Is this a safe alternative for calcium chloride?

[ValorG]

I already have a bag of this and wondering if its safe for a reef tank. One site said it was made with "peladow". Wondering because I'm using kalk in my ato but my calcium is at 360 but my alk is at 11dkh. I dont want to add more kalk so I need to supplement calcium. Whats weird is that I only have frags so far so not much calcium should be used up.

 

[redfishbluefish]

I am not familiar with that specific brand you show in the OP, but I will tell you that Peladow is good to go. I am slightly bothered by their labeling stating “Formulated for Premium Performance.” To me, that suggests they added something more to the calcium chloride.


I use Prestone Driveway Heat….since 2008….without problems. That too is made with Peladow. Note that all these mentioned calcium chloride products are in the dehydrated form. That means you would need 2 cups of this made up to one gallon with RO/DI water. On the other hand, Dow Flakes are hydrated, and you would need 2 ½ cups to get the same equivalence.


If you can’t find Prestone Driveway Heat (or other known source of ice melt product), I’d look at purchasing from BRS.

 

[goodtimes]

Maybe verify results with another calcium test kit if the results don't feel right to you.

 

[mcarroll]

Cannot tell from that pic.

To know if it's the right stuff, it should claim to be good to -25º. To know if it's reasonably safe in terms of contaminants, it needs to say Made In The USA on the bag.

From the website it seems like the right stuff, but makes sure it's from USA. There's only one mine here sourcing most of the CaCl products you've heard of...known contaminant profile, which doesn't seem to hurt anything. Other mines elsewhere would be expected to have different contaminant profiles according to what I'm told.

Use the Reef Chemistry Calculator's "Anhydrous CaCl2 (Peladow)" option to calculate your mix into dosing solution, or if you're mixing as you go. In my https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/re...uring-do-yourself-two-part-concentration.html thread, you can see what I did in attempt to verify the concentration after mixing....chime in on that thread if you do try it.

-Matt

 

[ValorG]

Thank you all, that helped. and mcarroll it does say its good for -25*. I'm going to retest my calc to make sure then go on your thread for instructions on mixing if its still low.