Need help in conversion

[Abhishek]

Hi Randy ,

Hope you are doing good

I am Abhishek from Minnesota and currently use ATI essentials for supplementing my 90 gallon acropora only system . I currently dose 180 ml of ATI essentials a day .

However , am moving to a calcium reactor and will have it up and running in a couple of weeks .

But am gonna run out of ATI this week and would hate to get another batch just to use it for a week or 2 .

I have BRS sodium bicarbonate powder and I believe ATI uses mostly bicarbonate with little carbonate for alkalinity 1 solution .

According to ATI - 36 ml of ATI solution 1 will raise alk by 1 dkh in 100 liters of tank water .
If I dose 180 ml of alk solution a day in 90 gallons of tank water , how much should I dissolve BRS bicarbonate powder and how much should I dose to maintain my alk between 7.5-8 ?

Regards,
Abhishek

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

If you are certain it is bicarbonate powder and not carbonate, then make my Recipe #2:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/rhf/index.php
Dissolve 297 grams of baking soda (about 1 1/8 cups) in enough water to make 1 gallon total.

That can be done on any volume you want. Then use this calculator entering Randy's Recipe #2:

Reef Chemistry Calculator
http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chem_calc3.html

 

[Abhishek]

Thanks a lot @Randy Holmes-Farley . So if I use Recipe #2 , to raise 1 dkh in 100 liters , it requires 37.3 ml whereas ATI requires 35 ml. The pH is somewhat lower due to bicarbonate i believe .
If I use recipe #1 , I get substantial pH raise and needs only about 18ml . Is recipe #1 only carbonates?

Regards,
Abhishek

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

If ATI uses mostly bicarbonate with a little carbonate, it is like my Reciope #2. Recipe 1 gives a bigger pH boost .

In the end, there's not going to be a big effect no matter which one you use, but pH is higher with Recipe 1 and you use half as much and it is nearly all carbonate.