"What if"

[littlesilvermax]

I often think about this stuff myself. I never get any residue in my mixing containers, and even if one did, could it just be a bit of dust? You know the dust that falls into your tank all day long?

I have only sold stuff I have used. In fact I have spend the better part of 5 months getting rid of corals that are all the size of basketballs (some bigger) getting ready for a move. So obviously you don't need expensive stuff to get good results.

I always get food grade stuff, so I think it is a grade above anything that will be used for driveway salt. I can't say that it is as good as the high dollar stuff sold by companies. If I could get 2 lbs of BrandXX calcium for $8, I would buy it in a flash, but I can't.

I do know that I have used brand name kalk in the past, and my non-brand name stuff had less residual. So just because there are expensive "reef" products out there, doesn't mean they are any better, but could actually be worse.

But in all reality, I do believe that some of the reputable manufacturers actually make good products, with good R&D in it, and that there trace elements may in fact help a bit.

How much difference do they make? Are the trace elements needed? Would more water changes (cheaper then using their balling method) offset the need for these trace elements? I don't know.

I would actually like to have 2 identical tanks running for a minimum of 2 years, and see which method works best

I wish I could add more, but I really don't know of any credible info to share.

[Ron99]

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.

[Myka]

Originally Posted by shrimpchips

My FM balling salts come in a plain white 4kg pail with a colourful sticker on the side. Damn colour stickers making it so expensive.

Hmmm....interesting.

[fiorano]

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.

[fkshiu]

Originally Posted by iansfishy

As for people who are simply making their own salts with Dow and other cheaper products, and not doing the balling method I dont think he cares. Just my two cents. But what about the products from Littlesilvermax, will they substitute for the FM product?

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.

[lastlight]

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.