Is 77% calcium chloride safe for balling?

[KMG]

77% calcium chloride = 23% water in it.
99% calcium chloride = 1% water in it.

77% calcium chloride should be fine to use for balling. But... Is it pure enough to use?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

The purity and suitability for reefs is unrelated to the hydration level.

 

[KMG]

So I figured. Perhaps used for balling comes from sea salt and not mines? Think I will send a sample 77% solved in RODI water to Triton lab.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

So I figured. Perhaps used for balling comes from sea salt and not mines? Think I will send a sample 77% solved in RODI water to Triton lab.

That's a fine plan. I did that years ago to test Dowflake against various hobby brands (link below). But if you just look for food or ACS reagent or USP grade, it will be fine.

Aquarium Chemistry: Purity Of Calcium Chloride

Randy takes a look at a number of sources of calcium chloride and reports on them.

reefs.com

 

[KMG]

Thanks! Perfect! Just what I was looking for! Know that agriculture suffers from too much heavy metals in the fields because we use minerals as fertilizer from mines. Therefore, it is obviously relevent to wonder where our salts come from and how large amounts of heavy metals do they contain? Expensive with a well-known brand does not necessarily mean better if we are not told the degree of purity or have a certificate from the supplier that tests have been done and that the salt stays within certain limit values. Will probably send samples from some brands of 77% calcium chloride that seem reasonably priced in Europe.