Yup yup! That price not bad if your able to drive across the border and pick it up at a snail box! Or ok with the high shipping costs that I don’t like at all.
The product I used was Seachem powder and it kept going up when I stoped using it it was &35 for 2.2lbs I’d go trough $70 a month then went to the peanut butter lol.
Seems that anything I buy from the USA by time I get it it’s 1.5X the price!
My next step will be calcium reactor for sure!

I have used the BRS bulk product, the reefsupplies.ca bulk product and the J&L bulk product. I would say the Canadian products are about the same price the as each other however the BRS with the low Canadian dollar is probably about 1.5 to 2 times more expensive if you have it shipped to directly Canada, a little cheaper if you go through a mail box in Washington State (not currently an option). Washington State now charges sales tax on all items sent there making it less of a deal. I think it is about 8% on top of your order.

I would say the BRS product comes in better bags and mixes purer than the Canadian products.

Given the choice I would use the BRS product in a heart beat, but then again I am a pure water freak and have never in 30 years added tap water to my tank (5 stage RO plus 2 stage DI only for me). I ended up buying a load of the Reefsupply.ca bulk (supposed to be best quality available) during a big sale about 9 months ago. I will purchase the J&L product in a pinch.

Amazon.com now ships many products to Canada quickly. You can buy bulk additives from them a lot cheaper than anywhere else. I would not under any circumstance use products that are not at least Food grade minimum. I usually look for only 99% pure or better.

I bought a couple pounds of NaSO4 (99%pure) off amazon.com about 6 months ago. NaSO4 is used to create a more ionically balanced true 2 part mixture than using MgCl and MgSO4 mixture. Refer to Randy Holmes Farley's true 2 part mixture for recipe. NaSO4 is not readily available in Canada.

This is what I use as the cost is not to bad and has all the little extras in it. It did just go up 13$ I think because of the dollar. https://www.reefsupplies.ca/online-s...ch-bucket.html

Thanks - I’ll check that out as well

The ESV is not a bad product. I used it for about 10 years, bought it from Reef Supplies every year when they had a sale on Boxing Day every year. The ESV is an ionically balanced 2 part meaning that they use NaSO4 instead of MgSO4 making it a true 2 part rather than a 3 part. Quality of the ingredients is likely not as good as the BRS stuff.

I switched because it was too expensive, I started going through 6 gallons of each part every year. If you make your own 2 part or 3 part it works out to be at least 5 times cheaper than the ESV and you can get it in a pinch.

As for trace elements, they are exactly that trace elements, found in your water at microscopic levels you can replenish your supply by doing regular water changes anyways. I am not sure if the ESV has trace elements in it. After using the bulk chemicals for at least 4 years my multiple lab results from ATI have never shown a low level of trace elements or any too much of any other element or substance.

Thanks for the input Glen.
After reading around, checking prices etc, I think BRS is still a good way to go, for me anyway. It’s a good straightforward product. I just watched a BRS video on “best” dosing products and it looks like BRS stuff came off pretty good. I am interested in trying out Tropic Marin Part C as they suggested, to add trace elements. Brightwell is also a good option and might be the way to go if borders don’t open up soon:sad:
Picking up stuff across the border worked well for me, and even with the dollar exchange, saved me a lot of $$ as well as the fact that you can’t even find some of the stuff in Canada. Hope this shutdown doesn’t go too long...or else I will have to ask for 2-part recipes!

https://www.reefsupplies.ca/online-s...ch-bucket.html
It does say that it does have the major and minor trace elements and for me it has worked well and 6 gals a year for the ease and 180$ cad dollars no driving around , have the proper scale to weight the product and not sure but do the others settle out but I only have 280 gals total. What ever works for you works best. I also have to say though that my top off water come straight out of the lake

2 parts
 

Anyone use the ATI Pro ?
Stable with all the trace element in it for your corals
and not expensive if go for the big gallon for the year

In the past I used the bulk chemicals from BRS. I have been using the ATI Essentials Pro without dilution on my current tank since it was setup. It seems to be working fine for me but to be honest I haven't actually tested my Mg in this tank ever so I have no idea what mine are at!