Reef Tank Trace Elements & Balling Method MISTAKES! 

Like most scientific theories in reefing, it's all fascinating and makes sense in theory, but in real life, it matters very little.

Technically 70% of saltwater is made of TWO ions - Na+ and Cl- in solution.

ESV B-Ionic 2 part and Red Sea salt mix contain trace elements, what am I missing?

Anybody tried Sea Lab No. 28 mineral blocks for trace elements?

OMG u still got it wrong😅.... it doesn't matter how much the corals consume... 10% water change only affects 10% of the water in the tank. ie what if your corals consumed 10 parts one day then you add another 20 corals now they consume 100 parts .... your 10% water change did not all of a sudden jump from replacing 1 part to 11 parts... but ur right, the result is the same anyway... never going to be able to replenish with even 50% water changes...😀

I tell RU-vidrs this all the time who have old tank syndrome or STN/RTN. They can't understand. You constantly loose trace elements.

All you need is wet dry, skimmer, heater, lighting and coral vital for soft coral reef. Don’t get sucked into spending . Old school wet dry with bio balls, bigger the chamber the better. Most important Patients! Cycle and add animals and corals very slowly. I had 2 actinic and 2 daylight bulbs for a 75 gallon NO NEED TO BIG EXPENSIVE LIGHTING SYSTEM.

Nice coral around the 3:48 mark... wink, wink.

Good job Mathew! BUT.. there IS..ONE MORE THING..BRS 2PART users going with the balling method NEED to know. MAGNESIUM. The standard directions that brs gives for mag addition relative to 2part usage .. IS NOW..NOT THE SAME/TOO MUCH. Since Magnesium Chloride is a large iingredient in part C. Dont get me wrong.. I know part C is just balancing out the 2part addition..including..MAGNESIUM... WHICH IS ALSO WHAT THE RECCOMENDED BRS 2PART MAG MIX IS ALSO DOING.. Think of it as the Mag only version of part C. This doesnt mean you dont want to use it at all.. if dosing part c of the balling method... you just now need to test and add the brs 2 part mag as needed.. and NOT just blindly add the standard suggested 600 ml of brs 2part MAG per gal (3800ml) of brs calcium dosed. Trust me.. we discussed this Lou & Randy Holmes Farley on R2R "Clarity on balling method part C" LOL.. you still with me? You're the best Mathew! .. And I wish we were done... inhaaale... BUT... The ONE LAST DETAIL YOU NEED... To be a Balling Method and EVEN.. an All For Reef Black Belt/Master... IS.. POTASSIUM! NOW... It DOES exsist in Part C.. but now we know that just means balance.. NOT coral uptake replenishment.. which is why its important to know.... there is NONE.. in the A or K trace Elements OR All For Reef! Why you ask? They (TM) consider it much More than a "Trace" Element.. And sell it separately to be dosed as needed. (in the same bottle that A,K, & AFR come in) That's It!! Easy right!? Lol! I do commend your honest delivery, egoless approach AND MOSTLY on NOT using the common term "ionic balance" ! Lol, although true it just doesn't help new or general reefers.. so the real compliment is knowing your audience. I hope this helped.. I really had to dig once upon a time to gather & grasp it all. One last fun Mathew fact.. Did you know that in martial arts, jiujitsu esp, which holds the highest respect for the belt system, that 7 degrees higher than Black Belt.. Esxists.. the CORAL BELT! :)

I have been using All For Reef for almost 2 years now and SWEAR by it. I will never use another dosing fluid. The powdered form is just too good of a deal and SO stable.

And this is how you confuse people, Taraaaaaa

Hey Matthew...that was SO helpful but I had a follow up question. My 1st new reef tank is now stable and I'm about to start adding corals...gulp....I was following all the concepts with always needing to balance sodium chloride but then I read this on the "All for Reef" Tropic Marin web site...its on the All for Reef web page under Applications and Dosage....Can you help me understand what it means? Is this saying before initially using All for Reef you need to level set your parameters once, or EACH time you dose? I'm so confused.....:) AND why would you need to do this considering All for Reef's purpose??? Thank you!! "Before starting use of Tropic Marin® All-For-Reef as a supplement for your aquarium, it is recommended to adjust your systems calcium, alkalinity and magnesium to your desired values. We recommend using Tropic Marin® Original Balling - Part A (calcium chloride) for the calcium, Tropic Marin® Original Balling - Part B (sodium bicarbonate) for the alkalinity and Tropic Marin® Bio-Magnesium" ​

I am a new reefer and my tank has been up for only 4 months, but I had been doing some research on future dosing. This was by far the clearest short explanation and you confirmed my choice of product, since I like to keep things as easy as possible.

Videos like this are nice but they can complicate stuff for new reeffers ive been growing corals for 13 years and didnt need to know all this science stuff this is the opposite of keep it simple and more money to spend on an unnecessary product

Really nice video Matthew! It reminds me of the importance of ICP testing every once in a while

When we dose Calcium Chloride and Sodium Bicarbonate, corals take up Calcium ion and Bicarbonate ion, the Sodium ion and Chloride ion in the dosing-liquid now are free and make the Sodium Chloride content in our aquarium tank go up. Make sense.

I have a question I can't seem to find any info on. I don't dose 2 part. I am using Kalk instead. Would the Kalk create this same problem with Sodium Chloride as 2 part does? Also I am dosing Mag and Tropic Marin A+ & K+. If it does would this also help solve the problem of Sodium Chloride?

😂😂😂 i just realized, teach dubbed some voice overs on this video

Isn’t that same a using a two part that has all traces and minor elements? 🤔 I know the Red Sea two part does not have any elements except calcium and alk.

