DIY Mg additive

[NCNBilly]

You can my MAG at Home Depot here in Harrisburg, PA.

[Hobster]

Originally posted by robthorn
hobster I think randy said it might be flake they ordered? not sure if it actually was. I would think it would be the same product contents besides maybe a moisture difference.
it is made for melting ice on roads and side walks not for human consumption. I am not sure you could ever find a grade on this product.

I have some of the "Boston" purchase in the orginal bag. It is flake.
I have now e mailed Dead Sea to see if we can get a complete breakdown of the MAG product if it is avaliable. But as robthorn stated maybe not, as only for ice melt. How then did Greg obtain a detailed list? Same product or different??????

[Lutefisk]

Originally posted by NCNBilly
You can my MAG at Home Depot here in Harrisburg, PA.

Down here in the Sunshine state icemelt is a little difficult to come by

We're also hoping that this stuff will be of sufficient purity. I've read of people using other brands of icemelt without problems.

It is bizzare how difficult it is to find good grade magnesium chloride (let alone for a reasonable price) when the low grade product is cheap enough to throw on the ground.

[robthorn]

we have a waste water treatment plant I was working at today and saw a pallet of hydrated lime I wonder if this would be good? he he he a 50 lb bag of kalk sounds too good to be true

[robthorn]

we have all been wondering about impurities of the pellets. well at least I have been. on a site peterschemicals I found them showing the impurities of the brand they carry beeing .98% max for pellets and 1.00% max for flakes so maybe we will get lucky and it's the same

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

he he he a 50 lb bag of kalk sounds too good to be true

That's what I use. A 50 pound bag of food grade calcium oxide.

Details on purity of calcium hydroxide and calcium oxide are in this article:

What Your Grandmother Never Told You About Lime
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/rhf/index.htm

[robthorn]

randy do you have a specific brand that you order in the 50 lb bag? I am using ball pickling lime at the moment. but hey cheaper and just as good is cheaper and just as good.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Again, it was part of a bulk purchase made by many in out reef club that Greg Hiller organized. It is Mississippi Lime Company food grade quicklime.

[robthorn]

awesome thank you I am still waiting on mg I will post info when I get it

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

You're welcome.

Good luck!

[robthorn]

ok the magnesium chloride is in. it is from the dead sea works ltd in isreal. manufacturers specs state the pellets are slightly more pure than the flake if you ever need more you might want to check into the flakes. I posted a pic on a competitors sight because my camera doesn't take pics less than 50k. it's like 59 and I don't think I should need to resize that small of a file. you should be able to search google or yahoo to find the other forum. if I don't get kicked off you can pm me for the link
happy reefing to all and to all a good night,
robert

[Lutefisk]

Originally posted by robthorn
ok the magnesium chloride is in. it is from the dead sea works ltd in isreal. manufacturers specs state the pellets are slightly more pure than the flake if you ever need more you might want to check into the flakes. I posted a pic on a competitors sight because my camera doesn't take pics less than 50k. it's like 59 and I don't think I should need to resize that small of a file. you should be able to search google or yahoo to find the other forum. if I don't get kicked off you can pm me for the link
happy reefing to all and to all a good night,
robert

Hmmmm can you clarify that?

I would assume that if the pellets are slightly more pure that if you need more that you would want to check into the pellets rather than the flake.

Having ordered the pellets myself I hope that is correct

If you posted a pic would you please post a link to it.

Thanks! My order should be in within a day or two if yours arrived today. It will be a great thing if this turns out to be a good source. It will be even better if, as it appears that you are saying, that the pellet is more pure than the flake that others may have received. That would be interesting if it is true because Greg Hiller is pretty careful about those types of things.

robthorn, the next thing we need to work on is finding a source of the Mississippi Lime food grade lime nearby. Mississippi Lime has a distributor in Jacksonville but they don't sell to end users. I think I remember that they have a $200 minimum order so that shouldn't be too hard to reach when you're talking about 45 lbs bags.

Paul

[robthorn]

paul I read the manufacturers specs I think on there site or a distributers site. the difference was so small it really doesn't matter. when I say small I mean small.
I think whatever was higher in the flake was also used in a reef so no big deal. just meaning it is more magnesium chloride than the flake . greg hiller did the absolute right thing in getting what he got since I imagine that is what was available to him at the time. the impurities I was talking about wasn't really a bad thing to have. I will find a retailer in small quantities. someone wants your money I promise
I cannot post a link here I was already warned once because they think it is my site but it belongs to my friend tonytooth/reefrelated. those were the 2 names he used here on rc before he was rudely banned for personal reasons outside of reef central. I did state that if you e-mail me or pm me I will gladly pass on the wanted info.
hope you understand I like reef central and want to continue learning and sharing here

[robthorn]

paul did you try univar in tampa? it is obviously too late this evening but I will call them tommorrow and see if I can work something out with them.

