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PeterErc

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didn't look to far into this, but what's up with the new product line of two part? Prices are down right ridiculous! It's a dang shame Petco bought DrFostersmith and shut down that line on two part supplies. Will have to look elsewhere. Leslies pool has calcium chloride, Wynn Dixie, still carries Mrs. Wages. just gotta find some mag flak.
 
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pirate2876

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How much did the price increase? After a quick look into the two part listed on the site, the one I saw was $99 for 6 gallons of ALK/CAL. Is that what you are talking about?
 

Bulk Reef Supply

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I’m really sorry you feel that way about shopping with us. Let me do my best to explain the reason for an increase.
About a year ago, we did revamp our two part line. As a part of that, we committed to providing pharmaceutical grade additives across all two part products as well as kalkwasser. We had kept the prices steady for a number of years with the more traditional pet/tech grade materials, however there is an inherent cost difference when sourcing additives that are typically used for products intended for human use, as the standards for purity are much higher.

There are certainly alternatives out there that you can use, no doubt and to help reefers determine which option was best for them and their own tank we tested the Pharma chems along with hobby grade and tech grade to see the differences. In the grand scheme of things, this slight increase in price really only amounts to a few extra dollars per month and for quite a few reefers, paying a bit more for higher quality and purity is worth it for the overall investment in their tanks.

If you wanted to see the testing data for each 2-part additive that we did, including Kalwasser, here are the video links to each one where Ryan breaks it all down for you. Also, directly after the change a similar type of thread was posted here on R2R where Ryan even comes in to comment on his decisions for changing over to pharma grade concurrent changes in cost.

Calcium
Alkalinity
Magnesium
Kalkwasser

Here is Ryan, in his own words, describing why we made the change.

"Figured I would share a few thoughts because most of the decision to change materials was mine. Before we get too far into this, I think it is worthwhile to note that for most reefers this amounts to buck or two a month, so any reasonable difference is likely worth it for many reefers.

I think it is impossible to increase the quality of anything without the original material looking like it was inferior because it will be. The previous material was obviously suitable for the application. Tens of thousands of reefers, including me, have been successfully using it for ages. So the existence of something better doesn't make the previous one bad, no matter how good it gets there will always be better out there.

So why did we make the change? First, the pinch grips are not the best moisture barrier for a container holding salts, most notably the magnesium chloride. So we upgraded to a bag which will keep moisture out much better, prevent clumps and keep the product free-flowing. This is also a package that better represents the quality of what is inside.

In conjunction with that, we have been approached by many companies over the years with alternative chemicals some of which are higher grade materials or have functional differences. This seemed like a good time to make a change if we were ever going to do that. After some thought, I ultimately decided I would rather offer the best material out there rather simply shoot for the lowest cost possible. This was a pretty easy decision because the price difference for a majority of the chems was pretty small.

The magnesium sulfate is now a dried form which means you can use less, it dissolves a ton easier and when mixed with magnesium chloride it no longer turns into a rock because there is minimal moisture for the mag chloride to pull out of the mag sulfate. This one is probably less expensive now because you use less.

The soda ash now functionally dissolves much easier and much less likely to clump in the bottom of the jug, but it is also ultra-low impurities and organics. You can visually see the difference when mixing it up because it mixes much clearer. I think you can have a legit debate if this level of purity is needed and it probably isn't, but I am pretty certain a vast majority of reefers would select a bag of the new material over the pinch grip of the old material considering it is only $2.99 different.

The calcium hydroxide had the most significant increase in quality and in a whole different class of source materials. Functionally it is denser, and you can use a small amount less to achieve the same results. It is also less talc-like or "poofy" meaning it is harder to get airborne and breath, so I think it is fair to consider it safer to use. This also contains ultra-low organics and impurities, most specifically ultra low aluminum. I understand that many do not believe a higher quality material is needed because kalk solution will settle out many impurities but that's not the case with all impurities, and that also implies you never let the pump suck concentrated impurities off the bottom. It's just better if it was never there in the first place. I also think ultra low impurities in our additives is more important than ever in a world where many reefers are doing fewer water changes than ever before.

In relation to the 5 gallon buckets which were significantly cheaper, after shipping a 40 pound bucket for free, credit card fees and packaging costs most of them were a break-even endeavor so they were a great deal before :) I let it slide for a long time just because so few reefers actually ordered it in that size it didn't seem to matter but sometimes deals like that can't last forever. I guess I can only hope those that were getting that deal all these years find value in that.

I understand nobody likes it when their favorite products change and certainly no one likes it when they go up in price but I hope this makes the change a bit clearer and you may understand why I made the decision"


https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/bulk-soda-ash-discontinued.363810/page-2#post-4509838
 

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