Freeze 2 part solutions?

[willray]

Can you freeze 2 part solutions like Randy's or Bulkreefsupply's.
It would be convienent IMO if you can freeze em into cubes, toss in the sump, let it melt and dose itself over a few minutes.

 

[Doherty]

That is a great question....... I am curious as well what the answer would be...... It would sure make things a bit easier dose a bunch out at one time freeze........ throw them in as needed. I tend to be a bit lazy at times, this would work out well For me if it gets the ok.

I'm just curious what the freeze temp would be, I would think the it would have a lower freeze temp than FW, but would not even be able to guess how low the temp would need to be in order to freeze.

Great question!

 

[nichols]

I'm not sure if the freezer would be cold enough. Calcium melts ice and is added to concrete to keep it from freezing in the winter.

 

[pillowfish]

Freeze it in liquid nitro(yes overboard, but that's me )? Not sure how it would the quality of the product to be frozen then thawed. Perhaps call the company unless someone wants to experiment with their tank,

 

[willray]

Most newer freezers go down to 0.After the solution is mixed and it sits for a day it's no longer generating heat so I'm thinking.....thinking....thinking ,lost it.JK That it might freeze 0 is pretty darn cold.
That was my concern as well Tabitha.Wondering about it's altered state and what it would do to it's composition.

 

[willray]

Since my last post an hr ago cubes have froze fine and I dropped a 2 oz cube of alk in (need to raise it a bit)and it sank like a rock...kinda figured that thou.

 

[coralcor]

i wonder if you could freeze part A then put part B over it let it freeze.. and dose both parts at once....

 

[The Ng Thing]

i wonder if you could freeze part A then put part B over it let it freeze.. and dose both parts at once....

Gotta freeze Part B first

If your tank is in your kitchen you could fill your ice dispenser with the stuff and rig a timer to the switch for automatic dosing

 

[MikeG]

Quick test would be take two 5 gallon buckets of water, and in one add the unfrozen solution and the other the cube. Mix and then measure change in alk or calcium. I would add enough to give a substantial change to decrease measurement variability and increase the % change.

 

[number1gsxxr]

Well salt lowers the freezing point of water and Randy's recipe has 86,000 ppm chloride in the mag supplement. So it's very salty. I'm sure the calcium supplement is also very salty. I'm not sure at what temp they freeze, but I'm not sure you could get your freezer that cold.

Calcium chloride CaCl2 can melt ice at -29°C (-20°F)

Magnesium chloride MgCl2 at -15°C (5°F)

Now Randy's recipe takes the CaCl2 and MgCl2 and dissolves it in water which 'dilutes' (not really the right word...reduces it's potency perhaps) it somewhat I'm sure. Maybe it would be possible to freeze the magnesium chloride.

 

[willray]

i wonder if you could freeze part A then put part B over it let it freeze.. and dose both parts at once....

Excellent thought...I like that idea.

Well salt lowers the freezing point of water and Randy's recipe has 86,000 ppm chloride in the mag supplement. So it's very salty. I'm sure the calcium supplement is also very salty. I'm not sure at what temp they freeze, but I'm not sure you could get your freezer that cold.

Calcium chloride CaCl2 can melt ice at -29°C (-20°F)

Magnesium chloride MgCl2 at -15°C (5°F)

Now Randy's recipe takes the CaCl2 and MgCl2 and dissolves it in water which 'dilutes' (not really the right word...reduces it's potency perhaps) it somewhat I'm sure. Maybe it would be possible to freeze the magnesium chloride.

Note post above of mine.......it freezes just fine.

 

[DoctaQ]

at the point where the two solutions touch you will likeley have precipitation which could lead to more in your tank. plus it would only slow the dosing a little bit unless you have a huge block of ice with very little calcium or carbonate

 

[number1gsxxr]

The calcium chloride freezes as well or did you just try the alk supplement?

 

[Joel A]

i could calculate the freezing point of the calcium chloride solution if you really wanted me too.. we do this sort of thing in chemistry all the time...

although IMO it wouldn't work nearly as well as you're thinking it would...

not sure on this one, but lowering the temperature significantly lowers the saturation point significantly as well.. i'm not sure if you'd get a precipitate or not....

 

[Joel A]

if i did my calculations correctly, which i might not of... but the freezing point of randy's 2 part calcium chloride should be -6.6 degrees C, which is equivalent to 20 degrees Fahrenheit... a temperature that freezers can reach.

So my thinking is yes you could freeze it no problem, but i still don't think the whole idea would work that well... you'd still need to measure out volumetric amounts of the 2 part solutions into the ice cube trays to know how much you're dosing with each ice cube... and that's only if the whole dosing as a solid thing would work.. which i'm not sure if it would.


formula used was delta T= Kf (of water, the solvent) x N (number of ions in solution) x m (molality of the solution)

molality was calculated using moles CaCl2/Kg of water, so 4.5/3.8= 1.1842

so delta T = 1.86 x 3 (CaCl2) x 1.1842 (the molality of the solution)

Delta T= 6.6 degrees C

 

[DoctaQ]

i dont see the benefit of freezing the calcium since you can dose lots of calcium at once with no ill effect

the alkalinity supplement maybe.. especially if you need to cool your tank off with ice anyways.

 

[stingythingy45]

i dont see the benefit of freezing the calcium since you can dose lots of calcium at once with no ill effect

the alkalinity supplement maybe.. especially if you need to cool your tank off with ice anyways.

I agree.
Besides I've taken up enough room in the freezer with food and stuff.

And not to mention avoiding that embarassing,"these ice cubes taste funny"situation.

 

[willray]

The calcium chloride freezes as well or did you just try the alk supplement?

It freezes as well and my freezer is set at 10 deg f.

i dont see the benefit of freezing the calcium since you can dose lots of calcium at once with no ill effect
the alkalinity supplement maybe.. especially if you need to cool your tank off with ice anyways.

Just the convenience of not having to go in the basement and measure...grab a few cubes toss and run.

I agree.
Besides I've taken up enough room in the freezer with food and stuff.

And not to mention avoiding that embarassing,"these ice cubes taste funny"situation.

I would just keep them in their bowls or similar.And one might even be good for acid indigestion.

 

[Bobbofin]

Just don't use those cubes for cocktails! ::

 

[dcforester1]

if i did my calculations correctly, which i might not of... but the freezing point of randy's 2 part calcium chloride should be -6.6 degrees C, which is equivalent to 20 degrees Fahrenheit... a temperature that freezers can reach.

So my thinking is yes you could freeze it no problem, but i still don't think the whole idea would work that well... you'd still need to measure out volumetric amounts of the 2 part solutions into the ice cube trays to know how much you're dosing with each ice cube... and that's only if the whole dosing as a solid thing would work.. which i'm not sure if it would.


formula used was delta T= Kf (of water, the solvent) x N (number of ions in solution) x m (molality of the solution)

molality was calculated using moles CaCl2/Kg of water, so 4.5/3.8= 1.1842

so delta T = 1.86 x 3 (CaCl2) x 1.1842 (the molality of the solution)

Delta T= 6.6 degrees C

You could do all that or just throw it in the freezer and see if it freezes.

I dont think dosing amounts would be an issue, just figure how many oz each cube hold, and then you could calculate it from there.

I would think all that work it might just be as easy to use a cup and pour it in.