Front Loading and 50% Water Changes

[Joel Armstrong]

Are there any advantages to dosing the RO water storage tanks as opposed to just dry dosing the aquarium?

As long as the water change volume is calculated for, there's no difference, correct?

CaS04 does not dissolve very well, so do you guys dosing the RO storage tanks end up with a heap of undissolved CaS04 sitting in the RO storage tanks?

Excuse my ignorance here, I end up with undissolved CaS04 in my aquarium. Is it just the impurities within CaS04 that don't dissolve?

 

[Joel Armstrong]

I'm yet to set up my RO system, and have wondered whether to just keep on dry dosing the aquarium or dose the RO storage tanks.

 

[Burr740]

There really shouldnt be any undissolved Ca from dry dosing the aquarium or the storage tank. Maybe a little dust from impurity but I wouldnt expect even much of that. You say heaps?

CaSO4 is a bugger to dissolve in a solution but there should be no problem adding 30-40 or even a lot more ppm to the whole tank. Might wanna double check your numbers?

CaCl dissolves a lot easier than SO4. Could try that but what you describe doesnt sound normal to me

But Im not over here reconstituting RO water either so maybe others know something I dont

 

[Joel Armstrong]

There really shouldnt be any undissolved Ca from dry dosing the aquarium or the storage tank. Maybe a little dust from impurity but I wouldnt expect even much of that. You say heaps?

CaSO4 is a bugger to dissolve in a solution but there should be no problem adding 30-40 or even a lot more ppm to the whole tank. Might wanna double check your numbers?

CaCl dissolves a lot easier than SO4. Could try that but what you describe doesnt sound normal to me

But Im not over here reconstituting RO water either so maybe others know something I dont

Hmm well yeah, I get quite a lot that doesn't dissolve..

My tap water report indicates I have 16ppm Calcium. I have been raising to 30ppm.

So when I do a 50% water change (175 litres) I dry dose 10.53grams of CaS04 to the aquarium to bring the changed water up from 16ppm to 30ppm.

A lot of it doesn't dissolve. It just sits in the tank, at the rear of tank. It bugs me a bit to be honest..

I'd love to know if I'm doing something wrong.

Perhaps what I've been supplied as CaS04 is in fact something else, I dunno. It's an off white colour, almost light brown.

 

[Joel Armstrong]

Well, I called into a home-brew shop on the way home from work today and bought some calcium sulphate.
Totally different colour and texture to what I've been using.
The calcium sulphate from the home brew shop is soft and snow white!

When I got home, I did a water change and had no problems with dissolving it.

I wonder what the hell I had previously been given.

 

[Unexpected]

Well, I called into a home-brew shop on the way home from work today and bought some calcium sulphate.
Totally different colour and texture to what I've been using.
The calcium sulphate from the home brew shop is soft and snow white!

When I got home, I did a water change and had no problems with dissolving it.

I wonder what the hell I had previously been given.

Interesting! I mix my water the day before and run a pump to mix. I see no dust or anything when I’m ready to water change.

 

[Joel Armstrong]

Interesting! I mix my water the day before and run a pump to mix. I see no dust or anything when I’m ready to water change.

Hmm it's been bugging me to be honest, seeing heaps of undissolved "whatever it was" laying around in my tank.

I had asked for CaS04 from a reputable guy here in Australia, (some of you guys are friends with him on social media) and since it's been my first time using it, I didn't really know much about it at all, it's appearance, solubility etc and just trusted that I had received what I'd asked for. It looks like friggin' cement

Hopefully, my tank starts to improve now!

 

[Unexpected]

Hmm it's been bugging me to be honest, seeing heaps of undissolved "whatever it was" laying around in my tank.

I had asked for CaS04 from a reputable guy here in Australia, (some of you guys are friends with him on social media) and since it's been my first time using it, I didn't really know much about it at all, it's appearance, solubility etc and just trusted that I had received what I'd asked for. It looks like friggin' cement

Hopefully, my tank starts to improve now!

We are spoiled here, we can buy most of this stuff on Amazon. I do buy from a different place just to be sure I’m getting a decent quality product though. When I use up all my CaSO4, I’m giving CaCl a try and @Burr740 recommended a seller on Amazon.

 

[SkaleyAquatics]

Interesting! I mix my water the day before and run a pump to mix. I see no dust or anything when I’m ready to water change.

