? about epsom,baking soda, and calcium chloride(road salt)

just want to know what these are all about . why wouldnt everyone use thes if they are so cheap.
(epsom salts mag, baking soda kh, road salt calcium)
what are negatives or things to look out for while using such products.?

is there special ways to use them?

and could you use all three instead of store bought chemicals.

 

I use epsom salt for my Mg. I am still using Reef Builder for my bicarb and Reef Calcium Advantage for my calcium. Why? Just a comfort thang.

The baking soda for the bicarb is best mixed with another product that I cannot remember. I have seen it posted in the forums.......on the tip of my tongue. Cannot remember.

I was wondering about the Grocery store calcium myself. Hadn't seen that before.....road salt heh? I will have to do the google thing.

 

I believe road salt contains many more salts and impurities that just calcium chloride. I looked into this already and the process by which they get the calcium chloride into the bag is not that great.

 

your right about the road salt, but just look for something that has calcium chloride in it. DOWflake is a common item used for Ca...and John, I think the thing your talking about might be pure soda ash? That also takes care of your Alk. Then again, I'm not sure if that's what you were talking about!!

 

you can also get a product called Mrs Wages Pickling Lime, almost the exact same thing as Kalkwasser and a heck of a lot cheaper, i use it and it works great.

Most places will have it in the canning isle.

 

I've heard of that!!! It's cheap and it really works...one thing to watch also is when dosing with CaCl4, make sure you keep your pH in check. Especially with smaller tanks, It could swing like a kid on a playground..(??)

 

I don't think I'd use "road salt" for a source of calcium, you should look into that further.
Both other products for mag and alkalinity have been beat to death if you search the chemistry threads here.

 

An Improved Do-it-Yourself Two-Part Calcium and Alkalinity Supplement System by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

 

Baking soda-BAKED is one of the best alk and pH additives available and its food grade. Epsom(MgSO4) is also good and human grade but should be used with MgCl2 in a 5/3 ration with MgCl2 being heavier.
Randy Holmes Farely tested DOWflakes a while back and it is still used even though the Br is an issue..... I wouldn't personally use any other not only from a quality standpoint but also from the issue of what else is in it and on top of all that the impurities. Many deicers are BLENDS and will have more than just CaCl2, if you want to try it, all power to you, BUT let us ALL know how it turns out!!!

Happy experimenting!!

Oh there is another thread on this thats very recent wouldn't hurt to check it out!!
http://www.3reef.com/forums/water-chemistry/calcuim-chloride-57227.html#post541958