No chemicals are 100% pure. None. Period. You can probably get to 99.9% pure at a significant cost. The most pure ones are very expensive so it all depends on the grade of chemical you use. Are they using analytical grade? Pharmaceutical grade? Food grade? Reagent grade? Does FM list the grades of chemicals that are used in their products so it can be compared to BRS or LSM? I would almost certainly guarantee that they are all the same grade. The ACS or USP grade stuff gets really pricey.

I have used both BRS and LSM CaCl (among other chemicals). The BRS product mixes every bit as clear as the FM stuff. There is a small amount of residue at the bottom of LSM CaCl, but no more than what's there when I mix some IO.

You can use bulk chemicals for the "Balling Method" without issue. There's no magic to the Balling Method. It's essentially just a packaged and marketed version of Randy Holmes-Farely's two-part solution which is available to everyone for free:

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

And I think AquaDigital cares a great deal about people using non-FM chemicals because the more people that are scared out of using bulk chemicals and into FM stuff, the more green shall line his jeans. I'm not saying that's wrong, it's just human nature.

Three awesome posts there guys.

I'd like to add that if I paid the price for the name brand stuff I'd be lining my jeans with a different color.

:lol: Hmmm....interesting.

what about dosing.... milk... for CALCIUM we drink it maybe fish would liek it? haha but seriously ive never had the guts to try the diy supplements and salts and such. ... i almost tried vodka dosing but got scared again haha i think i just dont know enough about these things and dont want to put my reef at risk. but in the future i will be upgrading to a 225 so costs will be a fair bit higher and by then i will definitley want to try some of these diy methods. i just have to find the right ones i guess.