POLL: Drain Cleaner in your Reef Tank - Who's dosing it?

[chaples55]

Drain cleaner is sodium hydroxide (NaOH), not to be confused with Kalkwasser (calcium hydroxide, CaOH). It can be used as a drop-in replacement for Alkalinity in a 2-part dosing setup. It combines the pH benefits of Kalkwasser with the high solubility of traditional alkalinity components like soda ash, making it really convenient to mix up a bucket and dose for a long time.

More info from the chemistry legend Randy Holmes-Farley: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/second-new-diy-two-part-recipe-with-higher-ph-boost.357080/

 

[chaples55]

Obligatory disclaimer:

THIS STUFF IS DANGEROUS. IT CAN CAUSE SEVERE CHEMICAL BURNS.

 

[skrappy]

As long as you're talking about pure Lye and not Drano, lol. I do not use Lye, but I remember hearing Chris Meckley from ACI aquaculture talk about how running sodium hydroxide on a regular basis will cause your salinity to get hard to control. Something like.. salinity rises so you add more RODI and to lower the salinity but that lowers the ratio of all your other major minor and trace elements so you end up having to add a ton of other stuff to bring everything else back up. I would be comfortable using it in certain situations, but I'm not going to replace my Kalk with it.

 

[chaples55]

Yeah, I'm talking about pure, "food grade" lye. It's just more fun to refer to it as drain cleaner .

The effect it has on salinity is the same as any other 2 part. This is why approaches like the balling method exist, where you dose a third part that is everything in sea water except for the salt, which keeps all the ions balanced. Alternatively, the issue can be mitigated via occasional large water changes to "reset" the relative concentration of ions in the water.

Kalkwasser is great if you have the time and space for it. The low solubility just makes it too much work for my liking. I don't like to mix a new batch every day, week, or even month. I mix my 3 parts in sealed 5 gallon buckets and it lasts almost 2 years for my tank lol

 

[chaples55]

I think it's a great option for anyone already on some kind of 2/3 part method that could benefit from a stronger pH boost. My pH was stuck around 7.9 before and coral growth was slow. Since switching to NaOH, my pH has gone up to 8.2 and I'm finally getting significant coral growth. My alkalinity consumption quadrupled over the first few months. It's actually wild how much of a difference pH makes.

Of course, I could have accomplished the same thing with Kalk, it just wasn't the best option for me

 

[skrappy]

Yeah, I'm talking about pure, "food grade" lye. It's just more fun to refer to it as drain cleaner .

The effect it has on salinity is the same as any other 2 part. This is why approaches like the balling method exist, where you dose a third part that is everything in sea water except for the salt, which keeps all the ions balanced. Alternatively, the issue can be mitigated via occasional large water changes to "reset" the relative concentration of ions in the water.

Kalkwasser is great if you have the time and space for it. The low solubility just makes it too much work for my liking. I don't like to mix a new batch every day, week, or even month. I mix my 3 parts in sealed 5 gallon buckets and it lasts almost 2 years for my tank lol

5 gallons lasting for 2 years is pretty crazy, I could certainly appreciate that. I go through 5 gallons of fully saturated Kalk each week, and I'm constantly wishing I had room for a bigger container because of that. Maybe I should use "drain cleaner" lol.