Hi all,
i'll try to describe what i understood of Hans-Werner Ballings (working at Tropic Marin)
"Balling Method". Please be patient
.
Be warned!, there are lots of different flavours of this method used!
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, at end of post)
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 peristaltic 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 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 by a dosing pump, because method raises my s.g. from 1.026 to 1.028 in just one week)
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. edit: and NaCl-free salt.
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.)
Uffz, too complex? Still here? ;-)
If you understand the method and get used to it and have a dosing station, you'll only have
to make 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).
To keep up my Calcium, i would have to "burn" about 100g (edit: sorry, again using metric units... *curse* 0.22 pound) Kalk (in a reactor) a day!
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).
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 huge waterchanges a week and not doing the part with the NaCl free salt.
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 as i think 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.
Uffz again... still here?
questions about the concept?
i'll do my very best ;-)
Ralf
