New RANDY's 2 part

Yeah I still can't get the MSDS from swimway's sorry selves.
They wont even return an Email.
I will be out that way this weekend ( near the pool supply store ) so I think I will just stop on in and ask them for a copy of the MSDS for it I am sure they have one. Probably have to by law.
 
Unfortunately, MSDS do not generally rule in a product, although they might rule one out. I did extensive testing of Dowflake to be convinced it was OK to use. I do not see any problematic numbers mentioned, but many things are not mentioned.
 
Activated carbon and Bromide

Activated carbon and Bromide

Maybe this has been covered before and I just overlooked it, but would activated carbon be a practical and efficient way to keep the bromide in check?

Activated Carbon and Bromide

I realize this article is for airborne particles but would the same principles apply for the reef / marine environment?

After posting this I saw that you had mentioned carbon earlier in the thread. Thanks for pointing it out, Randy!
 
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Methyl bromide (CH3Br) is an organic material that is hydrophobic and uncharged and will bind to carbon. Bromide ion (in Dowflake) is Br-, is inorganic and hydrophilic and charged and will not bind appreciably to carbon in seawater. :)
 
"I see", said the blind man!

I guessed that it was too simple of a solution or the bromide in dow flakes wouldn't be as big of an issue to keep in check.

Thanks for clearing that up.
 
Randy, my apologies if you've answered this elsewhere... Recently there's been some discussion of the "balling" method, which seems to be very similar to your two-part method.

One of the issues that people have with the "balling" method is the rise in NaCl. I've also noticed an increase in salinity using your two-part as well.

How much of a problem do you see this as? From what I've read, and most of this is well beyond me, if you just remove excess water from the aquarium and replace it with fresh water (to keep the salinity in the 1.025-26 range), with the "balling" method, you will ultimately reduce the amount of Potassium available.

Is this not a problem using Dow Flake, since the Dow Flake contains Potassium?

This is in a fairly high demand system - approximately 1-2 cup/day of each. To keep salinity stable, I have to replace about 1-2 gallons of salt water with fresh once a week on a 90 gallon system. (Or I used to before I cooked the tank... :eek2: )
 
One of the issues that people have with the "balling" method is the rise in NaCl. I've also noticed an increase in salinity using your two-part as well.

The salinity rise is a necessary effect of all two part systems, but my DIY does not cause Na+ and Cl- to rise relative to the other major ions (Ca++, Mg++, SO4--, K+) as they are also all added in an appropriate amount.

I show that here:

An Improved Do-it-Yourself Two-Part Calcium and Alkalinity Supplement System
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/rhf/index.php

specifically here:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/rhf/index.php#21

from it:

Interestingly, the potassium present as an impurity in the Dowflake works to our advantage in this use. Recipe #1 has 1,342 ppm potassium in its calcium part. That amount puts it in the right ratio relative to other ions in the recipe (chloride, sodium, etc.) so that it is neither boosted nor depleted significantly over time based on salinity changes (see modeling below).
 
Myself and many many reefers in Colorado have been using Excel Ice melt by Scotwood Industries for over three years now without any problems at all. I looked into this ice melter then and asked Randy about using it. He obviously wasn't able to analyze this product like he did dow flake, but we tried it after pulling the msds sheets. I don't know of any reefer using this product to have any problems at all. Oh yeah, we purchase it at sams club in 5 gal buckets. Hope this helps.
 
I've searched, but can't seem to find an answer. There appeared to be quite an interest in the Tetra products as a replacement for DowFlake. Has there been any confirmation of which Tetra products are okay for regular supplementation?
 
Well, what about the anhydrous CaCl2 produced commercially by aquatic companies like Kent and so forth? Are we to believe they contain bromide? Or if they are bromide free, is there a way to get this quality CaCl2 in bulk?
 
Well, what about the anhydrous CaCl2 produced commercially by aquatic companies like Kent and so forth? Are we to believe they contain bromide? Or if they are bromide free, is there a way to get this quality CaCl2 in bulk?

If you buy products from a hobby supply company, then you are trusting that they are providing quality materials. rarely do they provide any sort of actual analyses of their products. So the best way to go is use what you know works, or buy from a company that you trust.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12835341#post12835341 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by racer69
Myself and many many reefers in Colorado have been using Excel Ice melt by Scotwood Industries for over three years now without any problems at all. I looked into this ice melter then and asked Randy about using it. He obviously wasn't able to analyze this product like he did dow flake, but we tried it after pulling the msds sheets. I don't know of any reefer using this product to have any problems at all. Oh yeah, we purchase it at sams club in 5 gal buckets. Hope this helps.
Click to expand...
Do you or your friends by chance have tridacna clams in these systems where you are using Excell Ice Melt?
 
Mods delete my post and tell me to look harder if I missed it but:

What is the origin for bromide being in the calcium anyways? And why is it increasing?
 
its earlier in the post, but basically Dow is no longer filtering bromide and selling it as a seperate product, thus it is remaining in their other products in higher amounts.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13182574#post13182574 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bertoni
I bought 50 lbs of the old Dow product, which should last quite a while for me. :)
Click to expand...

Bertoni,
After all the old Dowflake product is gone and you can not get it no more what will you and everyone else use?
 
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