2-part Soda Ash and Calcium in BULK NOW AVAILABLE

[Reef Supplies]

Hi everyone,

As some of you may already have heard, we have been working on our own bulk 2-part additives. After 1 year of searching and testing and searching and testing and searching and testing and……we have finally found what we feel is the purest ALK in the industry.

Calcium

This one was easy. As we know, some of you have successfully used "driveway heat" snow melter to dose CA in your reef tanks. So it's safe to say that our 98% pure pharm grade Calcium Chloride is up to the task. We have purchased it from an aquarium supplier that most of us already use products from. This stuff has been on the market for years, we simply buy it in bulk.

Soda Ash / Alkalinity

This one was a PIA to say the least. You would not believe how many different grades of soda ash there are out there. Most are ok to use……well, ok if you don't mind the occasional cyano outbreak. While others are just plain scary heh!

How did we test? We field tested and lab tested.

After 4 or 5 failed field testes we decided to have them lab tested. The failed field tests did not harm any coral (keep in mind that they were short term test) but caused cyano outbreaks. Some were controllable while others were down right disastrous.

So rather than wasting time testing we opted to get them lab tested. There is a local reefer on one of the french boards in town that has lab tested a bunch of additives, salt mixes, test kits…etc. We noticed that he was testing ALK mixes from the usual suspects so we figured we would have ours tested as well.

We sent him the best soda ash we had and it came back negative. It ranked among the worst, it didn't even rank in the top 5. BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD :-(

So back to searching and testing and searching and testing and searching and testing and….. :-)

Here we are one year later and we have found what we feel is the best most pure soda ash in our hobby. The tests came back shockingly positive. We have the chart and we will be posting the results.

Our competitors Soda Ash / ALK additives are also on this chart. Please keep in mind that these are not our tests but the test of a hoobiest. We frankly do not care how pure their alk is, all we wanted to know is now pure ours is. Even though this cart is readily available we will still blackout their names as we do not want to crap on our competitors. We also do not want to give anyone the wrong impression, just because the reading of a certain element is high, it does not mean it will kill your corals. Many people have been using these products successfully for years.

I will post the chart once we black out the names :-)

To make a long story short. Our CA and ALK is on line and available is to sizes. Please view the links below

http://www.reefsupplies.ca/online-store/Bulk-Soda-Ash-Alkalinity-2375G-makes-5-gallons.html
http://www.reefsupplies.ca/online-store/Bulk-Soda-Ash-595G-1-gallon.html

http://www.reefsupplies.ca/online-store/Bulk-Calcium-Chloride-2500G-5-gallon.html
http://www.reefsupplies.ca/online-store/Bulk-Calcium-Chloride-500G-1-gallon.html

Here is a link to all our bulk supplies: http://www.reefsupplies.ca/online-store/bulk-reef/

Thanks for taking the time to read my long ASH thread! Contact us if you have any questions.


Happy reefing!

[mrhasan]

Why no bulk magnesium Ray? :sad:

[xenon]

Why no bulk magnesium Ray? :sad:

High grade magnesium is very difficult to source.

It's just so damn expensive.

[mrhasan]

High grade magnesium is very difficult to source.

It's just so damn expensive.

Yah. B-ionic's 2 part and Mg is almost the same price :lol: Apparently, my wc cannot replace the Mg consumption enough and I need to dose. And with brands, it becomes quite expensive.

[Reef Supplies]

Correct, it is indeed hard to source. We want something that won't mess up your ionic balance so we need both MgCl2.6h2O and MgSO4. That is 2 times the headache of the soda ash.

With that being said, we are working on it. We are working on 2 and 3 part combo kits, the 3 part will include ESV mag.

thanks,

Ray

[mrhasan]

Correct, it is indeed hard to source. We want something that won't mess up your ionic balance so we need both MgCl2.6h2O and MgSO4. That is 2 times the headache of the soda ash.

With that being said, we are working on it. We are working on 2 and 3 part combo kits, the 3 part will include ESV mag.

thanks,

Ray

Sweet! When can we expect it to be available?

[Reef Supplies]

Sweet! When can we expect it to be available?

