New RANDY's 2 part
- Thread starter paradoxycal
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Buckeye Hydro
.Registered Member
We have some in stock and will have it on the website soon!
Russ
Russ
To be clear for folks, this is a different calcium chloride material that you believe is suitable?
Buckeye Hydro
.Registered Member
This is CaCl that is used by a commercial aquarium that we work with.
It is not DOWFlake. We ran out of the old formula DOWFlake sometime ago and were not able to find a source for more of the old formula DF.
Russ
It is not DOWFlake. We ran out of the old formula DOWFlake sometime ago and were not able to find a source for more of the old formula DF.
Russ
OK, good. 
Buckeye Hydro
.Registered Member
I expect soon we'll have 14 lb and 35 lb sizes.
Russ
Russ
Buckeye Hydro
.Registered Member
I expect the 35 lb'ers will be as lag as we'll sell.
Russ
Russ
Hello:
First I want to thank everyone on this forum and particularly this tread for so much insightful information regarding the two-part additives. And it goes without saying, my hat is off to Randy and all his great work on this forum. I truly enjoy all his posts!
I have used baked baking soda for months now with great success and have exhausted my supply of ESV and TwoLittleFishes calcium and mag. I am now ready to begin making my own cal, alk (with soda ash) and mag supplements.
My questions are:
I have a 50 lb. bag of Dow Flakes and want to make sure it is the older/better supply of flakes? It has a code on the bag that reads on a some white affixed label that reads "UJ3101HI12". Is this the correct batch?
Secondly, I happened upon a 50 lb. bag of soda ash and want to make sure it is the right brand/kind. It is manufactured by FMC and states on the bag "Soda Ash Grade 100". Is this good to use.
Lastly, and more straightforward, when ordering from BRS should I simply add the one-part of mag or do I purchase both the chloride and sulfate and mix the two prior to using?
Sorry, I had pics of the bags, but I am still struggling with uploading images on this forum. Any help would be greatly appreciated and after much research I feel a DIY two-part is my best option and looking forward to kicking it up a notch.
Thanks a bunch and Happy Reefing!
First I want to thank everyone on this forum and particularly this tread for so much insightful information regarding the two-part additives. And it goes without saying, my hat is off to Randy and all his great work on this forum. I truly enjoy all his posts!
I have used baked baking soda for months now with great success and have exhausted my supply of ESV and TwoLittleFishes calcium and mag. I am now ready to begin making my own cal, alk (with soda ash) and mag supplements.
My questions are:
I have a 50 lb. bag of Dow Flakes and want to make sure it is the older/better supply of flakes? It has a code on the bag that reads on a some white affixed label that reads "UJ3101HI12". Is this the correct batch?
Secondly, I happened upon a 50 lb. bag of soda ash and want to make sure it is the right brand/kind. It is manufactured by FMC and states on the bag "Soda Ash Grade 100". Is this good to use.
Lastly, and more straightforward, when ordering from BRS should I simply add the one-part of mag or do I purchase both the chloride and sulfate and mix the two prior to using?
Sorry, I had pics of the bags, but I am still struggling with uploading images on this forum. Any help would be greatly appreciated and after much research I feel a DIY two-part is my best option and looking forward to kicking it up a notch.
Thanks a bunch and Happy Reefing!
I don't know of any way to be sure that the Dow Flake is acceptable. I'd look into an alternative source. For soda ash, I have chosen to stick with baked baking soda, as that source is food-grade.
You could order the magnesium sulfate online, but I just use epsom salts from the drug store. Your choice.
You could order the magnesium sulfate online, but I just use epsom salts from the drug store. Your choice.
Dowflake starting with a U (or any earlier letter) is supposed to have the old low bromide level and so should be fine. V and later letters are not.
That FMC material may be fine. It lists the specs for various things here:
http://www.fmcchemicals.com/Portals/chem/Content/docs/Tech Data Sheets/GRADE100v2.pdf
which is slightly less rigorous than the specificationf or food grade bakking soda, which the saem company shows here:
http://www.fmcchemicals.com/Portals/chem/Content/docs/Tech Data Sheets/USPNo52005TechDataSheet.pdf
Specifically, they allow up to twice as much heavy metals, but you would use less of it, so that may be close to balancing out, and in general it looks pretty good to me.
That FMC material may be fine. It lists the specs for various things here:
http://www.fmcchemicals.com/Portals/chem/Content/docs/Tech Data Sheets/GRADE100v2.pdf
which is slightly less rigorous than the specificationf or food grade bakking soda, which the saem company shows here:
http://www.fmcchemicals.com/Portals/chem/Content/docs/Tech Data Sheets/USPNo52005TechDataSheet.pdf
Specifically, they allow up to twice as much heavy metals, but you would use less of it, so that may be close to balancing out, and in general it looks pretty good to me.
Randy how can we make the two part stronger?
my tank is 500G and the two part says 1ml/g thats 500ML a day. that is huge.
I noticed that Natureefs two part Alkalinity Plus and Hardness Plus provides 9,500 mequ. of alkalinity and almost 200,000 mg of calcium hardness per gallon
http://www.natureef.com
how much would your two part contain? and how do companies make them stronger.
my tank is 500G and the two part says 1ml/g thats 500ML a day. that is huge.
I noticed that Natureefs two part Alkalinity Plus and Hardness Plus provides 9,500 mequ. of alkalinity and almost 200,000 mg of calcium hardness per gallon
http://www.natureef.com
how much would your two part contain? and how do companies make them stronger.
My recipe 1 is about as strong as you can easily make it due to solubility limits on the alkalinity part. I'm not sure how they do it, but perhaps they have some sodium hydroxide in it, and not just sodium carbonate. Using sodium hydroxide you can make it much more concentrated, but the pH spike will be about twice as large as my Recipe 1.
Most commercial two parts are only a bit more concentrated than my Recipe 1, reflecting the better equipment they have for mixing than most DIYers. But you can certainly try mixing it more concentrated. Try boiling the alkalinity solution and hope it stays in as it cools. And make sure you bake the baking soda very thoroughly first.
Most commercial two parts are only a bit more concentrated than my Recipe 1, reflecting the better equipment they have for mixing than most DIYers. But you can certainly try mixing it more concentrated. Try boiling the alkalinity solution and hope it stays in as it cools. And make sure you bake the baking soda very thoroughly first.
The problem may be finding some suitably pure and inexpensive sodium hydroxide if you are not a chemical company approved to buy chemicals.
Thanks Randy,
I have been using recipe#1 since 2006 and I have no problem except some salinity problems. Thanks for detailed information sharing with us.
Do you reccomend or is it really possible to use sodium hydroxide as alkalinity part? Would it be the same with kalkwasser dosing because of calcium hydroxide formation? I think the calcium hydroxide formation will be more favorable in tank other than clacium bicarbonate because of carbon dioxide is limited. Also the pH spike might be more detrimental because of sodium hydroxide is strong base with respect to carbonate.
I have been using recipe#1 since 2006 and I have no problem except some salinity problems. Thanks for detailed information sharing with us.
Do you reccomend or is it really possible to use sodium hydroxide as alkalinity part? Would it be the same with kalkwasser dosing because of calcium hydroxide formation? I think the calcium hydroxide formation will be more favorable in tank other than clacium bicarbonate because of carbon dioxide is limited. Also the pH spike might be more detrimental because of sodium hydroxide is strong base with respect to carbonate.
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