Randy's Two Part solution Question

[Herpervet]

I have been using it for a while now and I use a very large volume due to having two large Reefs.

Yesterday I tried something different. I baked the baking soda for double the prescribed time.

I then boiled my ro/di water then turned off the heat and then poured in the baking soda.

What was interesting is that the water started to wildly boil as the baking soda hit the water.

So I am wondering what is going on there. i.e. what was the gas being released as the water boiled? It doesn't make sense that it is water vapor since most solutes will raise the boiling point of water.

So was this excess co2 that didn't get removed with the baking?

One other thing. If the bicarb was not in some way altered or lost I was able to dissolve 6 pounds of bicarb in around 2.5 gallons of water. I then increased to 5 gallons since that is the correct volume for the recipe.

Could I have left it at 2.5 gallons without a precipitate forming and also make the calcium double strenth?

For my systems this would be really nice because making this volume and lugging it around is a hassle.

[Billybeau1]

Boomer or jd will have to answer this one. I'll give it a little bump to keep it near the top. :D

[marsh]

Did you perhaps boil the water in a microwave?

[Boomer]

That is what I'm thinkin' Marsh.

That he super heated the water. And adding anything to super heated or near super heated water is dangerous to the point where it can actually blow up in your face.

Boiling is cause by an increase in vapor pressure, when the vapor pressure equals the pressure of the gas above it. When this takes place boiling occurs.


An important process in this is nucleation. These are sites where it is easier for gas to form and with no or little such surface area (rough surfaces) gas has a hard time trying to form. This can be seen in a rough metal pot vs a smooth glass one. Using glass is the worst, as it has the least number nucleation sites. The sudden dumping in of the soda created tons of these nucleation sites where gas water vapor bubbles can now form and rise to the surface instantly and at times violently.

This is why in microwaves one is suppose to stick something like a wooden spoon in a glass of water being heated, to stop the super heating of the water.

You are lucky you did not get a face full of boiling super hearted water as you would now be here posting but at the hospital burn center :D

[tcollins]

While this isn't in line with Herpervet's question, I've been trying to find the Dow flake and mag flake and can't find it anywhere, must be too late in the season.

Are there any other products which Randy recommends? I thought I had saw something in the pool chemical line that could be used instead of Dow Flake. Comments?

[Herpervet]

This was on a stove in a stainless pot but your explaination makes sense.

I am not sure how the water could have been super heated it was boiling and I had turned the heat off.

Anyway the more important question is whether or not I can double the concentration of the solutions without having problems with precipitation.

[Boomer]

Just so you know nucleation does not require boiling, a boiling like appearance can happen at normal temp if the right substance is added to the right solution.

Pure sodium carbonate can boil water at normal temperature if you dump enough in and can even be explosive in nature, as it produces an exothermic reaction. You can also get his from adding large amounts of activated alumina, phosphate sponges to water. It is even worse and can be explosive if water is dumped on large amounts of it. Lye can do the same thing. And in all cases the hotter the water is the worse it is as the reaction is accelerated.