Hi Stratous

I dont think I would be tempted to start mixing Sodium Hydroxide with other chemicals at all! Fortunately with Caustic you need very little to produce a lot of gas. I only use a tiny bit on the very tip of a teaspoon to half a litre of water. That gives me the equivalent of 2 teaspoons of baking soda. I find my water stays cleaner after the conditioning period and cooler too! Unfortunately, as you point out it doesnt like aluminium at all. The only answer to this is, dont use aluminium! It took my stupid brain a while to realise that if you use active cooling in any form, the water from your cell will come into contact with a contaminant metal, if you are not careful! ie I was using a copper pipe in mine duhhh! The other answer to this is to have a dual walled cell with coolant on the outside so that there is no contact. I am going to build a cell using a SS soup flask which is double walled. Then use the outer casing for coolant circulation! What do you think guys? Worth a try? Cheers!