Calcium Acetate (Medicine-Phoslo)

[Mady4real]

I was looking for some option to maintain my calcium and alkalinity in my 65gallon LPS and Softies tank. Problem is finding a reliable chemical is a bit difficult here in my country i can easily find bicarbonate of soda food grade but finding Calcium chloride is out of the question.
I found this medicine for renal diseases it says 664mg Calcium acetate as the only ingredient.
So the questions are

1) How much to dose in a 65gal reef tank with current requirements is around 0.4 Dkh per day.

2) since its a medicine for human consumption i think i should not be worried of any impurities.

3) should i drop tablets directly in the tank or mix it with RODI water

here its being sold as the name of Lophos, other countries its being sold as phoslo

https://www.rxlist.com/phoslo-drug.htm

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Ha, I'm very familiar with Phos-Lo as it is the competitor to main main claim to fame: two other drugs that i co-invented that bind phosphate in people (Renagel and Renvela).

Calcium acetate itself is certainly fine to use for both calcium and alkalinity. Salifert All-In -One is calcium acetate.

Both the tablet and the capsule formulation do have other ingredients. it is not 100% calcium acetate. In the capsule form, the other ingredients are all in teh gelatin capsule, so if you open that and pour out and use the solids, you are fine.

The tablet form says it also contains Polyethylene Glycol 8000, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, and Crospovidone. Whether those are a concern or not will depend on the amounts. They are probably OK and the only effect might be on a skimmer, making it foam more, so watch for that if you use it.

For dosing, use this calculator for both calcium and alkalintiy,a nd use the entry for Salifert All In One

http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html

 

[Mady4real]

Ha, I'm very familiar with Phos-Lo as it is the competitor to main main claim to fame: two other drugs that i co-invented that bind phosphate in people (Renagel and Renvela).

Calcium acetate itself is certainly fine to use for both calcium and alkalinity. Salifert All-In -One is calcium acetate.

Both the tablet and the capsule formulation do have other ingredients. it is not 100% calcium acetate. In the capsule form, the other ingredients are all in teh gelatin capsule, so if you open that and pour out and use the solids, you are fine.

The tablet form says it also contains Polyethylene Glycol 8000, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, and Crospovidone. Whether those are a concern or not will depend on the amounts. They are probably OK and the only effect might be on a skimmer, making it foam more, so watch for that if you use it.

For dosing, use this calculator for both calcium and alkalintiy,a nd use the entry for Salifert All In One

http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html

Thanks randy.. The calculator says 14ml but how can i convert this ml with grams for phoslo.. em not sure how concentrated the Saifert all in one is.. sorry for being nooby

 

[Mady4real]

What i found on internet is Salifert all in one has 250,000 mg per Ltr. So If i mix 250gm of Phoslo in RODI water.. can i make the solution as potent as salifert all in one.. for calcium and alkalinity and use the calculator? I dont want to overdose so please help lol

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Sorry, i guess it is a liquid, not a solid product.

This is what I would do:

For alkalinity, use the entry for sodium carbonate anhydrous and multiply the amount needed by 1.5 since calcium acetate weighs that much more than sodium carbonate.

For calcium, use the entry for anhydrous CaCl2, and multiply the amount needed by 1.4 since calcium acetate weighs that much more than calcium chloride.

Note that these are going to be estimates as you won't know the amount of moisture in the Phos-Lo solid, potentially making it a bit weaker in strength than expected.

Dose during the day since it will consume O2.