Calcium Chloride Flake

[wrassefan]

I guess HD in Shrewsbury got their winter alotment of calcium chloride...some new brand from Finland....tetrachemicals.com...don't know if it is safe to use in the tank but here's the spec sheet

 

[JohnK]

I have no idea if it's safe, but IIRC it says %77 pure ca chloride leaving me wondering what the other %23 is?

 

[wrassefan]

John, package said water was the other ingredient only....but if you look at the spec sheet, it has low traces of metals, potassiium and "other stuff"

 

[JohnK]

Duh, I just looked at an old bag of dow flake. "%77-80"

I'd be kind of leery of the stuff in HD now, but who knows?

Randy, are you out there.....

 

[Greg Hiller]

The 'extra' stuff is merely water molecules of hydration. Completlely standard for a chemical like this. You could drive the extra water off, but it's not worth it to do so. FWIW, I remember using anhydrous calcium chloride as a desicant in chemistry lab. It is very effective at taking up water, even in organic solutions. If you toss anhydrous calcium chloride on the sidewalk (it's those little white balls of ice melter) you'll notice that it will also absorb water from the air.

I seem to recall reading somewhere that this 'Tetrachemicals' brand is okay, but I don't recall the specifics. Might be best to at a minimum do an ammonia test kit on the stuff after adding some to a batch of saltwater.