Considering ALK took us a year..... :-)

In all seriousness, our own MG won't be for a while. The combo kits, some time this week.

Thanks

[mrhasan]

Considering ALK took us a year..... :-)

In all seriousness, our own MG won't be for a while. The combo kits, some time this week.

Thanks

Nice :D

[LoJack]

I currently dose Bulk Reef Supply's two part system. I'm assuming they will be on your list as I'm pretty sure they're the biggest and most well known two part provider to the reefing community in North America at this point.

I'd love to be buying Canadian and would happily switch as long as the product is similar. I'm curious, is this product the same. Will the dosing amounts for 5 gallons of your chemicals have the same effect as 5 gallons of theirs?

If I'm dosing 150ml a day of BRS Solution ... will it be comparable to the amount of your solution I will have to dose for the same impact on my parameters?

Thanks Ray!! Looking forward to saving on some shipping !

--Tyler

[Reef Supplies]

Hi,

It is very very hard for me to say that they are the same. We have not tested nor ever worked with their products. One of the only things that can differ is the density. Our 5 gallon mix weighs right around 2.4KG.

With that being said, there are always adjustments to make when changing products. Be expecting a slight increase or decrease in dosing regimen.

What you can do is test both products before dosing. For example, fill up two 3 litter bottles with RODI water and add 1ML our stuff in one and 1ML of a comparable in the other and test the KH in both. So if our stuff is +/- 5% for example, you dial in your ML/day according to that.

thanks,

Ray

I currently dose Bulk Reef Supply's two part system. I'm assuming they will be on your list as I'm pretty sure they're the biggest and most well known two part provider to the reefing community in North America at this point.

I'd love to be buying Canadian and would happily switch as long as the product is similar. I'm curious, is this product the same. Will the dosing amounts for 5 gallons of your chemicals have the same effect as 5 gallons of theirs?

If I'm dosing 150ml a day of BRS Solution ... will it be comparable to the amount of your solution I will have to dose for the same impact on my parameters?

Thanks Ray!! Looking forward to saving on some shipping !

--Tyler

[Seriak]

It would seem Reef Supplies is slowly becoming our very own BRS north of the border. They are getting all those extras you just can't find anywhere else.

[LoJack]

It would seem Reef Supplies is slowly becoming our very own BRS north of the border. They are getting all those extras you just can't find anywhere else.


Yup, if they can carry similar products, they'll do very well. Most people north of the border seem to order a lot from Bulk Reef Supply even though the shipping costs a fortune through them.

With BRS, you truly need to place a large order to justify the cost of shipping and break it down over several items to make it cost effective.

I discovered ReefSupplies while looking for bulk GFO. I love the site, and Ray is awesome to deal with. I ordered my ATI Sunpower and bulbs through him and I couldn't be happier with the service and the price.

I'll definitely be giving the bulk additives a shot and see how they work in my tank. Too bad about the magnesium though, looks like I'll still have to source that south of the border until they get their version figured out.

[Reef Supplies]

Thanks for the kinds words guys! We truly appreciate your business.

Ray

[lastlight]

i assumed the well-known vendor you were referring to selling calcium chloride was BRS. i'd love to not pay BRS' shipping but I'm scared to try anything else to be honest.

[wayner]

i assumed the well-known vendor you were referring to selling calcium chloride was BRS. i'd love to not pay BRS' shipping but I'm scared to try anything else to be honest.


Same here - who's going first :biggrin:

[Reef Supplies]

i assumed the well-known vendor you were referring to selling calcium chloride was BRS. i'd love to not pay BRS' shipping but I'm scared to try anything else to be honest.

It's not BRS CC :-)

Same here - who's going first :biggrin:

I'll post the lab test results as soon as we can get them blacked out

[lastlight]

i'm really good with photoshop i can black them out for you =)

[Reef Supplies]

i'm really good with photoshop i can black them out for you =)

:smile:

[LoJack]

i assumed the well-known vendor you were referring to selling calcium chloride was BRS. i'd love to not pay BRS' shipping but I'm scared to try anything else to be honest.

