Balling starting dosage for low consumption system

[pasadena_reef]

Hey guys dialing in my system
I'm going to give the balling method a try im trying to figure out how much to start dosing
95 total volume system
My current parameters are
Salinity 1.026
Alk 9.0
Cal 450
Mag 1280
nitrate 6.1
phos .03
I started dosing all for reef at 2ml daily 30 minutes before the start of my photoperiod (hanna alk testing at the same time when I get home from work) with no water changes because my my nutrients were zeroed out but my Calcium and magnesium hit near the max recommended amounts at 480 cal and 1470 mag. So I switched to just dosing red sea alk until they came back to the recommended range.
Still a low consumption system for now. adding frags and building up the system
Now that my nutrients have came back up from more feeding and my parameters have balanced out. I have my balling and elements mixed and ready to start dosing
Elements are at 5% dosing container volume
Ready to send in an icp
I wanted to wait to send in the icp-oes test because they are expensive lol. but im undecided between sending it in now or once I dialed in the balling dosages. I'm at the will of all of you experienced reefers. Thank you for your time and knowledge

 

[*GAREEF*]

Hey guys dialing in my system
I'm going to give the balling method a try im trying to figure out how much to start dosing
95 total volume system
My current parameters are
Salinity 1.026
Alk 9.0
Cal 450
Mag 1280
nitrate 6.1
phos .03
I started dosing all for reef at 2ml daily 30 minutes before the start of my photoperiod (hanna alk testing at the same time when I get home from work) with no water changes because my my nutrients were zeroed out but my Calcium and magnesium hit near the max recommended amounts at 480 cal and 1470 mag. So I switched to just dosing red sea alk until they came back to the recommended range.
Still a low consumption system for now. adding frags and building up the system
Now that my nutrients have came back up from more feeding and my parameters have balanced out. I have my balling and elements mixed and ready to start dosing
Elements are at 5% dosing container volume
Ready to send in an icp
I wanted to wait to send in the icp-oes test because they are expensive lol. but im undecided between sending it in now or once I dialed in the balling dosages. I'm at the will of all of you experienced reefers. Thank you for your time and knowledge

I would hold off on sending the rest in. Let your tank rides little longer and monitor what you can with the rests you have.
Typically I only send in an ICO MS test when I’m noticing something in my tank is off and I can’t figure it out with regular at home testing.
For dosing since your system is new and sounds like not many inhabitants yet, I’d start dosing very minimally. Like quarter or less if what is recommended and test your parameters accordingly m.

 

[gbroadbridge]

Hey guys dialing in my system
I'm going to give the balling method a try im trying to figure out how much to start dosing
95 total volume system
My current parameters are
Salinity 1.026
Alk 9.0
Cal 450
Mag 1280
nitrate 6.1
phos .03
I started dosing all for reef at 2ml daily 30 minutes before the start of my photoperiod (hanna alk testing at the same time when I get home from work) with no water changes because my my nutrients were zeroed out but my Calcium and magnesium hit near the max recommended amounts at 480 cal and 1470 mag. So I switched to just dosing red sea alk until they came back to the recommended range.
Still a low consumption system for now. adding frags and building up the system
Now that my nutrients have came back up from more feeding and my parameters have balanced out. I have my balling and elements mixed and ready to start dosing
Elements are at 5% dosing container volume
Ready to send in an icp
I wanted to wait to send in the icp-oes test because they are expensive lol. but im undecided between sending it in now or once I dialed in the balling dosages. I'm at the will of all of you experienced reefers. Thank you for your time and knowledge

There is no need to dose anything until you see a consistent measurable decline in Alkalinity over several days.

Once you can see a decline of say 1 dkh over 2-3 days you calculate the appropriate dosage to bring it back up.

You dose AFR based on Alkalinity - do not worry about Ca as it will settle wherever it needs.

My Nano is being dosed AFR to maintain 8dkh and Ca settled around 550 ppm which is no problem.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I agree, with an alk of 9 dKH, the recommended dose is zero unless for some reason you want a substantially higher alkalinity.

 

[pasadena_reef]

There is no need to dose anything until you see a consistent measurable decline in Alkalinity over several days.

Once you can see a decline of say 1 dkh over 2-3 days you calculate the appropriate dosage to bring it back up.

You dose AFR based on Alkalinity - do not worry about Ca as it will settle wherever it needs.

My Nano is being dosed AFR to maintain 8dkh and Ca settled around 550 ppm which is no problem.

Currently my alk makeup is 4ppm/day
Calcium is 4ppm/day and mag between the last test two weeks ago and this weekend I'm at 20ppm/day calculating the difference between the readings and the amount of days that have passed

 

[pasadena_reef]

I agree, with an alk of 9 dKH, the recommended dose is zero unless for some reason you want a substantially higher alkalinity.

Essentially what I'm trying to calculate is my starting dose to switch from redsea foundation b to balling. Dosing 10.8ml of foundation b daily makesup my 4ppm of alk consumption so I don't know how to calculate the amount to match the concentration of balling to make up 4ppm daily. Is there a calculator? I can't find it

 

[pasadena_reef]

I would hold off on sending the rest in. Let your tank rides little longer and monitor what you can with the rests you have.
Typically I only send in an ICO MS test when I’m noticing something in my tank is off and I can’t figure it out with regular at home testing.
For dosing since your system is new and sounds like not many inhabitants yet, I’d start dosing very minimally. Like quarter or less if what is recommended and test your parameters accordingly m.

Yeah that's where I'm thinking of going. 1/4 recommended dosage. Because all for reef starting dosage was 20ml a day but I settled at 3ml to keep my daily alk makeup steady

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Essentially what I'm trying to calculate is my starting dose to switch from redsea foundation b to balling. Dosing 10.8ml of foundation b daily makesup my 4ppm of alk consumption so I don't know how to calculate the amount to match the concentration of balling to make up 4ppm daily. Is there a calculator? I can't find it

4 ppm of alk, meaning 0.2 dKH per day?

In 95 gallons, you'd dose about 26 ml of Balling Part B per day.

Balling Components | Produktinformationen

www.tropic-marin-smartinfo.com

The addition of 1 fl.oz./30 ml of each solution will raise the calcium level of 10 US-gal./35 l by approx. 15 ppm and the alkalinity by 2.2 °dH.

 

[*GAREEF*]

4 ppm of alk, meaning 0.2 dKH per day?

In 95 gallons, you'd dose about 26 ml of Balling Part B per day.

Balling Components | Produktinformationen

www.tropic-marin-smartinfo.com

The addition of 1 fl.oz./30 ml of each solution will raise the calcium level of 10 US-gal./35 l by approx. 15 ppm and the alkalinity by 2.2 °dH.

I’ve never used this product and sure am glad you posted that.