why wont it disolve !

[Coral Hoarder]

okay so up till this point to keep up with dosing iv been using the seachem adatives for alk cal and mag this works well but the only reason i chose this initialy is because i had them laying around from a tank i bought. Well it turns out these products are expensive ! so i chose to swich and got myself some bulk calcium cloride and sodium bicarbonate. so with the calcuim cloride i added 6 cups to 1 galon of watter and it disolved perfectly no problem. them i added 3 cups to start of the sodium bicarbonate well it doesnt look like alot of it has disolved into the watter any tips or tricks forwhat im not doing right ?

[Wheelman76]

You can try filling the sink with warm water and sitting the gallon jug in the warm water for a while.

[Wheelman76]

Wait , you didn't add the sodium bicarbonate to the same gallon jug as the calcium chloride right ?

[dcw1sfu]

you dissolved 6 cups of calcium chloride in your 1 gallon jug? What recipe for 2 part are you following?

If you are using Sodium Carbonate Randy's 2 part recipe calls for a little over 2 cups of sodium carbonate (or soda ash) for the alkalinity part and the calcium part calls for between 2 and 2.5 cups per gallon jug of calcium chloride depending on the calcium product your using.

As you stated you are using Sodium Bicarbonate in which case Randy's 2 part recipe calls for a little over 1 cup of sodium bicarbonate for the alkalinity portion and between 1 cup and 1.25 cups of calcium chloride for the calciup part.

Sodium Bicarbonate as an alkalinity buffer would slightly lower your aquarium PH where Sodium Carbonate has quite an effect on increasing your aquarium PH.

You are going to have a hell of a time dissolving 3 cups of sodium bicarbonate in 1 gallon of water.

Here's a link to his article.

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/rhf/

[Ryanerickson]

When I was using 2 part I would boil the ro water for mixing the alk part

[hillegom]

Originally Posted by Ryanerickson

When I was using 2 part I would boil the ro water for mixing the alk part

+1
at least get the water really hot

[FishyFishy!]

Vinegar helps disolving as well. I add vinegar to mine and it works well

[Myka]

Originally Posted by dcw1sfu

As you stated you are using Sodium Bicarbonate in which case Randy's 2 part recipe calls for a little over 1 cup of sodium bicarbonate for the alkalinity portion and between 1 cup and 1.25 cups of calcium chloride for the calciup part.

Yeah, this.

Also, in addition to heating the water, I also use a cheap MaxiJet powerhead to help mix the bicarbonate.

[Coral Hoarder]

Thanks guys I dissolved the cal and sodium separately
I ended up mixing in another 2 galons of watter and it dissolved looms like I was just asking to much thanks all!