium hydroxide is inexpensive. The pH boost is quite a bit higher than for carbonate (about 2x), and the concentration can be made much higher since it is much more soluble than sodium bicarbonate or carbonate.
For manual dosing, such a product might not be a good choice with too rapid of a big pH boost.
Today, however, dosing pumps have become so pervasive that such a product can easily be used and could have substantial benefits over existing two parts.
Additionally, I think any current manufacturer of two part systems could likely swap out the carbonate and bicarbonate and swap in hydroxides with no reformulation needed (stressing "I think"). So your favorite company could easily come out with a new version, and the new versions could be made more concentrated, if desired (at the least, there'd be less cost to ship less water).
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/attributes-of-an-improved-to-part.324511/
from it:
The alkalinity part of two part additive system can generally be formulated with bicarbonate and/or carbonate. Bicarbonate gives a slight pH lowering effect and carbonate gives a pH boost, and any mixture of them can be used to get any desired pH effect in between.
But those are not the only choices. Hydroxide can also be used, and food grade sodium hydroxide is inexpensive. The pH boost is quite a bit higher than for carbonate (about 2x), and the concentration can be made much higher since it is much more soluble than sodium bicarbonate or carbonate.
For manual dosing, such a product might not be a good choice with too rapid of a big pH boost.
Today, however, dosing pumps have become so pervasive that such a product can easily be used and could have substantial benefits over existing two parts.
Additionally, I think any current manufacturer of two part systems could likely swap out the carbonate and bicarbonate and swap in hydroxides with no reformulation needed (stressing "I think"). So your favorite company could easily come out with a new version, and the new versions could be made more concentrated, if desired (at the least, there'd be less cost to ship less water).
