Balling Method help.

R

Renier

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Hey guys

I was searching for the chemicals to do the balling method and ended up
calling Protea chemicals.

I know I need: 1) Calcium Chloride dihydrate
2) Sodium Hydrogen Carbonate
3)Magnesium Chloride Hexahydrate


Protea only Stock: Calcium Chloride Flakes food grade 25kg
Magnesium Chloride Flakes food grade 25kg

So my question is, is this the same thing?
and where can I get Sodium Hydrogen Carbonate is this baking Soda,if so do I need to bake it in the oven?

Help would be appreciated.

thanks
 
Best is to get pharmaceutical grade stuff if you can but some people use the food grade as well. If you are in JHB try warren chem.

You can use baking soda and you can either use it unbaked or baked. It has a different effect when it comes to its effect on PH so read up on the Randy Holmes Farley recipies.
 
Ill try warren chemicals thanks and will read up on Randy Holmes Farley.
If I'm not mistaken I think rob also uses food grade.
basically just wanted to know whether the flakes is the same to the dihydrate.
 
It is the same thing. Most important is to check the the purity as it is different between the grades. And depending on the purity the amounts you add to the tank will change.
 
Renier said:
Ill try warren chemicals thanks and will read up on Randy Holmes Farley.
If I'm not mistaken I think rob also uses food grade.
basically just wanted to know whether the flakes is the same to the dihydrate.
Click to expand...

You can also try Merck Chemicals (in Longmeadow) for the Calcium chloride.

Protea should have sodium hydrogen carbonate (i.e. sodium bicarbonate) otherwise CJ Petrow has.

Calcium chloride dihydrate is fien to use. Anhydrous is scarce.

Whatever you get, always ask for BP or USP (pharmaceutical) grade, food grade is lower quality (although in all likelihood probably would not make any difference anyway).
 
Guys
I've tried everybody!

seems I can get Calcium chloride powder 95% pure from Crest chemicals(they cant tell me whether its lab grade or not.....so much for knowing your own products)

I can only seem to find Magnesium Chloride flakes food grade!

and nobody seems to have sodium hydrogen carbonate!

I also see @robvdv ordered Kalk? I don't see this being used in the balling method could somebody please explain to me where one would use it.

so should I go ahead and use food grade or not?
How would this impact my preparation of my additives?

and if food grade is okay then protea chem seems to have the best prices

anyway thanks guys
 
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With tears in my eyes do you think the crushed coral that going into a calcium reactor is 100% pure calcium?

I use food grade and will carry on using it, the 5% is trace elements think of it like that ;) if you read what is in the 5% you will realize there are no heavy metals

the stuff we buy in the shops is not chemical grade as if it was it would be in the thousands of rands per 500 grams



Renier said:
Guys
I've tried everybody!

seems I can get Calcium chloride powder 95% pure from Crest chemicals(they cant tell me whether its lab grade or not.....so much for knowing your own products)

I can only seem to find Magnesium Chloride flakes food grade!

and nobody seems to have sodium hydrogen carbonate!

I also see @robvdv ordered Kalk? I don't see this being used in the balling method could somebody please explain to me where one would use it.

so should I go ahead and use food grade or not?
How would this impact my preparation of my additives?

and if food grade is okay then protea chem seems to have the best prices

anyway thanks guys
Click to expand...
 
Thanks Guys

That's what I wanted to hear.

just a last question:I also see @robvdv ordered Kalk? I don't see this being used in the balling method could somebody please explain to me where one would use it.

thanks
 
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I don't know the Balling method at all - I just know that we need some elements in our tank - not all these are not the only elements before I get shot

Calcium & Magnesium and then some buffer a calcium reactor does this all for us.

People use Kalk because it has Calcium and Buffer and increases PH in a tank which a calcium reactor can drop.

if you run enough kalk dripping it over night when you PH drops and your tank does not need more CA then you can deliver with Calcium all you would need to dose is Magnesium.

You need to understand what these products do in your tank before you put them in.

Randy Holmes Farley has some great articles about this you need to really read and understand them and speak to some reefers who can really explain what each one does
 
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Thanks Vatso

I google'd it
even though the balling method is a complete
system for cal alk ,mag management, it seems that some people still like to drip kalk
to counter low PH during lights out periods.
I have never tested my PH at night.....Might be something to look into,I still wonder what robvdv uses
it for if he is also using the balling method?

Mmmm
 
vatso said:
With tears in my eyes do you think the crushed coral that going into a calcium reactor is 100% pure calcium?

I use food grade and will carry on using it, the 5% is trace elements think of it like that ;) if you read what is in the 5% you will realize there are no heavy metals

the stuff we buy in the shops is not chemical grade as if it was it would be in the thousands of rands per 500 grams
Click to expand...

As I said Food grade would probably be acceptable - it is a lot cheaper.

When I bought about 4 years ago Food grade Calcium Chloride was around R7/kg and pharma grade around R45/kg - so not thousands of rands - only problrm was you have to buy 25kg bags.

Pharma grade sodium bicarbonate is really cheap (about R6/kg).

If you cannot get Magnesium Chloride you can use Magnesium Sulphate (Epsom Salts), also very cheap.

I'd maybe also try one of the labe chemical supply companies if you are looking for smaller quantities (eg. Ace Chemicals, Merck, Saarchem etc.)
 
The Price now is up a lot and if you think about the cost of packaging and distribution and shops and each with mark ups the price would be a lot
 
25kg bags is the smallest these companies sell. And 25kg is considered bulk compared to the normal 1kg tub :)
 
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Nemos Janitor said:
Bulk like in ton's or in bulk like in a dozen 100g tubs? :lol:
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I need a lot, 1500L sps tank is hungry on CA,ALk & MAG, I think it's better just to get a calcium reactor.

mariusmeyer said:
25kg bags is the smallest these companies sell. And 25kg is considered bulk compared to the normal 1kg tub :)
Click to expand...
@mariusmeyer do you get your chems from protea chems? Those monti frags I got from you are chowing my ca & alk :p
 
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