[robthorn]

I think the calcium talk would be more suited at this link to spare some confusion.
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...70#post4628670

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

You can insert the image into an image link so it just posts here (remove the *):

like:

[img*]link[/img*]

[Hobster]

robthorn,

You stated that you read the manufactors specs and the difference is very small. What specs did you see? Are they the same as the detailed %'s that Randy posted (from Greg)? Do we know what the trace impurities are and if it is the same exact product?

[robthorn]

everything else looked the same. I am kind of limited on time and I didn't save the info so a yahoo search should find the same results. I have remodeling 2 houses going , taking care of my system, working 50hrs. plus at work , living with a woman, and of course I hope to play golf again someday. lol sorry I didn't save it but I didn't think to do it my mind is racing every which way.
I did find time to track down the mississippi quicklime randy is using and found a tampa company willing to ship 1 or more 50 lb bags to anyone in the continental u.s. .he is working on pricing for us right now. if you are able to pick it up in the tampa area of course it can save you a couple dollars.
go to the link I added above and the results and pricing will be available there once I receive them. all needed info will be listed in that thread.
hope these new sources help everyone trying to meet a budget like myself.

[Hobster]

I think I will need some more specifics on the MgCl in the MAG product before using it. We have seen several ice melt products the intially look good but then have high trace metals. Let us know how it works out for you.

[robthorn]

hobster
well I am no chemist but it is the same product from the same place as users of this forum. I gave the specifics as stated on the bag and you can look for yourself on the internet. it is the same product in a stightly diferent shape.
if you have anyway to analize it I will ship you some free of charge if you post the results.
are you close to tampa you can even pick some up.
the distributors of these products just repackage the same products maybe diluted with water and put a sticker on it and jack it way up. I for one am tired of being taken advantage of.
I am not sure how long this thread will go but I will be starting use of it this weekend so pm me in a month or whenever and I will let you know how things are going.

[Hobster]

"hobster
well I am no chemist but it is the same product from the same place as users of this forum. I gave the specifics as stated on the bag and you can look for yourself on the internet. it is the same product in a stightly diferent shape."

Don't get me wrong, I am not saying it is not but just because it is a product of Dead Sea Limited does not make it the same purity as what was purchased in the group buy. They could have many different "grades" of MgCl
I received the pdf which only showed the main elements, it is still unknown what the trace impurites are.
I hope it is the same product as I would love to get some also as I am sure others would.

[robthorn]

did they have the trace elemants listed on the flake? if so we should be able to find the same info on the pellet. all I have seen makes the pellet look better if different.
anyway like I said I will be using it this weekend for the first time. I will try to get back here but have alot on my plate right now. I normally get on here during breaks at work .

[sureshg]

Hi,

Could someone please tell me which online site is cheap and best for corals, especially zoos :-)

Thanks.

[Greg Hiller]

Someone asked me to comment here:

This is all I know:

For my reef club I organized a buy of magnesium chloride. The material is coming from the Dead Sea Works in Israel. It came in 25 kg bags, and was a FLAKE form. I was given an analysis of the material from the manufacturer. This analysis was posted above by Randy. The analysis was for the GRADE of material I received, it was called industrial grade. I have NO idea if other grades are the same or different. When I told the guys was my application was they suggested the industial grade, which apparently is the same grade used by artificial salt mix manufacturers. It was clear from the analysis that the grade I recieved was fine for a reef tank. I have used it in my tanks with all good results.

Now.....it is quite possible that the manufacturer's other grade of MgCl2, the ice melt form, is identical. I have no idea. I was told by the manufacturer that the ice melt form does not have the same quality controls, and this makes sense to me. It is possible (though again I have no idea) that the material is all made in the same manner, and is initially identical chemically. But it is also possible, that after manufacturing the two grades are treated differently. I can imagine the ice melt stuff being dumped into rail cars, or huge cargo ships holds, I have no idea. Since the use is for melting ice, no one cares if there is a little be extra of this or than in it picked up during storage, packaging, etc. The 'little extra of this or that' is/are the things that would not show up in a simple analysis, but would only show up in trace levels likely far below 1%, but these same contaminants (if they exist) might be the ones that would be a problem in a reef tank.

Again...I have no REAL information as to whether the ice melt material is okay. For me, the cost of the high grade was trivial, most of the cost was in shipping. Buyer/user beware.

[Greg Hiller]

Oops, that should have read 25 kg bags. Randy please edit if you would.