We can get more knit-picky, technically sodium chloride is an ionic compound comprised of two ions... Sorry, I couldn't help myself. Ok, I'm sure you have the aptitude to understand science. You demonstrated that aptitude on numerous occasions already. You just hit the difference between an expert level understanding and a intermediate/hobby level. The only real difference, is time and experience. And likley a few extra college courses. Making it worse, you can absolutely be an expert in one filed of science and the moment you change topics: enough of the vocabulary and socialized ideas changed just enough, where even "expert" stumble. It took an expert in salt water chemistry to notice your "mistakes". Meaning, it was not a sufficient level of understanding for a text book excerpt. But, conceptually it was more than sufficient for our hobby level of understanding. However, thank you for setting the record straight and taking the time to give us all a better understanding.

I knew that Balling doesn't replace trace elements and also knew about the ion imbalance. That's why there is NaCl-free salt as part of the Balling method. So this comment isn't about that but purely about my mind blow experience with manual trace element dosing: A friend, who actually has a thriving SPS tank, told me, that at least in new, low populated reef tanks, water changes would replace them trace elements. I thought that kinda made sense but I'm now pretty sure this was bullocks. When I re- set up my corals in a new, bigger tank and took him for granted on the trace elements, nothing grew, even the soft corals and xenia did worse than the stony corals and just fell apart and melted and every coral was pretty white. I checked everything for weeks, did 50 % water changes often and pulled my hair out until I was left with the only logical explanation that my friend was wrong. I started dosing trace elements again and behold, just like that everything stopped dying and started growing and became colorful. You could see within *days* that they weren't dying anymore. Soo, I now firmly believe that in my (well known) salt (that advertised half of the periodic table to be in there) there are no trace elements what so ever, at least not even close to the needed concentration (water changes did nothing at all) and that adding trace elements manually is extremely important.

I watched the MACNA video of Lou you guys put out. its one of the single best videos for understanding reef chemistry i've seen. I've shared it with so many people and it completely changes the way you think about reef chemistry and i think watching it should be a requirement for any reefer although i admit it would probably put a lot of people off because its a lot to take onboard.

Question: I'm a new reefer looking to setup a tank soon and have watched all your videos and of BRStv and love it all, so helpful. Is there a video or guide of all the different water parameters to aim for a new tank and over time and how to solve some common issues? Would be nice to have a ballpark range for all the parameters to aim for. Thanks for all the great content!

Bicarbonates and calcium formate (all for reef) add C02 to the tank. No thanks! If you want a high ph, great growth and easy, balanced dosing, say yes to kalkwasser.

I have been dosing Aquaforest 3 part. I didn't realize that this wouldn't be replenishing the trace minerals in excess of the 70/30 ratio you mentioned. So would I just set up tfre all for reef on a separate doser to make up the shortfall of trace elements?

That product he’s referring to at the end doses all major, minor, and trace elements in THEIR RATIO. The question becomes…what happens when your tank or my tank starts to consume MORE or LESS of just ONE element in that bottle? Then what? You either stop dosing and stop your ALK and CAL supplementation with it. Or…increase the dose and increase EVERYTHING in the bottle. Not every system is the same. Not everybody’s consumption is the same. We won’t even get into if that reefer has a Fuge, ATS, runs Carbon, GFO, large skimmer, does water changes, etc. Just know that you are at the mercy of the ratio they put in the bottle. 😉

So what's the total solution at the end?😂

This video wouldve made sense to me if i knew what the balling method was lol

Great video! This is why I don’t like daily auto water changes. Mathematically, it compounds the issue you describe. It is very hard to explain this and I just end up confusing people. 🤣

my brain hurts, 1 turbo snail with sugar sand it won't cross to the structure and my tank will be perfect

Does BRS have a fish only channel?

" GOT IT "

I don’t think you’d be replacing 10% of what the corals consume by doing a 10% water change, right? I would think you’d just be moving slightly closer to the ideal 70/30 ratio by adding 10% of 70/30 water to the tank: and with a water change, the 30% of elements in that 10% water change would be added “on top” of whatever was in the tank prior to the water change, regardless of whether that was some or none.

All for reef is all what i useeee

I use All For Reef on my nano, and it’s amazing. Keeps tank very stable and corals look amazing.

amazing video.

Very helpful! Thank you! Just ordered by All-for-Reef!

Thank you, I now completely understand. I will pursue this. It seems interesting to me and logical.

what about all for reef.. doesn't it have everything already in it needed?

I'm new and lost ......

What about ATI essentiels + and essentiels Pro ? Is it the same as Balling just to balance the saltwater ?

This is why I never listen to people that say "follow the science" them types took the jab and now we know.

Been using All For Reef for 8 months now and can’t get my parameters balanced. Alk is high 9, Ca is low 300 and magnesium low 1100. Can I dose A4R for Alk and trace and also dose calcium and magnesium separately?

So moral of story is instead of buying kalkwasser I should of got all for reef.

Very clever sales pitch!

All I have is a 36 AIO mix reef wit lots of young tenuis frags I jus started dosing all for reef a month or two ago with weekly 5 gallon water changes my growth is still pretty slow. How often should I do a 100% water change? I’ve read that reefer use to thrive off of 100% water change something I’ve never done before.

So that last product you said with everything should I dose that with doing my weekly water change

I simply adore looooo

Doesn’t bionic have trace additives?

Recently started all-for-reef, well as soon as the powder form became available and I was aware of it. Saves a ton of money compared to the liquid form. Still wouldn't skip the water changes though.If nothing else I use it to stir up the sand and get rid a lot of particulate matter. Also use the waste water to clean things such as the skimmer cup.