The Balling Method

[Reefbaby]

This topic came up in another thread and I had said that I would write more about it. Sorry, Gwen, that it took me so long! :-)

The Balling Method (translated from “Riffaquaristik für Einsteiger” by Daniel Knop)

Using the calcium addition method developed by Hans-Werner Balling, two solutions should be added separately.

The following is an example:
Solution A:
2 liters RODI water
147g Calcium chloride dihydrate
(Magnesium chloride can also be added at this stage – 34g)

Solution B:
2 liters RODI water
168g Sodium hydrogen carbonate

The Calcium and Carbonate will be utilized by the stony corals. Sodium and Chloride ions remain and form …da-dum… Sodium Chloride – nothing more than table salt!

CaCl2 x 2H2O + 2 NaHCO3 ==> Ca(HCO3)2 + 2 NaCl + 2 H2O

In order to prevent the continuous rise in salinity, Balling removes a certain amount of water from the tank and replaces it with a NaCl-free saltwater mix (Tropic Marin has one, for instance). The easiest is to combine this with the normal water change, and rather than adding the typical reef salt mix, a NaCl-free reef salt mix should be used.

Pros: no technical equipment needed, Calcium and Hydrogen-Carbonate ions will be kept at a balanced level.

Cons: Daily dosing, method requires meticulousness.


I am by no means an expert on this method. I’m trying to research up on it. There’s a lot of reefers here in Europe that use this method and are very successful with it. There’s just a few things that I still don’t quite understand.

However, there’s this website:
Korrallenriff
and it has an Excel sheet where you can type in what you Ca2+ value is and should be and the volume of your tank and it will spit out for you the volumes that you should add.

Hopefully some of you will have had some experience with this method or know better how it’s supposed to be used.

One of my questions is:
How does one dose this? Is it added in the top-off? (I’m referring to Solution A and B).
Most of the articles that I’ve found talking about this speak of daily dosing, but I’m not quite sure what’s meant by that.

I hope that some of you more experienced reefers will pipe in!

[gwen_o_lyn]

Thanks Christi- sounds very confusing though

[Reefbaby]

yeah...I know! I find most of the calcium methods a bit confusing. I'm still trying to decide which method I should go with for the new system.

[jeepjon]

I use the 3 part DIY from www.reefkeeping.com . It's not that hard to use, but finding Magnesium Chloride is difficult sometimes. I found mine from a local guy who works as a chemist.
-Jon

[the real servo]

I worry too much about ionic imbalances. It is cheaper to buy sodium carbonate, sodium bicarbonate and calcium chloride in bulk but it is too time consuming to worry about mixing up the chemicals and them stuck purchasing Tropic Marin's NACl free salt. I would rather buy a two part solution if I was adding supplements.