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View Full Version : Adding Baking Soda Straight To Sump


vegaskid11
10/08/2009, 01:53 PM
I am wondering if it's advisable to just add the baking soda straight to my sump? It would be added into the overflow section and all water from there is forced through a filter sock shelf before going to the return section. I would be adding approximately 50 grams per day to give me about 1dkh of alk.

I have a 500 total gallon mixed reef. I have a kalk reactor and have my litermeter set to dose 9 liters per day through the reactor for top off. My daily evap is nearly 15 liters but I can't run the kalk for that long because my PH gets to 8.5+. The reason I beleive is that the tank is isolated in a room built into the garage and only the front viewing panel is seen in the house and this room has its own wall AC unit and so there is likely very low Co2 levels in the tank room.

I use coralife salt (high calcium) and I have my litermeter set for auto water change system chaging out roughly 6.6 gallons per day of water to give me an approx. 40 percent volume change per month using twin 300 gallon storage containers.

The problem is my calcium seems to be maintained with the Kalk and the Daily water change but the Alk is not. I am losing approx. 1 dkh per day.

Right now I am just mixing up gallon jugs of baking soda with RO and driping the jugs over a 24 hour period to give me the 1 dkh I need per day.

I can continue this but the line gets clogged all the time and it would be easier to just dump the powder in the sump if that is at all possible.

Thanks for reading.

Randy Holmes-Farley
10/08/2009, 01:58 PM
As long as it all dissolves before getting to anything delicate, then adding dry ingredients is OK. :)

vegaskid11
10/08/2009, 03:15 PM
Oh ok thats good news. Would you think that Baking Soda would be able to pass trhough 100 micron socks undissolved.

Thank you for your help.

Randy Holmes-Farley
10/08/2009, 03:39 PM
Don't know. I'd try it and see if you detect (by eye) any solids entering the main tank. :)

vegaskid11
10/08/2009, 04:04 PM
Will do. Ill try this for the next few days and see what happens. Thanks for the help. :bounce3:

Randy Holmes-Farley
10/08/2009, 04:06 PM
:thumbsup:

Good luck. :)

luther1200
10/08/2009, 04:19 PM
I am no expert on the subject but can't you add vinegar to the kalk to lower the pH? Then you could add more. I have never done this, but thought I read something to that effect.

vegaskid11
10/08/2009, 04:50 PM
I have read on that and thought about it but since I use a reactor (deltec km500) and I pump 8 liters of water through it per day, I wonder how often I would keep having to add vinegar.

luther1200
10/08/2009, 06:19 PM
I don't know how it would work in a reactor.

Randy Holmes-Farley
10/09/2009, 04:41 AM
Unless you are wanting to drive bacterial growth in the tank, or have already determined that ordinary limewater does not work for you, I'd avoid the vinegar. It has its own potential drawbacks, such as reduced O2.

FWIW, high pH is not the usual limiting factor to adding limewater. Evaporation replacement is.

I discuss it here:

What Your Grandmother Never Told You About Lime
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/rhf/index.htm

Toadally
10/09/2009, 05:47 AM
I am wondering if it's advisable to just add the baking soda straight to my sump? It would be added into the overflow section and all water from there is forced through a filter sock shelf before going to the return section. I would be adding approximately 50 grams per day to give me about 1dkh of alk.

I have a 500 total gallon mixed reef. I have a kalk reactor and have my litermeter set to dose 9 liters per day through the reactor for top off. My daily evap is nearly 15 liters but I can't run the kalk for that long because my PH gets to 8.5+. The reason I beleive is that the tank is isolated in a room built into the garage and only the front viewing panel is seen in the house and this room has its own wall AC unit and so there is likely very low Co2 levels in the tank room.

I use coralife salt (high calcium) and I have my litermeter set for auto water change system chaging out roughly 6.6 gallons per day of water to give me an approx. 40 percent volume change per month using twin 300 gallon storage containers.

The problem is my calcium seems to be maintained with the Kalk and the Daily water change but the Alk is not. I am losing approx. 1 dkh per day.

Right now I am just mixing up gallon jugs of baking soda with RO and driping the jugs over a 24 hour period to give me the 1 dkh I need per day.

I can continue this but the line gets clogged all the time and it would be easier to just dump the powder in the sump if that is at all possible.

Thanks for reading.

I have found that mixing the baking soda with tank water in a small cup helps to dissolve it before adding to the tank. hth

Randy Holmes-Farley
10/09/2009, 05:57 AM
I have found that mixing the baking soda with tank water in a small cup helps to dissolve it before adding to the tank.

If you are going to do that, I'd use fresh water. The clock is ticking fast for precipitation of calcium carbonate if you boost a small amount of seawater with a substantial amount of baking soda.

eggiel
10/09/2009, 06:21 AM
yes i think its just easy to bake the baking soda add distilled water using the randy recepi and adding it to the tank using the calculator
and you could put it in the tank using a measuring cup directly to the sump
this way everything is preety mixed and problem free

Toadally
10/09/2009, 03:42 PM
I have found that mixing the baking soda with tank water in a small cup helps to dissolve it before adding to the tank.

If you are going to do that, I'd use fresh water. The clock is ticking fast for precipitation of calcium carbonate if you boost a small amount of seawater with a substantial amount of baking soda.

Ahhh didn't know that Randy.... Thanks!