Quote:
Originally Posted by Antdizzle
I know you can use baking soda to raise your alk, has anyone of you use this method currently or have used it ? I know it temp lowers ph so watching that is a must.
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The only real issue with NaHCO3 is that it is the sodium salt of bicarbonate, and as we really do not have anything in the tank that consumes the sodium alone, the sodium tends to accumulate in the water column over a relatively short time, requiring that we adjust salinity as the sodium comprises a larger and larger portion of the osmotic composition of the water column (it drives the SG up). This problem is compounded by the use of CaCl2 to provide the calcium part of the hermatypic supplements, so more and more we see increasing sodium and increasing chloride as the corals deposit calcium carbonate, but leave behind the sodium AND the chloride of these two parts of hermatypic supplementation. The biggest problem is not that the salinity goes up as SG increases, but that unless we do good proportional water changes, then removing the sodium and chloride by dipping out a gallon of tank water and replacing it with FW ends up removing SOME OF ALL of the elements of our seawater. Now there is proportionally more sodium and chloride. Over time, this ends up making the ASW we use to support our marine systems primarily a brine of sodium chloride, no longer resembling NSW in any way other than S = 35 PPT.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Antdizzle
also bulk mag, does anyone use it at home ? just mix yourself and add to system mkinda deal ?
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Why? The best way to maintain conservative proportionality is to perform water changes. This will keep your Mg and Cl- and SO4-- in proper proportions to all the other elements of seawater without making or using any other supplementive additives.
