calcuim chloride

I know some of the reefer's here buy calcium chloride in bulk, What I was wondering is there a specific brand that I can buy like from lowes or home depot? because they have a few different brands.

 

My lowes sells DOWflake

 

Contact "that guy" here on 3reef or tangster or amcarrig here on 3reef. Aquatic art sells high grade stuff for pretty cheap, they have a chemist on hand that makes it himself. One of those 3 people should be able to help out. The CC I use comes from them.

 

Dowflake was one of the few that WAS safe to buy. After Dow decided to stop filtering out the Bromide(they were selling it) it has become a sensitive spot for people. The elevated bromide levels are a concern, no doubt. The problem is no one knows the toxicity level for Br, no one knows what it will do to fish or inverts, and lastly no one even knows what to look for! Also, some plants use Br as do other organisms in tanks, so in tank A Br may never be a concern even thought they use a good amount of Dow, whereas tank B may have SERIOUS issues with Br!!
Certain salt mixes add Br as a trace element!! The disturbing issue is many CaCl2 made specifically FOR the aquaria have had issue with purity. I know when Randy Holmes-Farley tested a few, Kents had a fair amount of lithium which WE know is toxic and we know the toxicity levels!! Again same goes with salt, many mixes have serious amounts of metals that will build up overtime and can be of concern.
As for staying on track here, places like BRS claim they still have Br free Dow but I can't imagine that they do!! With so many people ordering there esp since word got out about the Br, its hard for me to believe that they had a cache so large as to supply thousands of reefers for a year or so now.
Unless you get ahold of pharmacuetical or human consumption grade, even the finest CaCl2 will have some impurities, no doubt in my mind.
I decided with the birth of the new 180 to give the Dowflakes a shot(mind you I screamed from the mountains to NEVER use it!!) and I will evaluate after the bag is up if I feel something is off in the tank. If I have extra $$ laying around I will send so water to Hach and have them run a barrage of tests for metals.

The moral of the story isuse the CaCl2 you feel comfortable with, as far as where to find it BRS, BFS, other online gigs, LFS, sponsors of this wonderful site and so on.
If you choose the ice melt idea I would still stick with Dowflake, unless you can find PELADOW pellets, but if you find them use about 20% less than you would with the Dow.

Happy supplementing!

 

Thanks Dr.Fragenstein but now I am worried about using it dowflake because of this form archive that I read where Randy Holmes even chimes in about using it because of the Bromide issue. so I'm confused at this point whether or not to use it.

Dowflake variations??? [Archive] - Boston Reefers Society Online Community

I 'm not trying to open a can of worms here I'm just trying to decide if it is safe or not to use in my tank.

 

I asked Randy and he said he still uses it and its safe the way HE uses it. Granted he uses it to beef up the IO he uses as the Ca and Mg are NOTORIOUSLY low!! Its hard to say.. Have I ever posted the bio assay that Dr Shimek did in regards to heavy metal toxicity in salt mixes?
Its awful, youd be suprised whats in the salt you mix!! Lithium, barium, copper, cobalt, berrylium and so on. And funny thing is many companies SELL you this stuff as trace element supplements!!
If you want I will be your test dummy on the DOW, otherwise if you can get DOW and DOW only try it.... How much would you need to use? Whats the coral load?

 

Bulk Reef Supply - Bulk Reef Supply

"Bulk Reef Supplies-Calcium Chloride Anhydrous Purity (Min) 94% (Max) 97%"

 

The interesting point with that would be how pure it REALLY is....
Chemistry and the Aquarium

I bet we have other threads in regards to this one this site if someone were to dig enough!

Happy reefing!

 

Yeh I went all over yesterday, Lowes, home depot, nobody has it or any stuff for that matter. Of corse its 0 degrees here so everybody is buying it up. I will probably end up buying of bulk reef supply. One thing I couldn't find on there website is where they get it from.

 

Home Depot is supposed to carry it, I called my local and they told me they never heard of DOWflake. They then informed me that the main buyer pretty much purchases for all HD stores. Made no sense to me. I even went in and talked to someone else, no dice.
Ace online had the Prestone but when I called they said they didn't carry it, I asked if they could get it and they said most likely not.
Luckily a guy in our club has an in to some distributor and was able to get the Magflake and DOW equivilent.

Good luck, most likely the will NOT tell you who its from, simply from the stand point that you COULD be a competitor!

Happy reefing!