Quote:
Originally Posted by htfn
I mix it with RO warm water but still it dissolve clumps forming at the bottom, so I go little by little and it takes a lot of time and when I stir it always spill.
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Mixing baking soda is a challenge for sure. The benefit to using baking soda is that it is cheap, and readily available. I use it from time to time when my BRS Soda Ash runs out.
To make your life a little easier I suggest mixing it with a hand blender. Mixing it by hand is an exercise in futility in my opinion :-) (because I have weak hands).
As Randy's recipes suggest, you can convert Sodium Bicarbonate (Baking Soda) into Sodium Carbonate (Soda Ash) by baking it. This is an added step that some hobbyist find annoying. Myself included (sometimes).
Sodium carbonate has a pH around 10, whilst sodium bicarbonate has a pH of around 6.3. This means using Sodium carbonate will tend to raise the pH of your tank while using Sodium bicarbonate will tend to lower the pH of your tank.
This is why Bulk Reef Supply (BRS) sells Soda Ash (Sodium Carbonate). It is quite a lot easier to use as there is no baking involved and it mixes by hand easily, unlike baking soda (or even baked baking soda).