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Any experience with BRS Pharma/Balling hybrid method?

JVU

JVU

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Does anyone have any experience with the BRS pharma/Balling hybrid method? Basically it is bulk major elements, and uses Tropic Marin products for the minor elements, trace elements, and Component C (Everything in ocean salt water besides the NaCl, to compensate for the generation of NaCl when CaCarbonate is taken up). It seems like approximately the same as the Triton Core7 approach without the huge price tag and limited availability. Plus more of a bump to pH which I could use.

www.bulkreefsupply.com

BRS Pharma Balling Method Bulk Total Package

Easily maintain calcium, alkalinity, trace elements, & magnesium in your reef! The BRS Pharma Hybrid Balling Method is the answer for implementing trace elements alongside the BRS two part you know and love. Easily make single or multiple gallons of each solution at a time with the bulk package...
www.bulkreefsupply.com www.bulkreefsupply.com
 
I have it is my drawer to switch to when I run out of Red Sea trace elements. This one makes a lot of sense to me, but I have no experience yet.
 
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H2OPlayar said:
I have it is my drawer to switch to when I run out of Red Sea trace elements. This one makes a lot of sense to me, but I have no experience yet.
Click to expand...
Not to highjack the thread, but how did you find the Red Sea trace elements and why are you moving off of them? Just ordered a few bottles, cause figure it’ll be easy to manually dose my nano. Would love your thoughts
 
JVU said:
Does anyone have any experience with the BRS pharma/Balling hybrid method? Basically it is bulk major elements, and uses Tropic Marin products for the minor elements, trace elements, and Component C (Everything in ocean salt water besides the NaCl, to compensate for the generation of NaCl when CaCarbonate is taken up). It seems like approximately the same as the Triton Core7 approach without the huge price tag and limited availability. Plus more of a bump to pH which I could use.

www.bulkreefsupply.com

BRS Pharma Balling Method Bulk Total Package

Easily maintain calcium, alkalinity, trace elements, & magnesium in your reef! The BRS Pharma Hybrid Balling Method is the answer for implementing trace elements alongside the BRS two part you know and love. Easily make single or multiple gallons of each solution at a time with the bulk package...
www.bulkreefsupply.com www.bulkreefsupply.com
Click to expand...
Yes this is the method I use for about a year now.

Works great.

(I dose mag manually from a leftover can of supplement for now so that’s one divergence from brs described method)
 
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@B's Nano Reef, I want to move to the balling method for exactly what John points out that sodium chloride is the result of 2 part being consumed. Red Sea gives the trace elements in a stand alone method which is perfect if you don't expect salinity to move much (like in a nano). I have run them successfully for close to 2 years now. I am consuming ~100 mL /day these days of 2 part, which will run my salinity up over time if I don't do the occasional water change. I also like the idea of freeing up 2 dosing heads for things like carbon or amino acid dosing.


This explains what is going on if you have the time to watch. I found the important part so when you open the link, it takes you to the chemistry explanation.
 
I switched over to this about a month ago except for the soda ash part. I'm using sodium hydroxide instead. The concept makes a lot more sense to me but I can't really say much other than that after only a month in.
 
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I bought the BRS kit on sale and I’ll mix it up and try it out at some point. I also bought more Triton Core7 on sale… I have a reef stuff shopping problem
 
I forgot to mention that I'm only adding a fraction of the trace elements at this point. I only have a few small corals in the tank right now.
 
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Piper said:
I switched over to this about a month ago except for the soda ash part. I'm using sodium hydroxide instead. The concept makes a lot more sense to me but I can't really say much other than that after only a month in.
Click to expand...
What's the mindset behind using lye instead of Soda ash? Thats some pretty caustic stuff there
 
sfsuphysics said:
What's the mindset behind using lye instead of Soda ash? Thats some pretty caustic stuff there
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I'm trying to bump pH a little using the lye instead of soda ash. I got that from this thread on R2R:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/second-new-diy-two-part-recipe-with-higher-ph-boost.357080/

And yeah, you should definitely take care when using it. Safety goggles and gloves at a minimum. This is the same chemical you will find in many store bought drain cleaners and I doubt many people take those same safety precautions when using it. Then again, most people aren't mixing it in a beaker on their kitchen counter either :)

All that said, I'm dosing so little at this point that I'm not really seeing a big pH boost from it. Maybe .1 or so. I don't think I have enough alk uptake right now to dose enough to make a big difference in pH yet. I get a bigger boost when I open up windows near the tank.
 
Soda ash (sodium carbonate) gives a pH bump (not as much as hydroxide but better than bicarbonate) without the other issues you could have with hydroxide.

