Balling and why

[mrhasan]

Originally Posted by Aqua-Digital

The system is "sodium Chloride free, not "Chloride free"

Chloride is not the problem its the sodium chloride that is the issue if you increase the sodium Chloride without increasing the other elements, the sodium chloride will become out of proportion with the rest of the element creating ionic imbalance.

I will pass your email address to Tropic for them to explain better to you.

Or you can call Lou on 413-367-0101 in fact anyone with a question you can call Lou directly also.

Sodium Chloride breaks into sodium (NA+) and chloride (Cl-) ions in water.

If I may:

Basically, part A is adding Calcium along with chloride ions (with proper amount of ions of some elements which should be in balance with chloride ions).

Part B is adding Sodium ions along with carbonate ions (with proper amount of ions of some elements which should be in balance with sodium ion).

Part C is adding remaining elements (majority being Mg) which is independent of the Na+ and Cl- ions (hence no NaCl salt in the mix).

That's what I understood about balling "proper ionic balance". With 2 part, you are dumping just Ca+ and CO3- ions in the water with Na and Cl so the other trace ions can get imbalanced if timely water changes are not done. Atleast that's the theory.

[Aqua-Digital]

This is from Tropic Marin Directly, in regards to the above.

You are correct in saying that with 2 part additives you are just adding the Sodium Chloride and the Calcium and Carbonates and so the other trace elements become depleted by proportion. Some 3 part additives, sometimes called "Balling Light Plus" also add a third part that is usually Magnesium and sometimes include Potassium. Still ignoring many of the very important other components of sea salt. However, your descriptions of the true Balling parts A, B and C are not totally correct. Part A is ONLY Calcium Chloride, it does not include other trace elements. Part B is ONLY Sodium Bicarbonate and does not include other trace elements. It is the part C that is complete sea salt mixture minus ONLY the Sodium Chloride that add the Magnesium and the other trace elements in the proper proportions so that ALL the components of the sea water in the tank remain in ionic balance. Depending on the tank, it is very often seen that additional Magnesium is need more than this natural sea water level that is being added.

[mrhasan]

Originally Posted by Aqua-Digital

This is from Tropic Marin Directly, in regards to the above.

You are correct in saying that with 2 part additives you are just adding the Sodium Chloride and the Calcium and Carbonates and so the other trace elements become depleted by proportion. Some 3 part additives, sometimes called "Balling Light Plus" also add a third part that is usually Magnesium and sometimes include Potassium. Still ignoring many of the very important other components of sea salt. However, your descriptions of the true Balling parts A, B and C are not totally correct. Part A is ONLY Calcium Chloride, it does not include other trace elements. Part B is ONLY Sodium Bicarbonate and does not include other trace elements. It is the part C that is complete sea salt mixture minus ONLY the Sodium Chloride that add the Magnesium and the other trace elements in the proper proportions so that ALL the components of the sea water in the tank remain in ionic balance. Depending on the tank, it is very often seen that additional Magnesium is need more than this natural sea water level that is being added.

Aha. That makes sense now. So, in laymen's term (correct me if I am wrong):

Part A: 100% pure calcium chloride
Part B: 100% pure sodium bicarbonate
Part C: All the essentials that are in any good quality salt without the salt itself (hence called NaCl free salt). Basically, this is what makes all the difference right? So, if someone (with links to pharma grade stuffs) can get 100% pure calcium chloride and sodium bicarbonate, they basically need just part C for a complete balling system.

[Aqua-Digital]

Edit - as stated before many of the commercial variants add extra sodium Chloride. Tropic Marin does not.