Buying calcium -- this is ridiculous

[waterbear]

It probably is with the disclaimer that, as of 2006, Dow was using a different (read less expensive) purification process and no longer recommend their products for pools because of the higher bromine concentration. They also sold off their calcium chloride division and its brands in 2009 to Oxy. However, the amount of bromine added is small (smaller than if you had added a sodium bromide based algaecide) and is quickly destroyed by sunlight and shocking.
http://www.oxy.com/Our_Businesses/ch...plications.pdf
Tetra calcium chloride products, on the other hand, are still recommended for pool use (and is what I have seen and purchased in 50 lb bags the past few years).
http://www.tetrachemicals.com/Produc...ETRA_Flake.aqf

[utahpool]

Thanks Waste!

Waterbear do you buy it from a national chain or a local place? I'm having a hard time finding it locally in Southern Utah!!

[dhanger]

I haven't tried them yet, but look at Hillbrothers.com. They have branches in California, Arizona, and Utah. I also need to get calcium to raise about 80ppm, and I thought about trying them, don't know if they sell retail (I doubt it) or if they have local distributors in your area.

Dan

[waterbear]

Thanks Waste!

Waterbear do you buy it from a national chain or a local place? I'm having a hard time finding it locally in Southern Utah!!

When I worked in the industry all the local distributors ( SCP, Superior, Horner Express, and Gorman stocked 50 lb bags or either the flake or the anhydrous pellets. (The first two are national distributors and the last two Florida distributors.) We used to have the Dow and then the Tetra after Dow changed their manufacturing process in stock in the store.
I have no trouble finding it still and the last bag I bought was from a Florida chain called Pinch a Penny (very much like Leslies) who carries the TetraFlake. Several years ago they sold Dowflake. I suspect they are ordering from one of our local distributors. If you have a mom and pop pool store around (but not a BioGuard Dealer, since they probably won't.) ask if they can order it for you from the local distributor.

FWIW, both SCP and Superior have branch distributors in Utah in several location so if your pool store orders from either of them (and it is very likely if they are a full service store) then they should be able to special order a 50 lb bag for you.