I personally would steer clear of sodium hydroxide (lye) for the same reasons I steer clear of hydrochloric acid (muriatic acid) around the reef tank. They both can work great for certain uses, but so can other safer and gentler options. I do use them in non-reef uses like for pool chemistry or for a clogged drain without stressing about them, but those are isolated 1-shot type uses. Around the reef tank we have solutions going through tubing, sitting around in small and large quantities, dosing into our tank, indoors, around sensitive living creatures, etc. Just so many more ways to have an accident.
 
Hey guys, I wanted to bump this thread to see if anyone else has experience with and an opinion of the BRS Pharma/Balling method. It’s funny to me that there aren’t many reviews of it out there even though I’m sure tons of people have tried it, given that BRS is promoting it.

@H2OPlayar ?
 
I have one more bottle of red sea trace elements, then I was going to switch to balling. Oh well.

2 part still going strong for me.
 
One of the other potential advantages of the BRS system over Triton for me was that it is supposed to be cheaper. But when I do the math (actually took a while due to BRS making it difficult to compare directly), they come out about the same price per day, buying the Bulk Triton Core7 vs BRS Pharma/Balling. The BRS seems cheaper, but you have to dose WAY more of all the BRS components to be dosing the same amounts as Triton, 1.8x as much alk, 3.6x as much Ca, 3.6x as much Mg, and twice as much component C as alk. Plus since there are 6 different things to buy they add up. Their starter set is a bit misleading since it doesn’t come with enough of the more expensive parts to balance as a complete set like the Triton does.

My tank uses about 200 ml/day of Triton Core7 Alk (3a+3b), 100 ml of Ca, 100 ml of Mg, with the minor/trace elements as well as the equivalent of component C mixed in. About $3.70/day.

With BRS, if my math is correct I’d be dosing about 360 ml/day soda ash, 360 ml/day Ca, 360 ml/day Mg, 720 ml/day component C. That’s 1800 ml/day total! And a lot more refilling of dosing containers. For cost purposes, assuming medium consumption of trace elements. About $3.60/day, but it goes on sale more often.
 
Reading through this while being in love with my new CO2 scrubber, not the main job you are trying to accomplish @JVU but I have been able to bump my pH from 8 to 8.23 in a week. I also use the standard 2-part but now you have me intrigued at Trace. All I dose for now is nitrates, phosphates, and acropower
 
I know some people are skeptical about calcium hydroxide, but that all I use. I don’t dose 2 part, I dose saturated kalk throughout my lights out period. When my lights go out and photosynthesis stops, my kalk dosing starts every half hour until lights go back on. The 12.4 ph of lime water keeps my ph dip almost non existent. You can figure out the dosing by testing each day just the same as you would with 2 part. Once it’s dialed in. Money in the bank baby!! My ph peak in the day is 8.58, my ph lowest during the night is 8.54, sometimes 8.53, lol. And the cost!!!! Oh baby, way cheaper! I don’t use BRS kalk, I use Chris’s Reef Blueprint line from Captiv8 aquaculture. If you guys don’t know about this line. Please look into it. He is the guy that started brightwell, then he sold his shares off and started his own thing, probably politics. I just switched from Red Sea traces(which have worked great for me!! Coral coloration is great! But now I can’t wait to see what these reef blueprint traces do I’ll probably start to notice a difference in about a month or so. I believe kalk has magical properties in it for sure! My coral growth is amazing! It can be a true blessing if you do it right. I stopped dosing 2 part about 2 years ago and have only dosed saturated kalk since. I switched over to Chris Meckly’s(from ACI aquaculture) method about a year ago, and have never been happier. As far as traces, I would definitely use Red Sea over BRS, but now I’m doing the reef blueprint traces. And it is all in one bottle and you dose daily. Sorry I know I didn’t answer any questions about the balling method John, but I hope I shared some useful info.
Kenny
 
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under_water_ninja said:
I know some people are skeptical about calcium hydroxide, but that all I use. I don’t dose 2 part, I dose saturated kalk throughout my lights out period. When my lights go out and photosynthesis stops, my kalk dosing starts every half hour until lights go back on. The 12.4 ph of lime water keeps my ph dip almost non existent. You can figure out the dosing by testing each day just the same as you would with 2 part. Once it’s dialed in. Money in the bank baby!! My ph peak in the day is 8.58, my ph lowest during the night is 8.54, sometimes 8.53,
Click to expand...
How do you manage freshwater topoff? Seems like if you're dosing a lot of kalk at night, and using an ato to maintain during the day, you may end up with salinity drift?
 
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