Gypsum

[AquaticJim]

I would like to add some calcium to my tank. I bought something from the local hardware called Brunnings Gypsum Clay Breaker. Here's a link to the product -

http://www.brunnings.com.au/products/factsheets/Gypsum Clay Breaker.pdf

It's states -

ACTIVE INGREDIENTS

21% Calcium (Ca) as Sulphate
17% Sulphur (S) as Sulphate
99% Gypsum Premium Grade


It's a dirty brown colour, I was expecting it to look like a white powder when I opened the bag up.

Have I bought the wrong thing?

Thanks,

Jim

 

[nipat]

I'm simply not sure. But you can buy it from Chinese drug stores.
They usually sell gypsum for making tofu, yes it's white.

 

[Biollante]

Hmmm...


Hi Jim,

There is probably nothing wrong with it, though I tend to worry about any product that lists its ingredients as totaling 137%.


When I suggested gypsum or plaster of Paris, I was envisioning something, well, not brown.


However, 21% Calcium and 17% sulfate is about right. The best I can figure is the label wants you to know that it is 99% gypsum with a tiny bit of something else, I would like to know what the something else is.


Biollante

 

[Biollante]

So Too Sum Up... I Dunno...


Hi Jim,

Did a little calculating, probably should have done this first…


It seems like rather than being 99% gypsum, it seems more like 87%.


The “99% GYPSUM PREMIUM GRADE” depending on the labeling laws of OZ, this may be the definition of the technical grade gypsum.


In addition, a quick bit of research tells me there are natural gypsum in rose and brown colors, so when they say “GENUINE NATURAL MINERAL GYPSUM not a chemical by product” that may mean they simply do not “process” the gypsum.

I kind of like this Brunning’s bunch, make a virtue of being cheap!


Biollante

 

[AquaticJim]

Ahhhh this is getting frustrating!

LOL I mixed this product up in some water and it's like mixing clay with water. It's just turns into sticky brown mud. I don't think I'll risk it, I'll just spread the 10 kilos of it on my lawn!


I live in a rural area so it's a little limited and it's also an 80 kilometre round trip to the hardware shop. I just rang and asked if they had Plaster of Paris and after a long search they came back with the answer "No, but we do have some packets of casting plaster".

So does anyone know what the heck 'casting plaster' is ???

 

[AquaticJim]

Further to my question above. This is the fact sheet on the Casting Plaster -

http://www.boral.com.au/brochures/ordering/PDF/CASTING PLASTER-CRAKFILLA.pdf?company=Packaged Products


From reading that......it looks like the stuff I need???

 

[Biollante]

If At First You Don't Suceed...


Hi Jim,


Yeah I think this stuff will work just fine the main ingredient is plaster of Paris.


The plaster retarder is insoluble, made of the same stuff as your fingernails.


Good luck…
Biollante

 

[AquaticJim]

Thanks

The brown gypsum stuff is spread over my lawn and I have the "good stuff" now!

I think at least my snails will be very happy at the addition of this, there shells have never looked fantastic. I'd say that maybe they've always struggled getting enough calcium? Anyway time will tell

 

[Biollante]

Go Tell It To he Marines... Magic, I Tell You, Magic


Hi Jim,

Calcium is magic stuff, I know experience and observation are frowned upon here, but many ailments magically go away, many a magic cure in the aquarium world revolve around a few cheap and plentiful metals.



If it has been a Calcium deficiency, you will see fairly quick improvement with critters, plants and even algae.



There are people around mixing and pouring plaster of Paris into casts of seashells and such, package them in blister packs, or my favorite, in plastic sandwich bags with some fancy stories of high tech solutions to their aquarium problems, charging folks good money for a couple cents worth of gypsum. Oh well…



Biollante

 

[Wet]

If you're looking for a cheap and bulk Ca source, check out "Pool Hardness Increaser" in warm areas or "de-ice" in cold areas, which should be CaCl2.

(While CaCl2 in solution does warm up a little, this is totally okay dosed dry into a tank in my experience. You could premix/dissolve it in a cup or your sump instead of dosing dry if paranoid, of course. I recall P. being pro-this.)