I'm pretty much in the same boat. My tank is in the best shape its ever been in, its the most stable its ever been. My gut tells me don't mess with anything and just pay the extra to stick with what I know... but I see massive savings potential by buying Canadian.

I have enough chemicals to last me a fair bit still ... perhaps we'll have some feedback from a few others before I need to pull the trigger!

Any updates on posting the results Ray?

[Reef Supplies]

so we had a quick meeting and we have decided that posting the chart was a bad idea. I have removed it.

Why, you ask? :-) Well a couple of reasons.

- it caused confusion and panic. We received 5 phone calls and 3 emails from clients wanting to know if the stuff they had been using in their tanks was on the list and how all their coral and fish were going to die! As I said in my first post, these are ALL well know manufactures that we have ALL been using for years. Just because Manufacture A has a lithium reading of 28.7 and Manufacture B has a reading of 6.8, does it mean that A is bad for your tank?

- A colleague called asking why our silicate was so high at 7445. I replied with "did you know that the 2-part you have been selling for the past 5 years has a reading of 19014"? "Does that make it bad...any clients complain"? How high is too high?

The purpose off the test was to determine what product has the lowest organics and NPOC. The lower the readings the better.

FWIW: High organics can cause cyano outbreaks. When you use a "reef salt" that is high in trace elements and you use an organic rich 2-part you can cause a cyano outbreak. Not too mention all the other stuff we are dosing. Too many trace elements.

It's like the newbie who starts dosing "coral food" and follows the directions on the bottles only to end up dosing 6-7 different products daily. He will end up with an organics overload causing a cayno outbreak.

In closing, the chart was a mistake on my part. I should have never posted it nor mentioned it. It all boils down to trust, you need to trust the store you are doing business with. Those of you who have worked with us know that we are in it for the long haul and we will continue to offer you the best possible product and service.

thanks,

Ray

[Reef Supplies]

UPDATE

http://www.reefsupplies.ca/online-store/content/bulk.jpg

Our 2-part / 3-part combos are up.

http://www.reefsupplies.ca/online-store/images/P/bulk-2part.jpg

Bulk 2-part dosing system (makes 2 x 1 gallon) (http://www.reefsupplies.ca/online-store/Bulk-2-part-dosing-system-makes-2-x-1-gallons.html)

Bulk 2-part dosing system (makes 10 x 1 gallon) (http://www.reefsupplies.ca/online-store/Bulk-2-part-dosing-system-makes-10-x-1-gallon.html)

Thanks :-)

Ray

[LoJack]

Do you have any reference for the concentration of your product when mixed to your specifications?

The product I use now, I know that 1ml of solution, will raise the calcium level in 1 gallon of water by 10 ppm. (obviously you need to test to get your particular dosing right, I'm basically trying to associate a Dollar Value to each ml of solution after mixed)

I'm trying to figure out the value of the concentration.

I don't want to switch to a different bulk chemical, if the concentration is lower to the point that its going to take me 3ml to make the same change in my water.

I use a ton of solution in my current SPS tank, and its not only about value, but how long my 5 gallon pail of solution will last at my current dosing rates.

[LoJack]

Oh, And has anyone tried these chemicals yet … I know everyone is waiting for a guinea pig, has there been one yet?

[mrhasan]

Oh, And has anyone tried these chemicals yet … I know everyone is waiting for a guinea pig, has there been one yet?

I am using both Ca/Alk. Haven't seen anything to be concerned about.

[LoJack]

I am using both Ca/Alk. Haven't seen anything to be concerned about.

Well bud you are a good spokesman, considering I just commented on the quality and health of your Red Dragon or (Mr. Pacman)

I just wish there was a chart for the values of the product or a calculator that shows Cal and Alk increases per ml.

[mrhasan]

Well bud you are a good spokesman, considering I just commented on the quality and health of your Red Dragon or (Mr. Pacman)

I just wish there was a chart for the values of the product or a calculator that shows Cal and Alk increases per ml.

Thanks :)

Well its just Randy's 2-part receipe 1 so I used reef calculator to calculate and adjust a bit. Like 25ml of Alk increases my Alk by 0.6-0.7 while 200ml of Ca increases my Ca by 30-40.