# How to best dissolve Baking Soda and Barr's GH Booster



## Mjproost (Nov 17, 2005)

Hello all!

I am in the process of switching over to reconstituted RO water for my water changes. But, I am having trouble getting the Baking Soda and GH Booster (purchased from Greg Watson's site) to dissolve.

What do you suggest to easier dissolve these two things in water?

Also, in case you were wondering...here's why I am switching to reconstituted RO. 
1. I want to know what I have for water. My tap water has a high KH, and a very low GH. At least by my cheap test kits. 
2. I am setting up a reservoir fed by my RO, controlled by a float valve. This will be much easier than mixing the RO 50/50 with tap water and still have to add GH booster to get my Mg/Ca levels up to where I need them.

But, if reconstituting the RO is always this difficult, maybe mixing with tap will be easier. 

Thanks in advance!


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## cS (Jan 27, 2004)

Baking soda is _very_ soluble in water so just add it directly into the aquarium. If you have trouble dissolving the baking soda, then what you have is most likely not baking soda (sodium bicarbonate, NaHCO3). Please double check.

I have not used the Barr's GH Booster but I have used one or more of the listed ingredients. Dissolving the mixture efficiently requires a little bit of work but not as much as you'd think.

(1) Add the dry powder into a small dry cup.
(2) Slowly add water while swirling the cup. Do *not* add too much water too fast or the powder will clump. Just let the faucet drizzles while you swirl the cup.
(3) After 10-20 seconds, the mixture will form a slurry just like a smoothie. At this point, you can add as much water as you would like.
(4) Add resulting mixture to the aquarium.

It takes me less than a minute to prepare the mixture.  Please note that the mixture will not completely dissolve but the grains will be _very_ small. They will completely dissolve by the end of the day in your CO2 injected tank.



> My tap water has a high KH, and a very low GH.


This likely means that your home is equipped with a water softener. If you are able to bypass the device, then you wouldn't have to bother with RO water since the high KH means your water before being softened most likely has adequate amounts of Ca and Mg.

I hope this helps you a bit Mjproost.


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## Mjproost (Nov 17, 2005)

Thanks cS!

I did not realize the baking soda dissolved easily. I was mixing both powders and adding both at the same time. How I was trying to add them was to add both powders to about 8 oz water, seal it in a tupperware, and shake to mix. It looked dissolved. But when I added it to the tank it turned it cloudy. 

I will try your method next time and let you know how it works. 

On the high KH/ low GH thing....I do not have a water softener. But, my plants definitely show signs of being deficent in Ca/Mg. I think I may purchase a new GH test kit to make sure. 

Thanks for your help.


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## cS (Jan 27, 2004)

The CaSO4 (gypsum) is the primary reason for the cloudiness. *A lot* of prep work is required if you want to avoid that cloudiness. And I doubt very much you'd want to deal with that. IME, the cloudiness usually disappear within 24 hours. How long does yours persist?

To avoid the cloudiness completely, you may want to try calcium chloride (CaCl2) and magnesium sulfate (MgSO4) to build GH. Both products are very soluble and therefore do not require pre-mixing.



> On the high KH/ low GH thing....I do not have a water softener. But, my plants definitely show signs of being deficent in Ca/Mg. I think I may purchase a new GH test kit to make sure.


I find it peculiar for natural waters to have extremely high KH and extremely low GH. If you didn't soften it, then the water company probably did. A call to the water department should clear that up. But if you do call, ask them about the sodium (Na) level as well.


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

I use both Barr's GH booster and Sodium Bicarbonate to reconstitute my RO/DI water. I add them first to an 8 oz container and shake like you describe. Then, I add this to a 15g rubbermaid container and circulate the water with a pump. This water usually has an orange-brownish tint to it probably from the iron in the GH booster. No matter how well I get things dissolved, the tank water always clouds when the reconstituted RO/DI is added. However, once in the tank, the water takes on a milky appearance versus the orange-brown it has in the Rubbermaid. 

Since GH booster does have iron in it (not sure how much) I would guess that some of the iron precipitates out of solution when added to a tank with PO4 in it, giving it a milky appearance. 

To get around this, I started changing the water just before lights out so I don't have to look at it  I've only done it once this way, but the water was clear by morning.


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## Mjproost (Nov 17, 2005)

cS said:


> The CaSO4 (gypsum) is the primary reason for the cloudiness. *A lot* of prep work is required if you want to avoid that cloudiness. And I doubt very much you'd want to deal with that. IME, the cloudiness usually disappear within 24 hours. How long does yours persist?


About 24 hours or so. Less if I put my H.O.T. Magnum on the tank



cS said:


> To avoid the cloudiness completely, you may want to try calcium chloride (CaCl2) and magnesium sulfate (MgSO4) to build GH. Both products are very soluble and therefore do not require pre-mixing.


I will look into that. Thanks!



cS said:


> I find it peculiar for natural waters to have extremely high KH and extremely low GH. If you didn't soften it, then the water company probably did. A call to the water department should clear that up. But if you do call, ask them about the sodium (Na) level as well.


I will be calling them Tuesday. Thanks for reminding me, I will let you know what I find out.


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## Mjproost (Nov 17, 2005)

MatPat said:


> I use both Barr's GH booster and Sodium Bicarbonate to reconstitute my RO/DI water. I add them first to an 8 oz container and shake like you describe. Then, I add this to a 15g rubbermaid container and circulate the water with a pump. This water usually has an orange-brownish tint to it probably from the iron in the GH booster. No matter how well I get things dissolved, the tank water always clouds when the reconstituted RO/DI is added. However, once in the tank, the water takes on a milky appearance versus the orange-brown it has in the Rubbermaid.
> 
> Since GH booster does have iron in it (not sure how much) I would guess that some of the iron precipitates out of solution when added to a tank with PO4 in it, giving it a milky appearance.
> 
> To get around this, I started changing the water just before lights out so I don't have to look at it  I've only done it once this way, but the water was clear by morning.


Thanks MatPat! That's exactly what happens to me. I thought maybe it was something odd with my water chemistry causing it.

How is the reconstituted RO water working for you?


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

I'm still in the process of switching over my 75g so it is too early to say. The 30g is also a bit too early to tell also. It has been running with weekly 50% RO water changes since November and things are coming along but they could be better  

I've got some strange things going on with my KH so I decided to try RO again on the 30g. I'm just now switching the 75g over to Ro again also. My water is "softened" with calcium hydroxide by the water company and they also add 6 ppm of phosphate alkalinity so the pH/KH chart doesn't seem to be of much use to me.

I had good luck with RO in the past so I'm hoping I will again. I just want to have more control over what is in my water


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## cozmo1 (Jul 6, 2005)

i just bought some of the gh booster from greg watson. how much do you add per gallon of ro/di water? i was using seachem equilibrium before, but it took forever to dissolve completely.


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

cozmo1 said:


> i just bought some of the gh booster from greg watson. how much do you add per gallon of ro/di water? i was using seachem equilibrium before, but it took forever to dissolve completely.


It is dosed at the same rate as Equilibrium. I always test for GH and KH when reconstituting my R/O water just to be safe


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## cozmo1 (Jul 6, 2005)

MatPat said:


> It is dosed at the same rate as Equilibrium. I always test for GH and KH when reconstituting my R/O water just to be safe


Thanks MatPat


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