Baking Powder/baking Soda

[SensesFail]

Is uk baking powder the same as baking soda? I need to raise my ph while I'm cycling and I need to add soda.

Cheers guys

 

[frida]

Is uk baking powder the same as baking soda? I need to raise my ph while I'm cycling and I need to add soda.

Cheers guys

I think it's not the same. From what I understand, you need to add sodium bicarbonate to raise your pH, but most baking powders in addition to sodium bicarbonate contain disodium diphosphate, rice flour and other additives. So it's probably better to stick to the pure sodium bicarbonate, i.e. baking soda / bicarbonate of soda. Most supermarkets should sell them in the UK

Just checked and Sainsbury should have the Dr Oetker brand: http/www.sainsburys.co.uk/groceries/index.jsp?bmUID=1286963465333
this is pure sodium bicarbonate Hope that helps!

 

[anon02]

+1 on the bicarbonate of soda

 

[SensesFail]

Is uk baking powder the same as baking soda? I need to raise my ph while I'm cycling and I need to add soda.

Cheers guys

I think it's not the same. From what I understand, you need to add sodium bicarbonate to raise your pH, but most baking powders in addition to sodium bicarbonate contain disodium diphosphate, rice flour and other additives. So it's probably better to stick to the pure sodium bicarbonate, i.e. baking soda / bicarbonate of soda. Most supermarkets should sell them in the UK

Just checked and Sainsbury should have the Dr Oetker brand: http/www.sainsburys.co.uk/groceries/index.jsp?bmUID=1286963465333
this is pure sodium bicarbonate Hope that helps!

Thanks for the quick reply I wrote this and rushed to sainsburys where I found it bicarbonate of soda by dr oetker now it's a question of how much to add to raise my ph 2 around 8.5 from about 6.5 s

 

[frida]

I think 2 teaspoons per 50 litre is the usual amount that I see quoted to raise pH from 6 ish to 8 ish but I'm not 100% sure so might be better to wait for someone more experienced to confirm that!

 

[waterdrop]

That dosing comes from me and represents a compromise/guess at a starting point. The reality will be different for each user and needs to be monitored.

Here's how I arrived at that dose. One teaspoon per 50L will usually be near the borderline where KH is raised but pH does not elevate. (one needs to understand the background that the pH changing is a reaction to the KH changing, more or less.) Three teaspoons per 50L would probably rocket the pH right on past the ideal lower 8's we are shooting for. So somewhere around 1.5 to 2 teaspoons seemed like a general thing I could throw out there, but it doesn't really take in to account the starting KH/pH or whether the entire scheme might tilt differently for smaller or larger tanks.. really shouldn't matter much though (it should be obvious I tend to get too detailed )

~~waterdrop~~

 

[FishyWishie]

I was very lazy and pretty much every water change during my cycle whacked the whole tub into my 240L Got the PH up to 8.2 every time.

PLEASE DO NOT TRY THIS

 

[SensesFail]

My tank is 190 litre ph of around 6.5 how many tea spoons would you go with the 1 table spoon per 50 ml so 4 tea spoons? Or would u add 2 test in a few days time.?

Chees guys appreciated!

 

[frida]

My tank is 190 litre ph of around 6.5 how many tea spoons would you go with the 1 table spoon per 50 ml so 4 tea spoons? Or would u add 2 test in a few days time.?

Chees guys appreciated!

So from what Waterdrop says, it's roughly between 1.5 and 2 teaspoons per 50 litres.

You have 190 litres so:
190 ÷ 50 = 3.8
1.5 × 3.8 = 5.7
2 × 3.8 = 7.6

So why not try about 6 teaspoons and test the water? It's a rough guide only and you can always add a bit more later.

 

[SensesFail]

My tank is 190 litre ph of around 6.5 how many tea spoons would you go with the 1 table spoon per 50 ml so 4 tea spoons? Or would u add 2 test in a few days time.?

Chees guys appreciated!

So from what Waterdrop says, it's roughly between 1.5 and 2 teaspoons per 50 litres.

You have 190 litres so:
190 ÷ 50 = 3.8
1.5 × 3.8 = 5.7
2 × 3.8 = 7.6

So why not try about 6 teaspoons and test the water? It's a rough guide only and you can always add a bit more later.

So add 6 then do I leave it a day or 2 to test?

 

[Gvilleguy]

No, you should be able to test it after only a few minutes. When I was figuring this out on my own tank, I would add some baking soda, wait 10 minutes, and test. Then add more, etc.

 

[SensesFail]

No, you should be able to test it after only a few minutes. When I was figuring this out on my own tank, I would add some baking soda, wait 10 minutes, and test. Then add more, etc.

Brilliant I shall test it and see what I have I hope it sorts my tank cycling iv been doing it 8 weeks or so now. Started off with adding biomature for a good term then nothing was really happening so I was advised to drain the tank and use the add daily method which is what I'm doing now but again after doing this for 3 weeks I had no drop in my ammonia so yet another full tank drain and this time working with soda fresh water and 5 ppm ammonia again, so with any luck It may set the cycling off. God loves a trier eh ;-) haha

Cheers guys

 

[Gvilleguy]

In addition to getting pH up in that range, is your tank temp elevated to 29C? That seems to be a good temp for the bacteria colonies.

 

[SensesFail]

In addition to getting pH up in that range, is your tank temp elevated to 29C? That seems to be a good temp for the bacteria colonies.

It's around the 23 at the moment have 2 heaters running to get it back to it's desired temp of 28/29c. Have added 2 extra tbs of soda so far above the 6 to try and get it to the desired ph of 8.5ish so fingers crossed in 10 mins when I test it it's spot on and not too much! If the ph was slightly higher would this affect things?

 

[Gvilleguy]

I don't think slightly higher would hurt. YOu could always do a partial water change to get it back down a bit.