[ChuckG]

I actually started out on a mission to prove to myself and others that Arm & Hammer is bad news. Unfortunately, I'm more confused now than before.

I have recently acquired a Hanna C200 photometer. Awesome piece of equipment although all my regeants haven't arrived yet. Hanna on backorder? go figure......

At any rate, I set out on a mission to prove that Arm & Hammer contained an anti-caking agent.

Someone else, not myself called them personally and asked them about it. The feedback from that phone call follows:

Church & Dwight (makers of Arm & Hammer) only manufactures one grade of sodium bicarbonate at their plant in Wyoming, and it is for both food and pharmaceutical use. They do not add any anti-caking agents.

The above statement is really why I wanted to disprove it.

Here is what I did.

As of yesterday, my TDS meter started showing .02 on the water from my filtration unit and so I changed all filters/media (5 stage) and flushed several gallons of water through it. Water exiting the system was now at 0 TDS.

I rinsed a pint mason jar with RO/DI water. I filled the mason jar with freshly made RO/DI water directly from the filtering system.

I used this water to run my first test for silica using my new toy.

Result: 0 silica (as expected)

I thoroughly rinsed everything with RO/DI water and refilled the sample vial (10 ml) with identical water of the first test.

I then added .30 ml of Arm & Hammer baking soda to the vial. (two of the small scoops from an Elos test kit)

I ran the test again with my new toy and guess what?

0 silica

I was actually hoping for a number off the chart.

The only conclusion I can come up with at the moment is that if Arm & Hammer baking soda contains an anti-caking agent it isn't silica based.

MDP?