Baking soda and Ph?

[PNWaquarist]

It's good to hear your credentials, never know what's what around here.

I was reading articles from journals sent to me by a friend who is a chemical engineer, when I asked him the question. What I'm seeing is even the well credentialed chemistry experts have different ways of phrasing the properties of baking soda.

Again I think it's hitting semantics, and what needs to be emphasized in this context ... That a solution of baking soda and pure oh neutral water is a weak base may be correct, but is not so useful here. Nor is the phrase "baking soda raises pH."

Thanks for the lesson! Wonder if you were my chem teacher at LCC ...

Nope, that wasn't me, though I do know a couple of folks who work there.

While chemical engineers are unfailingly bright and much better at math than we tend to be, what they know about chemistry is limited.

It's not an issue of phrasing or semantics. It's an issue of correct vs. incorrect. It's also important for aquarists to know the ramifications of what they do. Aquarists who want to raise their buffering capacity without raising their pH need to know that baking soda is not a good option.

 

[trennamw]

Nope, that wasn't me, though I do know a couple of folks who work there.

While chemical engineers are unfailingly bright and much better at math than we tend to be, what they know about chemistry is limited.

It's not an issue of phrasing or semantics. It's an issue of correct vs. incorrect. It's also important for aquarists to know the ramifications of what they do. Aquarists who want to raise their buffering capacity without raising their pH need to know that baking soda is not a good option.

Right. I completely agree with you on the last.

But correct vs incorrect isn't the only thing that matters here. Lots of posts on the aquarium chemistry are so very very correct, they're unintelligible and therefore not useful to the average aquarist. People pick out one detail, oversimplify it to the point that it's now incorrect, and repeat it.

So on the baking soda issue, I think the best thing to put out on the internet isn't what is perfectly correct, but what is useful. I've been incorrect and trying to rework my understanding so I can be helpful. And in the end I think Dalto put it in the way that's best for this context: baking soda buffers pH to 8.




Sent from my iPhone with three hands tied behind my back.

 

[PNWaquarist]

Right. I completely agree with you on the last.

But correct vs incorrect isn't the only thing that matters here. Lots of posts on the aquarium chemistry are so very very correct, they're unintelligible and therefore not useful to the average aquarist. People pick out one detail, oversimplify it to the point that it's now incorrect, and repeat it.

So on the baking soda issue, I think the best thing to put out on the internet isn't what is perfectly correct, but what is useful. I've been incorrect and trying to rework my understanding so I can be helpful. And in the end I think Dalto put it in the way that's best for this context: baking soda buffers pH to 8.

I would say that this is statement is not helpful...

That a solution of baking soda and pure oh neutral water is a weak base may be correct, but is not so useful here. Nor is the phrase "baking soda raises pH."

... because, save for folks whose tap water comes form a well dug into limestone, it's true. It's also something that aquarists should be aware of and one does not need to be a chemist by trade to understand. Moreover, it's an experiment that the average aquarist with a box of Arm & Hammer and a pH test kit can do and demonstrate to his or herself. If there's anything wrong with that statement, it's that it's oversimplified.

 

[Personage]

Well to all I have to say bravo for your venture into a very variable sea of variances. Basically everyone has a different tank and a water quality that is completely different even in the most minute degree. Therefore the chemistry or the bio aspects of any tank will succumb to the variable of the individual tank. With all due respect this is not a clinical science. I've had tanks that were seriously neglected on account of my travel but found there were activities resulting in reproduction. Fish live in conditions that are beyond our imagination. I feel that finding something or looking for something that is wrong only leads to more complication. Basically the Ph and overall sustainable environment in which your fish live is of the most importance. Try to create as much of a natural and balanced environment as possible and don't obsess over it after that. Nature takes care of itself so let it do that. Simply maintain what you have once you have that which is maintainable. I have visited many lakes, streams, rivers, ponds and more where my observations elicited a sense of awe that such creatures could exist in such adverse conditions. Also I have seen fish tanks in the homes of many people that were in the most horrendous condition but still had creatures living in it, albeit in a sad state. Unfortunately we live in a society where personal pleasures supersede the quality of life of that which provides the pleasure. Serious aquarists always frown upon those who venture on a whim-and rightly so we should.
Well I've decided not to pursue Ph fluctuation via baking soda but I did find the scientific banter interesting. Degrees can be degrees but I've always held the notion that most degrees are confined to the degree and perhaps the nth degree - pun intended. ?


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