Bulk soda ash discontinued?

Joe Rice · Feb 28, 2018

Hey BRS. I notice that the bulk alkalinity, calcium and magnesium supplements are either on sale for a deep discount or are marked as "discontinued" rather than "out of stock". Are you guys really discontinuing them?

Second Shot · Feb 28, 2018

They changed packaging and better purity from what I read.
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/1-gallon-mix-soda-ash-bulk-reef-supply.html

Joe Rice · Feb 28, 2018

Second Shot said:
They changed packaging and better purity from what I read.
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/1-gallon-mix-soda-ash-bulk-reef-supply.html

Hmm.... The 5 gallon bucket of bulk soda ash would make 40 gallons of solution for $85. The new 10-gallon mix makes 10 gallons for $62. That's a hefty price increase.

EDIT: Someone just pointed out that they offer a bag that makes 6+ gallons for $23 so not as bad as I thought.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/363810/#post-4503246

MaddyP · Feb 28, 2018

Following...

Ronald Brown · Feb 28, 2018

Following also

Capitol Reef Corals · Feb 28, 2018

They also have a 7-lb option of their new soda ash on the website for $23, it makes over 6 gallons. That means to make ~40 gallons you need to spend $153, compared to the previous $85?

Joe Rice · Feb 28, 2018

Stephen Petruzzo said:
They also have a 7-lb option of their new soda ash on the website for $23, it makes over 6 gallons. That means to make ~40 gallons you need to spend $153, compared to the previous $85?

Ah, didn't see that. Actually that means you can make 40 gallons for around $130 vs. the old bucket making 40 gallons for $85. That's certainly a price increase but not nearly as bad as I thought based on the "10-gallon" 10-pack. Perhaps worth it for the extra purity?

lariat8099 · Feb 28, 2018

Following also. I just ran out of my products.

kashman100 · Feb 28, 2018

If you buy the biggest mix (7 pounds for $23) it's a 75% increase over the previous bulk 40 gallon mix from $85 to $147 to make 40 gallons. If you buy the 10 gallons mix for $61.99 or $6.19 per gallon it's almost a 300% increase in cost. I noticed the new soda ash uses 2 1/3 cups to make a gallon and the old used 2 cups to make a gallon. I wonder if I will have to change dosing amounts if using the new?

dimo · Feb 28, 2018

The old 7lb (1 gallon jug) was $20 and the new is $23. Marginal increase when comparing similar sizes.

And looks like they fully discontinued the real large 5G bucket size entirely, which was a large savings over smaller sizes. I'm asssuming it wasn't a big seller. I've never considered it myself. Too much (size) to buy at once to use and store for me.

Joe Rice · Feb 28, 2018

dimo said:
And looks like they fully discontinued the real large 5G bucket size entirely, which was a large savings over smaller sizes. I'm if it wasn't a big seller. I've never considered it myself. Too much (size) to buy at once to use and store for me.

I loved the 5G buckets, myself. Kept a funnel and a measuring scoop in each bucket so nothing to rinse. And the wide openings made it a snap to whip up a new gallon of solution.

Caseyoidae · Feb 28, 2018

Following too! Price hike is still better than what some other companies have jumped up to in the last few years!

amnesiac · Mar 1, 2018

I'm curious, is there any difference between BRS soda ash and soda ash from anywhere else? Sodium carbonate is sodium carbonate so I'm thinking if there were any difference it would be purity, right? Correct me if I'm wrong, I really want to know.

Adele · Mar 1, 2018

I just saw in one of the discussion forums that you can take plain old baking soda, put it on a cookie sheet and bake at 400 degrees for abt an hour. Boom. Soda ash at a fraction of purchasing. It might have been by Randy Holmes-Farley but not entirely sure. I was doing a lot of research.

Johnike · Mar 1, 2018

Adele said:
I just saw in one of the discussion forums that you can take plain old baking soda, put it on a cookie sheet and bake at 400 degrees for abt an hour. Boom. Soda ash at a fraction of purchasing. It might have been by Randy Holmes-Farley but not entirely sure. I was doing a lot of research.

Here's a good discussion on it.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/difference-sodium-bicarbonate-carbonate.162467/

rfrankle · Mar 1, 2018

I also noticed that there are new additions in the BRS calculator for the new products. I'm curious how long the old products will remain in the calculator because I have quite a bit of stock and may reference them for quite a while before using the new products.

dimo · Mar 1, 2018

I have old stock too. Prolly at least 6 months worth maybe more. Worst case we can use a different online calculator if they remove it.

chinw76 · Mar 2, 2018

rfrankle said:
I also noticed that there are new additions in the BRS calculator for the new products. I'm curious how long the old products will remain in the calculator because I have quite a bit of stock and may reference them for quite a while before using the new products.

I have tried their calculator, both the old and new product. It ends up being the same amount.

Zack@BRS · Mar 2, 2018

dimo said:
The old 7lb (1 gallon jug) was $20 and the new is $23. Marginal increase when comparing similar sizes.

And looks like they fully discontinued the real large 5G bucket size entirely, which was a large savings over smaller sizes. I'm assuming it wasn't a big seller. I've never considered it myself. Too much (size) to buy at once to use and store for me.

That is correct. When comparing the same sizes, our new soda ash is a few dollars more, but is now made from pharmaceutical grade material as with the rest of our 2 part additive line. While there's no argument that regular soda ash can work, we're not just about settling for an acceptable level of quality; we want to bring the best quality products we can to our reefers and I believe we have found a way to do it while maintaining a very solid value. Our new soda ash mixes cleaner and faster. It' s a noticeable difference, and I don't think you'll find a better value anywhere.

rfrankle said:
I also noticed that there are new additions in the BRS calculator for the new products. I'm curious how long the old products will remain in the calculator because I have quite a bit of stock and may reference them for quite a while before using the new products.

No worries there. The end result on the calculators shouldn't really be different, but we've kept the old names in the calculator for now to avoid confusion, and they'll stay there for some time. The concentrations in solution are actually the same, so you can continue to dose solutions the same, but there is a slight change in volume for the amount of dry powder being used.

Addicted2ACRO's · Mar 2, 2018

Hello to all...following along...I would like to know what is the difference between Old Product and New Product. The Old Product also states it's Pharmaceutical Grade on the side of the packaging.