Thanks for the response Bob seems like an easy way to save money.

Quote Originally Posted by BeakerBob View Post
There are two ways to prepare baking soda for tank addition/supplementation based on the pH of your tank. Baking soda has carbon dioxide (CO2) in it and when dissolved in the water, the CO2 becomes H2CO3-, a carbonic acid that will lower the tank pH.

1. If your tank has a consistent low pH (<8.3)

Bake the baking soda to drive off the CO2. Spread it out thinly and and bake for 30 minutes @ 300 degrees. The heat drives off the water and CO2, leaving sodium carbonate for use to alkalinity. Adding the
Sodium carbonate to the tank will not cause the already low pH to decrease any further.

(Sodium bicarbonate) 2 NaHCO3 >heat> (Sodium carbonate) Na2CO3 + H2O + CO2


2. If your tank has a consistently high pH (>8.3)

Use the baking soda right out of the box. The CO2 in the Sodium bicarbonate will initially lower the pH a little, but it will come back up as it is buffered.

In this case, 1.4 tsp in a 30 gallon tank is not going to cause any problems that would be considered significant.