DIY Balling Method Recipe

[Ken S]

Thank you!

I think I got time to run to the LFS.

 

[Jason Coy]

Would it be ok to add the AF salt once a day if I am dosing the other parts multiple times a day? I have a 4 head doser and need to dose all 3 parts plus nitrate and phosphate. I was thinking the AF salt would be the best one to do a one-time dose.

I'm using potassium phosphate and Nitrate. Can either of those be added to part a or part b

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Would it be ok to add the AF salt once a day if I am dosing the other parts multiple times a day? I have a 4 head doser and need to dose all 3 parts plus nitrate and phosphate. I was thinking the AF salt would be the best one to do a one-time dose.

I'm using potassium phosphate and Nitrate. Can either of those be added to part a or part b

In a system like these, the Part C or AF mineral salt can be added quite infrequently. Once a week is plenty, but daily is also fine. No need to add it more often than that.

 

[BeanAnimal]

I keep meaning to go back through all of this and may have questions.

My goal is to get away from Triton due to cost. I want to make sure I understand how to get this setup for balanced 1:1:1 dosing for Alk/Ca/Mg and A,K C and of that means mixing those in or adding another dosing head or two.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I keep meaning to go back through all of this and may have questions.

My goal is to get away from Triton due to cost. I want to make sure I understand how to get this setup for balanced 1:1:1 dosing for Alk/Ca/Mg and A,K C and of that means mixing those in or adding another dosing head or two.

Folks have found that A and K can be split into the alk and calcium parts, respectively. If you have a magnesium part that is made of mag chloride and sulfate, you can put part C into it. (google search AI gets that last part wrong, IMO).

 

[BeanAnimal]

Maybe this is more appropriate for a separate thread, but I'd rather be corrected than wrong on this. Or maybe I hope to be wrong, because if I am correct, I feel a bit hoodwinked by modern marketing.

If the original Balling method is three parts: Calcium, Alkalinity, and Part C (NaCl-free salt) and the recipe is based on restoring natural seawater ionic balance, then Part C is mostly magnesium chloride and magnesium sulfate, with maybe with some other minor traces that also fall out of balance with part A and B.

Per the original instructions, part C was never intended as magnesium supplementation. It is only 50g of NaCl free salt per 2L of stock solution. That is super dilute and looks like just enough to offset the stoichiometric NaCl accumulation form dosing A and B. I don't think there is any misunderstanding there.

Here is what just made my head fall off. If all of that is correct, then anyone dosing magnesium as a combination of magnesium chloride and magnesium sulfate doesn't need par C, they are "balling" because their much larger does of Mg already have enough to restore ionic balance, and add Mg.

Why buy part C instead of just doing magnesium at the proper consumption rate, plus a pinch of it makes you feel better. So most systems are "balling" if they are 3 part, even if there is not an explicit "NaCl free" separate component.

This begs a further question that I think maybe only Hans-Werner can answer. Why not just publish the recipe is balanced Alk:Ca:Mg in the first place then? Maybe because he doesn't see magnesium consumption fixed diretly to the alk and calcium consumption?

Is this wrong? Have I lost my marbles?