Best two part system?

Randy Holmes-Farley, a well respected chemist ( Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping Online Magazine) came up with the DIY 2-part method.

I highly respect his opinions, but still echo your concern on this one to a point and have not used it, although many world class tanks have. Also, it seems to me that there have been a few product changes, that have caught people off gaurd and required changing the formula. So, the idea just makes me a bit nervousness. I guess the corral army is that when you buy from a premade 2-part marine company you also don't know where they are getting their supplies. Many of these companies can be a bit sketchy, gimmicky, etc... I'm not sure I would necessarily say they aren't bottling something like Randy's 2-part.

 

I have no doubt that it will work and will work well. The problem that I see with something like this is quality control. It will work fine and work fine for a long time I'm sure. But, you'll never know when something is coming at you.

A product like sidewalk salt is a commodity, and with that, suppliers will often put very little rigor into quality control. Take the Dowflake in his recipe. They tell you it's 77-80% CaCl2. What's in the 3% swing? Very likely, it's moisture. But my guess is that all they do for a quality control check is verify that the CaCl2 content is in that range. They may also check for a few trace elements. However, they're likely not checking for things like copper, iron, silica, organics, etc. If there's an upset in the process that causes a spike in one of these, they're likely not going to see it and certainly won't report it on a certificate of analysis.

 

For sure, I know This has been discussed though and Randy did consider those points and decided there was not a significant risk. There are numerous "Tanks of the Month" that use nothing but this system. So. It would seems the risk is acceptable. I really meant what I said about some of these small aquarium companies though, many also are not likely checking for the contaminants you mentioned. Nowhere is it more true that a shiny label does not make something a quality product than in the aquarium hobby...

 

m2434 are you causing trouble again! arty-smi missed seeing your posts.

are far as the subject. i use brightwells. ( A&B) since i use their other products and like to stay with one line. but b-ionic has been around a long time and many swear by it.

 

I been using seachem's reef complete and reef carbonate. I also use their matrix carbon and trace elements. Seem to work well for 2y now.

Surprised I don't see more people use these products. Wonder how come.

 

In fairness, I don't think that pharmaceutical grade additives started to become readily available to the hobby until a couple of years after Randy wrote that article. Acceptability of the risk is a matter of perspective. In other words, I feel differently about the risk if driveway heat is the only calcium chloride that I can get my hands on than I do if it's a matter of saving $40 for a 12 month supply.

I agree with the concern for what smaller companies are using. Kent's Tech M magnesium supplement used to be recommended as a solution for bryopsis. Using other supplements to raise Mg wasn't observed to have the same impact, and it was believed that an impurity in the Kent solution was what would kill the algae. Kent is a pretty well known company, but it's just an example of a commercially mixed solution that we don't know everything about.

I personally don't buy premixed solutions because I don't feel like paying for someone elses RO/DI. I'd rather save some money and mix it when I need it.

 

What makes you think pharmaceutical grade additives are readily available?

Really though, as you brought up Kent, let's use them as an example. Pretty much every Kent additive that lists the ingredients, lists copper. Why? well, if you ask them, they will say it is for "ionic balance", as copper is a constituent of sea water. However, when people test out systems water thoroughly, there is evidence are tanks have very high metal content, compared to the ocean. So, that would not seem neccesary. So, an alternative hypothesis may be that "ionic balance" sounds better than "impurity"

 

nice posts I have also found a few diy recipes online, my brother in law is in the fracing business and they use calcium chloride to keep pumps from freezing so if I ever try it and decide not to buy from BRS I may try something like what they use. Driveway salts/bath salts sound a bit iffy to me as well. I decided on seachem's fusion two-part for now.

 

How come seachem's fusion and and not seachem's reef complete/carbonate?

The latter pair seems far more cost effective due to much higher concentration. Is fusion easier to dose automatically or something?

Thanks.

 

I really didn't mean to spark such a debate on this topic. I just posted a simple answer to the OP's question that comes from a VERY reliable source in the reef keeping hobby. I tell ya, if this were coming from anyone other than Farley, I would question it but it is from the man himself. I have used it for a very long time in the hobby and have never run into any major issues.