Microwaving baking soda?????? :)

[Steviereefs]

Does anyone know if microwaving baking soda will produce the same results in less time than baking baking soda??? A hypothetical penny for your thoughts !!!!!
Also can it produce the same result at all?

 

[Steviereefs]

Anyone?

 

[kv2wr1]

I would think that it could work, but have never tried it. I'm not sure how long you would need to microwave it for. I usually bake it in the oven at 350F for 30-45 minutes. I usually spread a pound out on a baking pan with raised edges to give it more surface area to dry.

 

[redfishbluefish]

No, this will not work and probably cause premature death of your microwave. Sodium Bicarbonate does not absorb microwaves very well (that is, it won't get hot enough). However the feedback to your microwave could potentially cause problems with the magnetron. Some microwaves will actually shut down to save the magnetron. I wouldn't do it! Conventional oven at 300 degrees F for one hour drives off the CO2 to produce sodium carbonate (soda ash).

 

[mcarroll]

Or skip the heating altogether. The difference is negligible IME.

-Matt

 

[Reefing Madness]

Or skip the heating altogether. The difference is negligible IME.

-Matt

Now this I agree with. You just make a new form called Sodium Hydroxide, after baking out the CO2.
When you bake it you release the CO2 gasses and it now becomes Sodium Hydroxide, which basically is more potent than just baking soda, so you just need to use less of it.

 

[-Logzor]

Now this I agree with. You just make a new form called Sodium Hydroxide, after baking out the CO2.
When you bake it you release the CO2 gasses and it now becomes Sodium Hydroxide, which basically is more potent than just baking soda, so you just need to use less of it.

Baked Baking Soda or Sodium Carbonate or Soda Ash will raise pH because it has less carbon dioxide in it. This should be the same potency as Baking Soda or Sodium Bicarbonate. I'm fairly certain we're not putting sodium hydroxide or Lye into our aquariums!

 

[redfishbluefish]

Reefing Madness, as stated, your chemistry is off a tad......it's sodium carbonate (soda ash) once you cook sodium bicarbonate (baking soda).

l prefer the cooked baking soda, if for anything, for the greater solubility. Baking soda is not that soluble when compared to soda ash.

 

[Reefing Madness]

Oh poop. I messed up again didn't I. Rats, my bad.

 

[beaslbob]

Or skip the heating altogether. The difference is negligible IME.

-Matt

+1


and my .02 to get the post above 3 characters

 

[mcarroll]

[...]
l prefer the cooked baking soda, if for anything, for the greater solubility. Baking soda is not that soluble when compared to soda ash.

Interesting!

You know both Recipe #1 and #2 both warn about the carbonates being difficult to dissolve, and after my own experience, I've always questioned it.

I've never needed more than a normal (short) amount of time using gentle-but-thorough stirring to get either one dissolved at the recipe's proportions.

Am I the only one?

-Matt

 

[redfishbluefish]

Interesting!

You know both Recipe #1 and #2 both warn about the carbonates being difficult to dissolve, and after my own experience, I've always questioned it.

I've never needed more than a normal (short) amount of time using gentle-but-thorough stirring to get either one dissolved at the recipe's proportions.

Am I the only one?

-Matt

Mixing at Dr Randy's prescribed amounts, there shouldn't be an issue with getting either into solution. You might have to do some shaking and stirring, but eventually all will go into solution. So of the recipe 1 alk I've made, I dumped the cooked baking soda into the gallon jug, topped off with water to one gallon, and then went to doing the other jug (I typically make multiple jugs at one time.) This allowed the undissolved soda ash to form a cake at the bottom of the jug. But shaking to break up the cake and simply allowing it to sit for a hour or so, it was all dissolved.

I do wish to repeat again, so some don't simply try to dissolve recipe 1's amount of baking soda in water (without cooking it), that the difference in solubilities of baking soda and soda ash is about half, (93.4 g/L versus 215 g/L (at 20C)). With Randy's Recipe 2 (baking soda), he has you dissolving 78 g/L, well below the solubility of baking soda. But if you try to dissolve recipe 1's amount of baking soda, the amount would be greater than the solubility (156 g/L), and it won't all go into solution. This is the reason Recipe 2 is half the equivalence of Recipe 1.....solubilities!

 

[mcarroll]

Interesting...I'd forgotten about the minor caking issue with washing soda.

Recipe #2 - which uses plain baking soda - is officially easier to mix then. There are no issues at all with mixing it. That you are able to skip the baking (and its associated waste of energy) by using plain baking soda in Recipe #2 is just an additional bonus. It's mixed at half-strength to Recipe #1, so it's generally easier to tune drip rates with as well - higher resolution dripping, if you will.

If I could do a "recipe-rewrite", I think I'd make Recipe #2 the first recipe, switching the recommendation in favor of simplicity and saving energy. Then the old Recipe #1 (and the baking step) is only for people with poor water circulation, poor aeration or problems with elevated CO2 levels where the tiny amount of CO2 in baking soda just can't be tolerated or off-gassed as it would be in a normal/healthy system. Seems to me these are all good-to-be-aware-of, but rare, circumstances.

...and I guess we're way off the topic of microwaving by now. LOL

-Matt

 

[redfishbluefish]

All good stuff Matt.


I'll throw in one more thought. If you don't want to bake (or consider microwaving), you could always go to your local pool supply store and buy soda ash. I know folks who have successfully used this to make up their alk. Note that you'll now only need to use 2 cups to one gallon RO/DI when using soda ash.