cashh.de

Some time ago, I wrote the following in a forum, to get a discussion about the “Balling method” started.
Due to the fact, that I’am still asked about it from time to time, here it is:

The basic idea is,

why messing around with a calcium reactor were you have problems to exactly dose how many calcium and how many hardness you add to the system.
So lets “simply” add the chemicals.
In the original Version of H.W. Balling there is no Mg mentioned but that works simular to the Ca-Method and is therefore used in combination.

for Ca Support add CaCl2*2H2O
for Mg Support add MgCl2*6H2O (there is also another version further down)
as Ca and Mg usage of the corals need HCO3 also add NaHCO3 which also keeps up the Hardness and regulates it.

With that chemicals you therefore can maintain your Ca/Mg and Carbonhardness and control them independently.
You can of course use different methods to supply it… Putting powders in the sump, use a measuring cylinder and put solutions of them into the water… or highly automatic, using a per
istaltic dosing pump.

There of course is a downside…
When you add that chemicals you’ll also add NaCl to the system as you can see if looking at the summformulars of them.
This would change the composition of the different salts in your water, normally only 70% or so of the salt in your water is NaCl.
To correct this “ion displacement” you have to add NaCl free seasalt, which one can buy from Tropic Marin or Preis or Grotech or FaunaMarin or maybe other vendors also, to compensate the
displacement.

If you look at this all, you’ll discover, that you also raise the spec. gravity of your water…
adding NaCl and adding NaCl free Salt means adding salt!
So you’ll have to remove reefwater and add RO/DI water to correct that.
(Or use less concentrated seawater with your next waterchange).
(I remove water with a dosing pump, because method raises my s.g. quite fast)

The original version of Balling is even more complex, because it also mixes its own Traceelement solutions, which are added to the solutions of CaCl2 and MgCl2 and NaHCO3 and NaCl-free s
alt.
I don’t use that elements, because its far too complex for me. I use Traceelements like
i think you all do… The ones one can buy and put in.
The good part of that would be that you dose elements according to your Ca-usage, which
could be in conjunction in your reef (but does not have to, because elements also simply disappear by falling out.)

If you understand the method and get used to it and have a dosing station, you’ll only have to make 3-4 solutions in 14 days or so (depending on size of container for them).
And of course measure the parameters once a week (and maybe correct them).

Well there are some do’s and don’ts like neverever put NaHCO3 together with the other chemicals in the water… wait between dosages (else they will react with each other).
Try to dose the NaHCO3 in the morning, because it uses CO2 and in the morning there is more avail, because the algae did not use it without light. (pH low).

Everyone seems to have his/her own flavour of Balling, like how much of which salt in how many gal water, with or without Strontium or traceelements etc.
Some trust in their 10% waterchange a week and not doing the part with the NaCl free salt. This is often called “Balling light”.

Well, i have my own flavour too ;-)
I don’t use the elements (I use others like you maybe do)
I also remove reefwater automatically because I have to add so much chemicals, that I don’t want to raise my sg. by 2 points in the week and add RO/DI by levelcontroller.

Not Balling:
As I understand, there is an “old” version of adding Mg to the reef were you add MgCl2 and MgSO4 in a certain mix.
This is done because Sulfate(SO4) is the major part of saltcontent after Chlorid (Cl) and one tries to prevent the above mentioned ion displacement with that somehow.
So MgCl2 and MgSO4 addition found its way into the Balling Method.
But I already compensate the SO4 part by adding the NaCl-free Salt,
so I do not use the MgSO4 and use only MgCl2. Else i would create a displacement.

When getting started or later if to correct concentrations for whatever reason,
there are online-calculators around which tell you how much (gram) chemicals to add, to get the desired concentrations.

There are some calculators around, which could help. One is located at: www.faunamarin.de/eng/manual_balling-methode.php
together with another flavour of the Balling method ;-).