Cheap, Good Quality Calcium Chloride

[EmilyB]

You should really do paragraphs Brad.

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by EmilyB

You should really do paragraphs Brad.

Sorry Deb...

Next time, OK?

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by Namscam

the guy from RC is coming up with a recipe that will make it a lil more balance althought not perfectly in april so i would advise ppl to wait til then to start addin stuff in ur tank..

this doesn't make sense at all as it has already been proven that the long term use of this will cause elevated Cl levels in your tank and start to poison all your live stock. this is why all the bigger names say ya use it but only once to correct an imbalance then go back to kalk, two part additive ect.

Richie, I am not sure if you understand that or not as you seam to be skirting around the reason here and coming up with excuses, it doesent matter how much more ballanced a guy on RC tries to make it the Cl will still be there. The fact is it is Bad for your tank.. cost and what not is not a issue here only the health of your tank.

Steve

[Lofus]

Before adding CaCl to your tank, I would ask yourself what you are trying to do. If you want to raise Ca+ levels then why not add CaOH?

In the end the OH- will reach equilibrium with H+ and H20 and you will avoid an accumulation of Cl-.

Jim

[chwkreefer]

Do you know how hard it is to get your system back into order after dosing consistently with Calcium Chloride over a long period of time? It's very hard. A number of years ago I got tired of the kalkwasser dosing and I started doing the Calcium Chloride & Buffer thing and everything looked great (corals and tests) for quite awhile.

Then suddenly I couldn't get anything stable, the pH and calcium, magnesium and alk were all screwed up. There was a major ionic imbalance in the tank. I could dump products in forever to try and correct the problem, it wasn't until I did a bunch of large water changes that things were corrected.

Not until I did some major water changes and changed calcium sources did things straighten out. LESSON LEARNED.

I agree with Brad, Calcium Chloride (ie. Turbo Calcium) is a great product for a periodic calcium boost. But for long term calcium management, you have to go with Kalkwasser or 2 part solutions for smaller systems and a calcium reactor for large sps systems. No cheaper way around it.

I am looking forward to reading the guys article on diy 2 part solutions in April, but as long as Calcium Chloride is the calcium component, I won't be adding it to my tank every day.

[Beverly]

Thanks, everyone, for you input on the subject.

I have decided to forget the calcium chloride in favour of dripping kalk.

Cheers,

[reefburnaby]

Hello....

Actually, calcium chloride is used as one of the primary ingredients in the two-part calcium/alk supplement. The other ingredient is sodium bicarbonate.

Yes, adding primarily calcium chloride to your reef tank is a bad thing since you will have excess chloride ions. However, if you add the right amount (aka ionically balanced amount) of sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) or sodium carbonate (pure unscented washing soda), then you will no only add bicarbonate and carbonate (which is another word for adding alk), but you will be adding sodium to the water. Sodium + chloride = salt. Okay...so now your salinity is going to be affected...a bit. But...this is a small side effect of most 2 - part solutions. So...if you want to add CaCl in the long term, you might want to add an ionically balanced buffer with it too

I admit that 2 part solution calcium additions are not perfect, but calcium reactors and kalk mixes aren't perfect either. Each has their advantages and disadvantages.

- Victor.

[Veng68]

Try this:

http://www.hawkfish.org/infoctr/homebuffer.htm

Cheers,
Vic [veng68]

[Quinn]

Bev if you still want to order it, PM me. You could easily use my dad's company name.

[Beverly]

Originally Posted by reefburnaby

So...if you want to add CaCl in the long term, you might want to add an ionically balanced buffer with it too

Victor,

Good point. Randy is working on a second article on making the two part buffer out of baking soda and washing soda and the Dow Flake. I'm going to wait until I see the article before deciding ... again

Quinn,

Thanks for the offer. I may take you up on it. Will definitely talk to you about it at the meeting