Solving problems with NaCl accumulation when dosing Tropic Marin Originall Balling

[TonyHanke]

Hello everyone, beginner here, I was researching dosing systems recently and I found out about Tropic Marin Original Balling. I know that because it's a balling system, I'd need to take additional acctions to lower the salinity over time. The thing is, I can't really find much information about how much of a problem is it, and what's the best way to solve it. How fast can salinity raise? I thought of doing a rodi water change to lower nutrients, and dosing Tropic Marin Pro Coral Mineral, to maintain micronutrients and trace elements, but I don't know how big the salinity swing should be to not to cause osmotic shock.
Thank you all in advance
PS
Sorry for my english, it's not my native language.

 

[jackintheboxfish]

Hello everyone, beginner here, I was researching dosing systems recently and I found out about Tropic Marin Original Balling. I know that because it's a balling system, I'd need to take additional acctions to lower the salinity over time. The thing is, I can't really find much information about how much of a problem is it, and what's the best way to solve it. How fast can salinity raise? I thought of doing a rodi water change to lower nutrients, and dosing Tropic Marin Pro Coral Mineral, to maintain micronutrients and trace elements, but I don't know how big the salinity swing should be to not to cause osmotic shock.
Thank you all in advance
PS
Sorry for my english, it's not my native language.

It really depends on the tank size and Ca/alk consumption rate.

If you have a SPS tank then it might rise (water changes should mitigate it decently well) but if you have a softy tank then the consumption would be really low, thus less Balling dosing and takes much much longer to throw off the balance.

 

[TonyHanke]

Hello everyone, beginner here, I was researching dosing systems recently and I found out about Tropic Marin Original Balling. I know that because it's a balling system, I'd need to take additional acctions to lower the salinity over time. The thing is, I can't really find much information about how much of a problem is it, and what's the best way to solve it. How fast can salinity raise? I thought of doing a rodi water change to lower nutrients, and dosing Tropic Marin Pro Coral Mineral, to maintain micronutrients and trace elements, but I don't know how big the salinity swing should be to not to cause osmotic shock.
Thank you all in advance
PS
Sorry for my english, it's not my native language.

It really depends on the tank size and Ca/alk consumption rate.

If you have a SPS tank then it might rise (water changes should mitigate it decently well) but if you have a softy tank then the consumption would be really low, thus less Balling dosing and takes much much longer to throw off the balance.

It would be either 30 or 50 gallon mixed reef with mainly lps, maybe a few sps's

 

[jackintheboxfish]

Yeah I personally wouldn’t worry too much about it if you are doing regular water changes.

For reference, I dose more than 1L of saturated kalkwasser and 70 ml of soda ash solution (5g/100ml) into my 50 gallon SPS tank which is a little under 2 dKH consumption per day.

My 25 gallon LPS and softy tank I dose less than 1/10 of that. I also did 20% water changes per week before (don’t think it was necessary) so I even considered not dosing anything at all.

 

[jackintheboxfish]

Yeah I personally wouldn’t worry too much about it if you are doing regular water changes.

For reference, I dose more than 1L of saturated kalkwasser and 70 ml of soda ash solution (5g/100ml) into my 50 gallon SPS tank which is a little under 2 dKH consumption per day.

My 25 gallon LPS and softy tank I dose less than 1/10 of that. I also did 20% water changes per week before (don’t think it was necessary) so I even considered not dosing anything at all.

Sorry didn’t specify the 50 gallon is SPS dominated

 

[TonyHanke]

Yeah I personally wouldn’t worry too much about it if you are doing regular water changes.

For reference, I dose more than 1L of saturated kalkwasser and 70 ml of soda ash solution (5g/100ml) into my 50 gallon SPS tank which is a little under 2 dKH consumption per day.

My 25 gallon LPS and softy tank I dose less than 1/10 of that. I also did 20% water changes per week before (don’t think it was necessary) so I even considered not dosing anything at all.

Sorry didn’t specify the 50 gallon is SPS dominated

And how fast does the salinity raise?

 

[BeanAnimal]

Most 2-part dosing causes an unbalanced rise in sodium chloride.

The TM Original Balling method Part C is designed to balance this.

Salinity still rises, but it is ionically balanced, so can be diluted with makeup water over time.

 

[jackintheboxfish]

And how fast does the salinity raise?

For 50 gallon it’ll take close to a month for salinity to rise by 1 ppt (assuming constant volume). Mixed reef it’ll take close to 3 months

 

[TonyHanke]

And how fast does the salinity raise?

For 50 gallon it’ll take close to a month for salinity to rise by 1 ppt (assuming constant volume). Mixed reef it’ll take close to 3 months

Oh ok, I thought it happens much faster

 

[BeanAnimal]

For 50 gallon it’ll take close to a month for salinity to rise by 1 ppt (assuming constant volume). Mixed reef it’ll take close to 3 months

It is not just the rise in salinity that is the issue, but rather that with many dosing systems the water skews toward sodium chloride instead of balanced saltwater chemistry. Water changes really don’t fix this, even if they do slow the progression. That is where the Balling C comes into play.

 

[KStatefan]

Oh ok, I thought it happens much faster

Dosing 1 dkh per day is around a 30% yearly increase in salinity. With the balling the is easy to correct by just diluting

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

As noted, the salinity rise is slow and easy to account for if needed by just removing some tank water and adding ro/di.

Here’s a detailed diy recipe:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/diy-balling-method-recipe.1098905/