Choosing & Preparing your Balling Solutions

As you know the German aquarists are the forefront of many reef aquarium technology advancements.  Back in mid 1980s the German government banned the importation of LPS corals, angel fish and butterfly fish into Germany, alleging they don't reproduce in captivity or they die easily as some of the banning reasons. What was left for the German aquarists were the sps coral species. Hence the advancements of many known technologies today, started due to this challenge of keeping SPS alive.

In 1970s, Peter Wilken, of Germany experimented calcium hydroxide (lime water = Kalk) as reef tank calcium supplementation. Almost two decades later in 1994, simultaneously Ernst Pawlowsky of Germany introduced calcium part A (alkalinity) and calcium part B (calcium), Rolf Hebbinghaus of Germany introduced calcium reactor and Hans-Werner Balling introduced the Balling method, an elegant and easy-to-use procedure.  Hans-Werner Balling published this method in the technical journal on aquaristics DATZ (Die Aquarien und Terrarien Zeitung): Balling, H.-W. (1994).

Back in the early 1990s, Julian Sprung from USA introduced the calcium two parts A and B into the US market for the first time. A few years later Randy Holmes-Farley made many publications on this, calling it “DIY Two-part Solution”. There are set back of these two parts calcium A and B because they focus in balancing concentration of alkalinity and calcium but discard the magnesium concentration and everything else, more than 70 trace elements known.

The core of the Balling Method consists of:

• Calcium Chloride Di-Hydrate.
• Sodium Hydrogen Carbonate.
• Magnesium Chloride-Hexahydrate & Magnesium Sulfate-Heptahydrate.

More recently, Claude Schuhmacher, published the Balling Light method, which incorporate Trace Elements. These elements are added directly to the Ca and Mg; solutions as shown below.

• Calcium Chloride Di-Hydrate
o + Heavy metal Complex
o + Strontium and Barium Complex.
• Magnesium Chloride-Hexahydrate
o + Iodine –Fluor Complex

Classical Balling Method states that there will be an increasing on Cl and Na ions with this dosing scheme, unless you use the so called NaCl free salts solution. Latest comments, by experienced German reefers, say that if we use the third container with Magnesium and some trace elements we don’t need to use the NaCl free salt solutions.

Others  proclaim  there is an increase on water density when using this scheme, once again experience from reefers prove that if you perform regular water changes you don’t need to worry about this.

So to get started you will need to choose the most suitable method for you, or for your aquarium. In my opinion Balling Light method is the most accurate dosing scheme, and it’s my favorite.  You can go also to one of the most popular dosing schemes in USA, the “An Improved Do-it-Yourself Two-Part Calcium and Alkalinity Supplement System“ by Randy Holmes-Farley, it is very user friendly, it uses Magnesium, and you dose the 3 containers in a balanced way, so it’s less likely to cause any disturbance in your aquarium.
After you read a lot on this and you choose a method, it’s time to start dosing your solutions.

Things you will need:

• 3 x 5L Container – For the different solutions.
• Test Kit for Ca, Mg and Kh – I use Salifert test, very easy and accurate.
• A scale with 1-2 gram precision
• Three automatic dosing pumps – this is optional, but the benefits of its use counterbalance cost much faster than we realize.

Preparing the solutions it’s very easy and you don’t need to have a master degree on Chemistry or a Lab at your home to do this. Just add the powder into reverse osmosis water and mix for a while until you have a clear solution.

Please Notice (Tips):

- Calcium solution may rise temperature while mixing.

- Use lukewarm water to dissolve carbonate. A small residue will always be left over this canister. However, this has no effect on the stability of the solution. (image below)

- After dissolution the solutions can be stored indefinitely.

- Please measure the salinity of your aquarium on a regular basis and adjust the level if necessary.

- There should be an interval of approx. 10 minutes between the individual doses.

Text: Ricardo Pinto

Photography: Ricardo Pinto & André Silvestre