Sea Lab #28 Block

[DarkHorseMBA]

The LFS had these at the checkout and the employees swear by it.
It's a white block that slowly dissolves in your tank to replenish trace elements.

Anyone ever used these?

http://www.fosterandsmithaquatics.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=4166

http://www.hdltd.com/products/p_blox.html

DarkHorse

[jrsatx20]

Used them never saw a difference so stopped wasting money

[ramsey]

Yup, I don't see the point in a product like this if you're doing regular water changes with a quality salt.

[Richard]

They are primarily calcium chloride along with trace elements. They work if you use them as Hiatt recommends by placing them in an area with zero flow, he recommends burying them in the substrate. Otherwise they dissolve too fast and will raise your calcium level too high.

That said, I never liked using calcium chloride to maintain calcium levels so I only used them when I needed to make a one time adjustment.

[Europhyllia]

I don't use the blocks but I do use calcium chloride powder to make my two part. Richard, would you mind elaborating on what your find worrisome or negative about calcium chloride?

[JLiu]

My buddy uses them they do work for the most part just have to keep in an area of low flow. If you do regular water changes i'm not sure they would be all that benefitial. I idea behind it is if you have enough of the calcium and trace they won't desolve as quickly but if your seriously lacking they will be gone within minutes. Then again he does a water change once every 3 years or so.

[profntbtr]

used them once, in a hi flo area left me with Ca readings in excess of 700, discontinued use

[CoryDude]

Karin, I think most of the problems with Calcium Chloride date back to before we started using 2 part buffering systems. I used Kent Turbo Calcium in the 90's and it was a constant chase to keep the alk up since ca. chloride depleted it so rapidly. Kalkwasser was a better choice back then.

The main negative side effect I saw from using turbo calcium was that impellers and other mech parts seemed to get clogged up with calcium crud really fast.

And yeah, Hiatt kept recommending those blocks but I never used them.

[Richard]

Karin, yeah Cory pretty much described the problem with using calcium chloride. Eventually you get to a point where it's almost impossible to maintain alk/calcium/mag level because everything keeps precipitating out of the water. Two part systems are supposed to be ionically balanced so you don't get into that situation. Although I think if you went long enough without any/insufficient water changes you could see it happen even with the two part since they're never going to be perfectly balanced. So if you ever get to where you're having to add more and more and more of your two part just to maintain levels and your not getting lots of growth to account for the increase then it's time for some big water changes to set things right again.