Jump to content

Anyone else notice the change to the BRS 2 part additives?


Matt LeBaron

Recommended Posts

So BulkReefSupply (BRS) is apparently discontinuing their old additives that they sold in bulk for newer prepackaged ones. Unfortunately, I just did some calculations on what you get for the price you pay and it's not good. For example, a 1 gallon container of Calcium Chloride used to cost $14 and at 2.5 cups per gallon of water for their recommended mix it would basically basically cost you $2.19 per gallon of mix. The new prepackaged container for mixing 1 gallon is $7. The price breakdown is similar for the other half of the 2 part dosing mix and their MAG mix.

 

I'm going to have to start buying from F&S (More expensive but still cheaper than BRS now) or find some other source. I looked on Amazon a bit but I am seriously leery of randomly purchasing from Amazon for things that are going into my tank. Anyone else have a good source for bulk 2 part (with Mag)? I've been buying from BRS for like 6 or 7+ years now, really bummed out they did this.

 

Figured I would let others know and at the same time maybe find some other options for those of us that normally bought our 2 part from BRS.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

From what I read, they changed from food grade to pharm grade on the additives, thus more expensive.

You can stock up the old BRS additives right now as they are selling as clearance. I used drfostersmith for my 2 parts and mag. pretty comparable to the old BRS additives.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Chuck, where did you read about the reason for the change?  If that's true i wonder if they're doing it because they found things in the food grade that they didn't like.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I’ve never purchased these from BRS, so I can’t say for sure what the price used to be for the 1 gallon container. But the clearance section of their website shows $14 as the clearance price and $20 as the old regular price. Then you are comparing the bulk clearance price of the old product to the price of the pre-portioned mix to make 1 gallon of mixture, which is $7. It would be more fair compare to the new 7 pound bag, which costs $23 and makes the same amount of mixture as the old 1 gallon container. So for the equivalent amount of product, the regular price went from $20 to $23, a 15% increase. Your description above makes it sound like they tripled the price.

 

Disclaimer: I do not work for BRS and have never purchased that product. So I don’t know if the 1 gallon container was commonly available for $14. But even if it was, comparing same size containers would be a 64% increase, not 200+%.

Edited by ronl
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just saw the BRS email.  That's where Chuck got the info.  I'll read up on it.

 

I can confirm from an order I placed in January that 1 gallon of calcium chloride was $20 and they say it made 6.4 gallons.  Their 7 pound pouch of the new stuff makes "over 6 gallons" so it's probably fair to compare them.  It's $23 like ronl says.  

 

Seems legit.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Read up on DIY two-part - an article by Randy Holmes-Farley.

 

Use regular old USP grade baking soda (Arm and Hammer) for alkalinity. It's sodium bicarbonate and is as good as you'll get from any other source. Bake it if you normally use calcium carbonate.This should save you some money.

 

Calcium Chloride is the calcium part of two-part. You can probably find other bulk sources of food-grade calcium chloride as it's used in pickling and other food processing. Back in the day, we used commercial ice melt (e.g. Prestone Driveway Heat) for this. 

 

Finally, the magnesium part is usually a mix of magnesium chloride (ice melt, again) and magnesium sulfate heptahydrate (e.g. Epsom salts). 

 

When BRS got into this game, it was because a bunch of us were taking the DIY route and saving money.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here's an example:

 

Food grade calcium chloride

BulkFoods.com - $75/25 pounds

 

The old Prestone Driveway Heat route is even cheaper: About $50 for 50 pounds. Of course, that's not "food grade" but earlier analyses showed it was fine for our hobby 10 or 15 years ago....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's slightly more $ with the new additives.

I supposed Matt was referring to the 5 gallons pricing that no longer offer with the new additives.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I’ve never purchased these from BRS, so I can’t say for sure what the price used to be for the 1 gallon container. But the clearance section of their website shows $14 as the clearance price and $20 as the old regular price. Then you are comparing the bulk clearance price of the old product to the price of the pre-portioned mix to make 1 gallon of mixture, which is $7. It would be more fair compare to the new 7 pound bag, which costs $23 and makes the same amount of mixture as the old 1 gallon container. So for the equivalent amount of product, the regular price went from $20 to $23, a 15% increase. Your description above makes it sound like they tripled the price.

 

Disclaimer: I do not work for BRS and have never purchased that product. So I don’t know if the 1 gallon container was commonly available for $14. But even if it was, comparing same size containers would be a 64% increase, not 200+%.

I wish I could edit my initial post because Ronl is 100% correct. My math was very wrong and on top of that I did not see that they were offering the 7 pound bags, the e-mail I got did not provide links to them and I did not scroll down far enough on their new additives page to see all of the 7 pound bags. If a mod could add some disclaimer like" The math in this post in incorrect, please read Ronl's response" I would appreciate it. ("Matt's an idiot, please ignore this post" would also be acceptable)

 

Alright crisis averted, I can continue to be lazy and mindlessly order my supplies from BRS. The small price increase is not a big deal, although I really do like their gallon jugs better than the bags because I can stake the jugs.

 

Origami's posts about where to buy in bulk are also good, for me it's worth the little bit of extra money I spend through BRS for it to be simple and come from a trusted source.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just purchased a 50lb bag of 100% magnesium chloride ice melt for around $17 from an agricultural website Mills Fleet Farm. Picked up some epsom salt - magnesium sulfate - from them too. I still have a 50lb bag of 100% calcium chloride ice melt when I bought 2 of them years ago from Ace Hardware. The brand name of ice melt is safestep. Mixes clean/clear. For kalk, I purchase directly from the Mrs Wages website for pickling lime. I buy it by the case and it's even cheaper. They come in individual 1lb bags. Never had a caking problem in my reactor. Never took the mixing pump apart and it needed to be cleaned. For sodium bicarbonate I buy Arm & Hammer baking soda in bulk from Costco or wherever.

Edited by FirstContact
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just purchased a 50lb bag of 100% magnesium chloride ice melt for around $17 from an agricultural website Mills Fleet Farm. Picked up some epsom salt - magnesium sulfate - from them too. I still have a 50lb bag of 100% calcium chloride ice melt when I bought 2 of them years ago from Ace Hardware. The brand name of ice melt is safestep. Mixes clean/clear. For kalk, I purchase directly from the Mrs Wages website for pickling lime. I buy it by the case and it's even cheaper. They come in individual 1lb bags. Never had a caking problem in my reactor. Never took the mixing pump apart and it needed to be cleaned. For sodium bicarbonate I buy Arm & Hammer baking soda in bulk from Costco or wherever.

:thumbsup: It's good to see somebody using bulk sources like this. Brings back memories of how we did so much stuff by ourselves.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Origami! Everything's a long term budget decision especially if we're in it for life. I had good success in my 46g with kalk and 2 part. I plan on doing the same with my 120g but would like to try a lot more sticks. Wife won't approve a CaRx due to the CO2 tank.

 

Happy Reefing Everyone!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...