Kim this ones for you or anyone else who uses washing soda!

[Tau2301]

Jon, you're right about the scent. It smells like soap to me, but I don't if it should have a smell or not.

Because of this I have only mixed up a small amount and have used it sparingly - about one third the amount recomended on RC.

I have put it into both my tanks ith no apparent ill affects, but remember that was a very low dose.

The other thing is to mix it thourghly in very warm water. I heat the water in the microwave before mixing in the soda. Otherwise the washing soda does not disolve, it will just sit on the bottom of the cup.

I am very interested if anyone else uses this stuff and is there suppose to be a scent?

[Canadian Man]

I dont know if i will use the stuff in my system.
I was going to mix it at the 6 to 1 ratio like recomended, so it would be a low amount but makes me uneasy.

I think i will just bake it for 1/2 an hour (the baking soda that is) like they recomend and that turns baking soda into washing soda.

let me know if you find out anything about the washing soday situation.

[Delphinus]

What brand have you guys got? I haven't tried this in my tank either (I don't blame you guys for not going all gung ho on it until you're 100% certain), but I thought the Arm & Hammer didn't have much of a scent. I'll go see if I have some and see if it's got a scent or not ...

[Canadian Man]

Tony, the stuff Kim and I have is in a blue box,made by arm and hammer and is called Washing soda.

The stuff i have seen from the yanks on reefcentral is arm and hammer as well but it is called Super Washing Soda and comes in a yellow box.

[Delphinus]

Yeah what I've got is "Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda" and I gave it a sniff. A few sneezes later, I can confirm this stuff too has a pretty soapy smell.

I dunno ... sounds like a question for those RC guys.

This is my bookmark of where I first heard of the homemade buffer idea ... it references two threads on RC about it. So, maybe from here we can get an idea of someone we can pose the question to ...

Homemade Buffer (http://www.hawkfish.org/infoctr/homebuffer.htm)

[Delphinus]

Going to move this thread to the main forum in hopes that it catches the eyes of someone who knows the answers we seek...

[Canadian Man]

I just purchased the same washing soda you did and mine has some scent to it. Does yours?
have you been using it regularaly on your tank?
has it caused any negitive effects if your does have the scent that mine does?