This is interesting I remineralized my barrel yesterday and this morning saw some dust. I will check again tonight to see if it has fully dissolved. I may switch to CaCl once I get through the rest of this CaSO4.

 

[SkaleyAquatics]

We are spoiled here, we can buy most of this stuff on Amazon. I do buy from a different place just to be sure I’m getting a decent quality product though. When I use up all my CaSO4, I’m giving CaCl a try and @Burr740 recommended a seller on Amazon.

Can you share said seller?

 

[Unexpected]

Can you share said seller?

Bah, I made a mistake, I was thinking KCl, not CaCl.

Amazon.com

I haven’t had coffee yet. For CaSO4, I go to GLA. I tried Nilocg CaSO4 and it’s clumpy and had more moisture.

 

[SkaleyAquatics]

Bah, I made a mistake, I was thinking KCl, not CaCl.

Amazon.com

I haven’t had coffee yet. For CaSO4, I go to GLA. I tried Nilocg CaSO4 and it’s clumpy and had more moisture.

Haha well darn, I know aquaarium ferts have it but I was looking for a larger quantity then 1lb as that'll only last 22 weeks for me.

 

[Unexpected]

Haha well darn, I know aquaarium ferts have it but I was looking for a larger quantity then 1lb as that'll only last 22 weeks for me.

Nilocg then, I bought 5 pounds for 15 bucks.

 

[SkaleyAquatics]

Nilocg then, I bought 5 pounds for 15 bucks.

Yeah, but I am looking for larger quantities of CaCl since @Burr740 says that CaCl dissolves easier in water.

 

[Burr740]

Yeah, but I am looking for larger quantities of CaCl since @Burr740 says that CaCl dissolves easier in water.

MBferts.com is the seller I mentioned but doesnt look like they stock it. You can find 5-50 lbs on amazon for a decent price

Are you trying to make a solution? Even with CaCl its hard to get much in a solution, might get 5 ppm in a 4-5 ml per 10 gal dose, idk exactly but something like that is about the most you can expect

Also be warned CaCl puts off some HEAT as it dissolves. Hot enough to warp a plastic bottle

 

[SkaleyAquatics]

MBferts.com is the seller I mentioned but doesnt look like they stock it. You can find 5-50 lbs on amazon for a decent price

Are you trying to make a solution? Even with CaCl its hard to get much in a solution, might get 5 ppm in a 4-5 ml per 10 gal dose, idk exactly but something like that is about the most you can expect

Also be warned CaCl puts off some HEAT as it dissolves. Hot enough to warp a plastic bottle

I was going to use it to reminerialize the storage barrel. But if it produces too much heat I don't want it to warp the storage barrels I already put enough water on the floor between water changes and filling the barrels. I might just stick with CaSO4 then.

 

[Burr740]

I was going to use it to reminerialize the storage barrel. But if it produces too much heat I don't want it to warp the storage barrels I already put enough water on the floor between water changes and filling the barrels. I might just stick with CaSO4 then.

It wont hurt the storage barrel at all because the concentration is so small. With solutions youre talking about hundreds of ppm in a 500 ml bottle. It wont even warm the water in a tank

 

[*Ci*]

I dry dose CaCl in my pond - it dissolves completely in about 10 min in a high flow area. In my aquariums, I shake my front loaded, weekly dose in a glass bottle for about 30 sec. for a full dissolve with no sediment, then pour into tank (5 tbls. in 400 ml water approx.). It gets warm, but not that much.
I buy large bags from Home Hardware here in Canada - $33 cdn for 50lbs. You can also get them at swimming pool supply stores.

 

[SkaleyAquatics]

I dry dose CaCl in my pond - it dissolves completely in about 10 min in a high flow area. In my aquariums, I shake my front loaded, weekly dose in a glass bottle for about 30 sec. for a full dissolve with no sediment, then pour into tank (5 tbls. in 400 ml water approx.). It gets warm, but not that much.
I buy large bags from Home Hardware here in Canada - $33 cdn for 50lbs. You can also get them at swimming pool supply stores.

View attachment 5141

Ill look into this. Have you had any issues with the purity only being 83-87%?

 

[*Ci*]

Ill look into this. Have you had any issues with the purity only being 83-87%?

None, I have been adding this to ponds, goldfish tanks and tropical tanks since 2006. I had a koi mentor (who sadly, passed away) who was a chemist and he assured me back then that this product was safe to use. In the past, however, I had found 98% pure CaCl at the pool supply. I switched when that place no longer carried the version.