magnesium chloride??

[sullyg]

hello everyone
I looked hi and low for mag flake in my surrounding area and found no stores that carry it.Tried Lowe's,Home Depot,Ace hardware and a local Agway. Been on a mission!!!I did find a product called Safe step extreme 8300 bag states 100% magnesium chloride.Has anyone used this in place of mag flakes by dead sea works in order to make Randy's two part recipe?? Has there be any tests on it similar to Randy's test of mag flake.
If anyone uses it how much to use

 

[bertoni]

I haven't heard of any tests being run on that product. I don't know whether it's safe or not.

 

[blanden.adam]

If you aren't dosing a ton of it you could also just use magnesium sulfate (epsom salts), or just order bulk MgCl2 from BRS. At the end of the day, is the magnesium really so expensive as to take a risk with an unknown product?

FWIW, my cut-off for purity in my aquarium is food-grade or better, as lesser grade chemicals, although tested by Randy HF in this case, are not required to maintain such strict quality and purity requirements and can change formulation really whenever they want. So, a product that was fine when Randy did his experiments could change their manufacturing method, be sold under the same name, and all of a sudden have a harmful impurity in significant quantities.

My opinion aside, please note that the MSDS for Safe Step Extreme 8300 only guarantees a purity in the range of 60-100%% MgCl2 * 6H20 (Magnesium chloride hexahydrate). So, there can be as much as a 40% impurity, even though the bag states 100% magnesium chloride.

 

[sullyg]

Bertoni and blanden.adam
Thank you for your in put with regards to magnesium chloride in the product know as safe step deicer in place of mag flake.Just thought i would ask and see if it could be used.Because most of the products that we use for our tanks come from places like drug stores like Epsom salt,and baking soda from the grocery store ,and lets not forget the vodka from the package store.Some times that may never make it to the tank LOL..It's just nice to know there may be places to look other than ordering off the net,If money was the issue i would never start reef keeping.
Thanks Again happy Reef-in