fatrip
Yup That Stuff
aparently Dow Flake has changed there composition and can not be used in our reefs any more. here is the link
DowFlake Problem
DowFlake Problem
Dow Flack No Good Read!!!
- Thread starter fatrip
- Start date
stressed damsel
In Memoriam
Damb I just boutght 2 bags of Flake. I guess it will be going to melt Snow and ice....
RyanM
New member
I just got off the phone with a company that sells calcium chloride in all forms and this guy was super. He talked to me for at least half an hour. I will give you the short story.
Dow has stoped the removal of bromide in the proccessing of thier products. Cost and hazard in removing it wasnt cost affective anymore. So, anything that has 77%-80% on the bag
is the old stuf and there for low in bromide. And is as good to use as it ever was. Now the strange part, If it has (I think he said) 82%-84% is the higher bromide content and is so much a problem that even swimming pool chemical manufacturers have stoped getting it from Dow. This guy knew exaclty what I was talking about and gave me a few off shore locations to contact. I will look into other sorces and let you all know.
By the way, just so you know. I did find lab grade calcium chloride. WAY EXPENCIVE!!! not even an option. However, there are companies that sell it as pure as we need it. Finding some at a good price may be futile tho. I say this because I find it hard to believe Im the only one to look for other sources and be able to come up with anyhting. But I will see what I can find.
One more thing. I first called my father about this. He retired from Dupont a few years ago and thought he would at least know sombody still at dupont that may be able to answer some questions I had. He does and is going to talk to a few chemists he knows. Not sure what will come from it but I can tell you this, If I can, I wil ask if I could buy some direct from the dupont chemist. Who knows. Its a common product and If he is a friend of my dads I just may be able to score us some lab grade. Ill ask for a pallet
j/k but you never know.
Dow has stoped the removal of bromide in the proccessing of thier products. Cost and hazard in removing it wasnt cost affective anymore. So, anything that has 77%-80% on the bag
is the old stuf and there for low in bromide. And is as good to use as it ever was. Now the strange part, If it has (I think he said) 82%-84% is the higher bromide content and is so much a problem that even swimming pool chemical manufacturers have stoped getting it from Dow. This guy knew exaclty what I was talking about and gave me a few off shore locations to contact. I will look into other sorces and let you all know.
By the way, just so you know. I did find lab grade calcium chloride. WAY EXPENCIVE!!! not even an option. However, there are companies that sell it as pure as we need it. Finding some at a good price may be futile tho. I say this because I find it hard to believe Im the only one to look for other sources and be able to come up with anyhting. But I will see what I can find.
One more thing. I first called my father about this. He retired from Dupont a few years ago and thought he would at least know sombody still at dupont that may be able to answer some questions I had. He does and is going to talk to a few chemists he knows. Not sure what will come from it but I can tell you this, If I can, I wil ask if I could buy some direct from the dupont chemist. Who knows. Its a common product and If he is a friend of my dads I just may be able to score us some lab grade. Ill ask for a pallet
j/k but you never know.
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S Helinski
Active member
I've been using pelladow that was manufactured after that deadline for a few months now. I haven't noticed any bad effects at all...
I read that thread, but perhaps someone can enlighten me as to what the negative effects of Bromide are for use in reef aquariums... all Randy said was that it is not suitable...
Steve
I read that thread, but perhaps someone can enlighten me as to what the negative effects of Bromide are for use in reef aquariums... all Randy said was that it is not suitable...
Steve
RyanM
New member
Im no chemist but at a high enough levels I believe it acts verymuch the same way chlorine does to your tank. Kill every living thing in it. I believe its cummulitive tho. While you may not see a direct effect, after a long enough time passes and you increse your levels every dose, you may have a crash when it reachs a critical level. How high that is I cant say. Or if you do normal water changes will it ever reach it. I dont know that either. To much math for me to sit and calculate. I wouldnt use it tho..
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SkiFletch
New member
Huh, very interesting. I'd be curiuos if the same was true about prestone driveway heat. I've got a 2 year old bag, so I'm not worried about that, but would it still be suitable or is it also a Dow product?
And secondly, anybody know what form of bromine is present in the solution? Many chemical forms of the halogens will evaporate into the atmospere if left to stand in solution long enough...
And secondly, anybody know what form of bromine is present in the solution? Many chemical forms of the halogens will evaporate into the atmospere if left to stand in solution long enough...
RyanM
New member
I asked the guy that very thing about evaporation if left to stand and he said yes it will. Im sorry to say that I didnt ask him any other questions as to time it took or anything. He was rattling off info faster than I could ask and I was trying to write as much of down as I could. I thought about it while I was still on the phone but my thoughts had been geared towards a replacement of the product and not as much into making the new product safe. It was a topic I started to talk about but got quickly bypassed with places to contact.
The names he gave are Tetra, Vitro and Scottwood. I will look into those places.
The names he gave are Tetra, Vitro and Scottwood. I will look into those places.
The effects of bromides in reef aquaria is unknown but I don't think you wan't to accumulate a bunch to find out.
Prestone Driveway Heat is manufactureed by Dow . It is an anhydrous form of calcium Chloride. It just has less water than Dow flake. According to the thread Dow stopped purifying for bromides in 2005.
There are still other ways to dose calcium and alkalinity other than expensive two parts. Limewater and calcium reactors are options. Limewater alone may be sufficent for many systems and attendant high ph issues(if any) could be managed with seltzer water or vinegar additions or a pairing with a calcium reactor .
Prestone Driveway Heat is manufactureed by Dow . It is an anhydrous form of calcium Chloride. It just has less water than Dow flake. According to the thread Dow stopped purifying for bromides in 2005.
There are still other ways to dose calcium and alkalinity other than expensive two parts. Limewater and calcium reactors are options. Limewater alone may be sufficent for many systems and attendant high ph issues(if any) could be managed with seltzer water or vinegar additions or a pairing with a calcium reactor .
I'm starting to wonder if that may be a reason why we are having difficulties with sps corals in the zoo tank. i wonder if sps are more sensitive to the effects of bromides than soft and LPS corals. Perhaps we should consider switching to a different calcium source for our 2-part supplementation or switch to Kalkwasser. I use dowflake on my home tank with no ill effects. However, the bag of dow for the zoo may have been manufactured more recently. I will look to see if it has a date on the bag.
Piazzon12
New member
Guys, the stuff from two-part is the food grade calcium chloride, which should be fine. I know its much more expensive than the dow-flake ice melt, but... If we could find someone that sells the dow Food Grade Anhydrous 94-97% Calcium Chloride Pelletsâ"žÂ¢ http://www.dow.com/calcium/product/index.htm we might be able to get a discount. We'd probably have to buy a pallet. Maybe we could convince an LFS to buy and distribute it?? Through UNIVAR, there are distributors in buffalo, johnstown, and harrisburg, PA.
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