I go through a lot of Sodium Bicarbonate/Bicarb Soda in my pool as an alkalinity buffer and was wondering if anyone knows where I can buy it in bulk cheap?
The cheapest I've found is McKenzies Bicarb Soda 1kg at Coles/Woolies when it's on special at around $3.15/kg but there must be somewhere else to buy it in bulk cheaper than that?
Pool shops love to add a premium for anything to do with a pool. I did some digging around and found that live stock places sell 25kg bags of Sodium Bicarbonate for around $50!
The only other chemical I use a lot of (apart from HCL) is Calcium Chloride and I'd love a bulk buy on that too so if you find it, let me know.
Makes sense, cost serious money to buy and run a pool, if they have that kind of cash for a luxury why wouldn't you grift pool owners every chance you get.
Try Environex if they have a branch in QLD.(or ask for a downstream retialer)
Thanks mate.
Are you using chlorine tablets?
Check to see if that or anything else is making your pool less alkaline.
No, salt water chlorinator. Well, the acid being added to the pool definitely makes the pool less alkaline :) It may be my automatic pH doser which is burning through the sodium bicarbonate - another forum said to ignore alkalinity buffer if you've got an auto pH doser.
Have you calibrated your doser lately?
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It's reading the same as the pool shop so it's fine. I think I'm just going to stop adding bicarb to the pool since it's constantly fighting the acid doser.
@JIMB0: The acid doser is working perfectly - keeps the pool at a pH of 7.4 on a daily basis. I think the issue is that because it's dosing acid on a daily basis, it's eating through the buffer. Honestly, the buffer is kind of useless imo when you've got a pH doser.
@gyrex: I’m the same churning through acid and bicarb. However I try keep my pH at 7-7.2 which obviously uses consumes a lot more buffer
I’ve asked whether I can stop using buffer but everyone says you have to keep it :/
@bloom: Here's an interesting thread on whirlpool - sounds like the guys in there with acid dosers have elected to stop throwing bicarb into their pools without any serious consequences: https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/2621253
@gyrex: Sounds like the bicarb doser is trying to bring the pH up to a level that is higher than where the acid doser wants to bring it down to.
@gyrex: I think you're fighting the pH doser… I had the same issue with the settings the pool installer left in place and managed to resolve it. I was previously burning through acid and buffer and now only go through a little acid (usually after it rains). The settings will depend on your pH doser of course, but mine has a % scale of dose versus pH value, with a time delay. The pool installer left mine at pH 7.0 @ 10% and 7.8 @ 90%, with no time delay. I guess they figured this would keep the pH at about 7.4. After reading the doser manual, I quickly figured out that even at 7.0 it would be outputting acid for 10s out of every 100s (10%). So if you have a % scale, make sure the lower scale is 0% (below that pH it outputs nothing). The other issue was the time delay. After watching the pump kick in first thing in the morning, I noticed (for reasons unknown) the water sitting in the pipe (where the probe is) would read higher than the pool water (7.7 for example) and would take a minute or so of circulation to read correctly. With no time delay, it would have already dumped in some acid, making the pool pH lower than desired. So if you've got no time delay on the doser, consider adding one. I did 3 minutes, depends on the distance from doser to pool. I also tightened up my scale, as I want my pH at 7.6. Current settings are 7.6 at 0% and 7.8 at 40% with a 3min delay and it works great…. no more adding buffer and only a little acid used. If your doser works very differently, then ignore my ramblings.
@thefly2: After reading a few forum posts, this is the same conclusion I'm coming to as well: that the acid doser is constantly fighting against the bicarb soda I'm putting in the pool and there's no net benefit. I'm consuming a lot of HCl (20L in 2 months) and a tonne of bicarb soda so I'll take your and others advice who have pH probes and acid dosers and stop putting bicarb into the pool. The pool naturally wants to climb in pH anyway so I'll just let the pH sensor and acid doser manage that.
I think the issue is that because it's dosing acid on a daily basis, it's eating through the buffer
Sometimes I wish I was dosing acid on a daily basis
I get mine from Costco. A 6.5kg bag costs $14.99
Looks to be slowly coming down. Was a lot cheaper before covid but I guess you could say that for just about everything.
Same. Arm and Hammer brand. Food grade.
Costco will be hard to beat, unless you need a lot more.
Try https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Food-Grade-Sodium-Bic…
Get it from rural suppliers, can get close to $1/kg:
https://tgrm.com.au/_products//Products/PRODUCE/BI-CARBSODA(SODIUMBICARBONATE)25KG942983-8102-23399-.aspx
Check out 'Northside Cleaning and Packaging Supplies' (https://www.ncps.com.au/bi_dash_carb/sf/pl.php?resetbrand=1) in Morayfield.
They also deliver to the Sunshine Coast.
Same boat, same findings. It's odd that a small box is cheaper per kg than 10kg tubs from a pool shop
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