Kent Buffer Part B

[Jack]

I use kalk nightly and was using Kent Pro Buffer for maintaining Alkalinity until I ran out yesterday. I do have a 16oz bottle of the part B.

Is this the same sorta thing? And will it hold me off for awhile till I order some more Pro Buffer? (1 week-ish)

[Canadian Man]

Well I can't answer your question specificly but baking soda works well.
Just add it slowly as it drops your ph for about 2 minutes.

I use it when I have to make alk corrections for my calcium reactor.

[Son Of Skyline]

I used baking soda as well. Works well enough and it's cheap.

[CHEAPREEF]

Or you could make some buffer, i used this for the last year works very good. http://www.hawkfish.org/infoctr/homebuffer.htm

Clinton

[Delphinus]

Clinton what Arm&Hammer did you use? We ("we" being a bunch of us "Calgary folk") wanted to try this some time ago, but we all chickened out because the Arm & Hammer you buy at the store has a zesty lemon scent which basically told us there's something else in there. We even went so far as to ask Randy Holmes-Farley about it .... he told us there shouldn't be a scent. But I've never found a non-scented washing soda. I came to the conclusion that Canadian Arm & Hammer is different from American Arm & Hammer, and let it go at that (and never tried the home-made solution). But I'm curious as to how you worked with this issue.

[Canadian Man]

I used the recipie where you bake some of the baking soda in your oven but I found that the baked stuff didnt dissolve very well.
So I just started using baking soda by it's self and aside from the 2 min ph drop it's great.

I ended up using the washing soda for my laundry. :lol:

[CHEAPREEF]

Here is what i used, Duain out in Ft. Sask has used the same homemade buffer for years with zero ill effects.

http://www.telusplanet.net/public/winger9/Soda

It got a little wet on the bottom, i bought it at Walmart no lemon fresh here. :mrgreen:

Clinton

[Delphinus]

I thought that was the stuff we were looking at? Jonathan or Kim do you guys remember?

(Not that it really matters to me .... I like the reactor much better than fussing about with this powder or that powder every day....)

[CHEAPREEF]

(Not that it really matters to me .... I like the reactor much better than fussing about with this powder or that powder every day....)

I hear ya. The reactor is good. :mrgreen: If anybody wants this stuff i cansend it out to you, since i also use a reactor now. :cool:

Clinton

[Canadian Man]

Yea that's the exact stuff that had the soapy smell that Kim and I tried.
It wasnt just scent picked up from the laundry isle either. It was full on soapy smell.

[Tau2301]

Ya thats the stuff alright. I mixed it used it twice and then use the rest of it in the laundry. Did not like the smell at all.

I had bought some Ph Raiser (swimming pool stuff) from CND Tire. Suppose to be Sodium Carbonate - I think. I mix that together with Baking Soda (Sodium bi-carbonate?) in a 12 to 1 ratio. Calgary water has a pH that swing from 7.2 up to 8.4 depending on the time of year. So I do not need to raise the pH so much as add some carbonate to the mix.

Also use SC Reef Builder and Marine Buffer at different times in an effort to keep things in balance.

[Jack]

Thanks for your help guys. My alk is droping :eek:

Jon, how much baking soda? How do you add it ect? I'm pushing at least 150 gallons total system.

Brad's building my reactor as I write this (or at least he should be :razz: ) so soon enough I won't have to deal with this!

[Jack]

Update,

Well, after talking with Jon he reccomend I use about 4 level teaspoons of baking soda to raise my alkalinity about 0.5 meq/l. And it did just that! Now, the "2 minute pH drop" didn't exactly happen... well it did, it just didn't come back up. 8.33 - 8.26 (I waited 10 minutes)

Is there a reason why they say to add the washing soda? What does that part of it do?

[Canadian Man]

The wasing soda part is the other balacing act in the formula so your ph dosent drop. the expensive stuff you were purchasing was basically baking soda and washing soda mixed at the correct ratios. :biggrin:

[EmilyB]

:eek:

[Aquattro]

Jack, I'd like to go back to the top and mention that if you're using saturated kalk, you should NOT need to supplement alkalinity alone. What is your Ca and alk levels for, say, the last three tests?


BTW, that washing soda has a surfactant added, as per communications with the manufacturer.

Washing soda can be made by heating baking soda in the oven at 400F for an hour or so.
Randy has tons of info on this stuff....

[Canadian Man]

Washing soda can be made by heating baking soda in the oven at 400F for an hour or so.
Randy has tons of info on this stuff....

That works but I found after the baking soda is baked :lol: it dosent dissolve in water very well. Almost not at all.

[Aquattro]

Jonathan, that's strange. I haven't tried it, but I can't see why it would not dissolve. Maybe we should run that by Randy....

[Canadian Man]

Running it by Randy is a good idea!