Dosing - Concentrating your Suppliments

[PFoster]

I also used to use a CARX + kalk reactor but abandoned them years ago for the Balling Lite method.
I do have a brand new deltec kalk reactor here though if you want one

I mix
2kg Ca into a 2.5g fish tank.
2kg Mg into a 2.5g fish tank.
1kg Ca into a 5g fish tank.
This is below the max saturation point.
I just dose straight MgCl to keep the sulfate levels lower. I stopped dosing magnesium sulphate years ago.


I have never found that dosing the Balling Lite method has any effect on lowering my salinity when mixing at this concentration.

I find that the Mg consumption on the system varies the most depending on what salt brand you use.
When I used RC, i had to dose a fair amount of Mg, and I too always found that I was having to adjust my Mg dosages as they seemed to change a fair amount.

When I used Royal Nature and DnD I didnt dose ANY mg almost at all.... ever.
It was to the point where I was convinced something was wrong, lol.

When I used TMC I had to dose some Mg.
Currently I am using the Fritz salt as its giving me great results at a budget price and I find my Mg consumption to be just a tiny bit higher than when using TMC, but this could be related to coral load currently as the diff is so small.

And I should also mention that we test every day so parameters stay VERY stable.
And again, no matter what salt i used, what the bioload was, how much we dosed, I never saw any effect on salinity.

[michika]

I wonder if its part of a "new tank" thing. I vaguely remember having low MG in past tanks, but that was low Mg, not Mg being used up by the system.

Foster, why the MgCl only and not magnesium sulphate? Is it in relation to which is more "usable" to the tank. I've seen disucssion on moving only to Magneslum Cloride as the sole source, but I am still on the fence. What benefits do you see from this change?

Just to clarify this is the first time I've done 2-part dosing and prior to this tank I've always used reactors. I'm just coming up to the end of my 5g buckets on pretty much everything.

Tim, how heavily stocked is your system? What parameter in your tank requires the most for dosing? Ca?

[TimT]

Hi Catherine,

Originally Posted by michika

Tim, how heavily stocked is your system? What parameter in your tank requires the most for dosing? Ca?

The system is heavily stocked with SPS( probably 600+ frags and 100+ colonies) and 300+ LPS and a monster sunset Chalice that is close to 18" across. Very few leathers.

I find that Alk is used the most and then Ca. Probably about a 60/40 ratio.

Balling lite does not use very much MgSO4. 550 grams MgCL and 80 grams MgSO4 to 10L.

Cheers,
Tim

[TimT]

Hi Catherine,

Originally Posted by Michika

I wonder if its part of a "new tank" thing.

It could be. I have found when I add fresh coral sand or gravel the mag usage tends to rise.

Cheers,
Tim

[PFoster]

Originally Posted by michika

I wonder if its part of a "new tank" thing. I vaguely remember having low MG in past tanks, but that was low Mg, not Mg being used up by the system.

Foster, why the MgCl only and not magnesium sulphate? Is it in relation to which is more "usable" to the tank. I've seen disucssion on moving only to Magneslum Cloride as the sole source, but I am still on the fence. What benefits do you see from this change?

Just to clarify this is the first time I've done 2-part dosing and prior to this tank I've always used reactors. I'm just coming up to the end of my 5g buckets on pretty much everything.

Tim, how heavily stocked is your system? What parameter in your tank requires the most for dosing? Ca?

I used to use both the chloride and the sulfate and Tim is right it doesnt use much. But I switch to the straight chloride a long time ago and got better growth and better colour. I did also change a few other things on the system so i really cant say at all that it was due to just this so please just to clarify i am not saying switching to chloride only gave me better growth and colour.
That being said its been several years now and I have seen no ill effect.

The main reason against using straight mag chloride is the argument that in conjunction with calcium chloride you can get a build up of chlorides over time. But your WC's take care of this, even if you are a bit lazy in doing them imo


Once you start using the Balling Lite system you wont go back to reactors,
Welcome to the dark side, wuahahahahahaha

Honestly though you will have way better growth and a much higher and more stable pH.

[michika]

Originally Posted by PFoster

I used to use both the chloride and the sulfate and Tim is right it doesnt use much. But I switch to the straight chloride a long time ago and got better growth and better colour. I did also change a few other things on the system so i really cant say at all that it was due to just this so please just to clarify i am not saying switching to chloride only gave me better growth and colour.
That being said its been several years now and I have seen no ill effect.

The main reason against using straight mag chloride is the argument that in conjunction with calcium chloride you can get a build up of chlorides over time. But your WC's take care of this, even if you are a bit lazy in doing them imo
Once you start using the Balling Lite system you wont go back to reactors,
Welcome to the dark side, wuahahahahahaha

Honestly though you will have way better growth and a much higher and more stable pH.

That is the reason I keep seeing around the web, but it seems to only be a small number of people and it looks like its only being doing Balling or Balling Lite. Thanks for writing it out so my brain could recognize it again!

Typically my tank runs with higher pH, 8.2-8.4 is common for my system. I have never had a tank that had low pH inless it was a temporary side effect of something else.

I'm going to do some additional reading up on Balling vs. 2-part dosing. Any particular resources you'd suggest?

[Skimmerking]

Originally Posted by PFoster

I also used to use a CARX + kalk reactor but abandoned them years ago for the Balling Lite method.
I do have a brand new deltec kalk reactor here though if you want one

I mix
2kg Ca into a 2.5g fish tank.
2kg Mg into a 2.5g fish tank.
1kg Ca into a 5g fish tank.
This is below the max saturation point.
I just dose straight MgCl to keep the sulfate levels lower. I stopped dosing magnesium sulphate years ago.


I have never found that dosing the Balling Lite method has any effect on lowering my salinity when mixing at this concentration.

I find that the Mg consumption on the system varies the most depending on what salt brand you use.
When I used RC, i had to dose a fair amount of Mg, and I too always found that I was having to adjust my Mg dosages as they seemed to change a fair amount.

When I used Royal Nature and DnD I didnt dose ANY mg almost at all.... ever.
It was to the point where I was convinced something was wrong, lol.

When I used TMC I had to dose some Mg.
Currently I am using the Fritz salt as its giving me great results at a budget price and I find my Mg consumption to be just a tiny bit higher than when using TMC, but this could be related to coral load currently as the diff is so small.

And I should also mention that we test every day so parameters stay VERY stable.
And again, no matter what salt i used, what the bioload was, how much we dosed, I never saw any effect on salinity.

Deltec kalk reactor really hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm