Magnesium Levels?

phastroh

Do Not Listen To Me!!!
My magnesium level was at I think 1460 and it has been about 2 weeks since I added all the corals I have and it has been 1230 and even after a 20% water change it is still about the same. Actually I think it went up 10.

I use the Instant Ocean Reef Salt which I know is good and should have put some back in the water but my Salifert Test says 1230.

Isn't it supposed to be between 1300-1500 like the test says the ocean is.

Plus it obviously has gone down.

There is a 2% chance I may have done something wrong on the first test but the 1st few I know I did right.
 
I dont think Instant Ocean has all the minerals in it, the Reef Crystals does, but you should buy something better if they offer it. Mg should be like 1450 if Im not mistaken, thats what I shoot for.
 
Make sure you keep your Magnesium levels up.
It's a cheap way of making sure you'll be able to maintain high enough calcium and alk.
Epsom Salt is your friend.
Use this calculator to figure out how much to mix up with RO water and dump in your tank to get it back to the correct level.
'Reef Chemistry Calculator FV'
 
Yeah the Instant Ocean Reef Crystals in the orange bucket is supposed to have it all.

My Calcium has been 450 all the time.

So Epsom Salt is safe and effective?

I know you use it but it doesn't bother any of the fish or tanks inhabitants?

I will look into getting some tomorrow.

This guy uses the stuff called FUEL and says it is great for all your levels and helps his coral grow fast.
 
Yes but is that a good way to get it all good. I mean $12 a bottle will get annoying haha.

I have that Salifert Test kit and besides the way it describes the location of the black part of the tube you draw the 3rd part of the test into the needle(well not a needle but plastic thing) it was easy.

It just says to draw in the 3rd liquid till the bottom of the black part touches the line so I do, then when you get the solution to blue you turn the needle upright and read the number where the top of the black part is.

In the end it is the same part of the black thing. It just changes from bottom to top because the needle is pointing down or up.

I just though it was silly not to just make the little ring red or something to make it perfectly clear.

I also wish they made it not have to draw in air. It says it doesn't effect the reading sine it is just the air that was in the tube prior to drawing liquid but common make it better.

I know they are good tests but a little more thought on design haha.
 
Yeah the Instant Ocean Reef Crystals in the orange bucket is supposed to have it all.

My Calcium has been 450 all the time.
All salt "has it all", although they each seem to have mix up at slightly different levels.
But once you start adding more coral your tank will start sucking up more trace elements and you will need to start dosing for cal, alk, and mag.

So Epsom Salt is safe and effective?
Yup. Very.

I know you use it but it doesn't bother any of the fish or tanks inhabitants?
Nope. Mix it up and pour into your sump or overflow. You can split it up into smaller amounts and spread it over the day if you'd like.

This guy uses the stuff called FUEL and says it is great for all your levels and helps his coral grow fast.
I don't like these one-for-all water treatments. I feel safer testing and dosing separately and this way I know exactly what's going in my tank. Epsom Salt for Mag, Calcium Chloride for Calcium, and Soda Ash for Alkalinity (the latter two purchased through Bulk Reef Supply as "2 Part" mixes). No other unknown chemicals in my tank.
 
Man I am glad I have been testing because people here told me they don't dose with anything.

Actually Biff told me she has a tank full which we all have seen and she doesn't dose. I have the thread so I will double check it.

My last Calcium and Alk test were on the mark 450 and the Alk was like 2.3 or just above the center mark on my chart.

I have this Alk buffer liquid I bought a while back, Not buffer but I will see what it is.
 
I think you misunderstood our point phastro, we test and see that we dont need to dose because our regular water changes take care of all our trace element needs. If your levels are low with regular water changes, then you dose.

What we were trying to get at is, if your tank doesnt need, dont dose it, which is why you always test for what you are dosing.

And Seebea is right, fuel doesnt raise Mg, it is just dissolved organics for certain corals to feed off of.
 
Ok I went dowstairs and grabbe the stuff.

The test chart has 3 sections.

Low - 0-1.6
Normal - 1.7-2.8
High - 2.9-3.6

My test says about 2.3 or 2.4 since the chart is a fade from yellow to blue mine was aqua blue/green.

It says in the card Milli equaivalents per liter

The bottle of liquid the guy who by the way has a great shop and corals and nice installation pix and really seems to care about peoples tanks. I know they all need to make dough but out of all the places he seemed the best to me.

Anyway the bottle is Brightwell Aquatics Alkaline 8.3 - Concentrated KH Buffer supplement for all marine fish and reef aquaria

I read the back and it says a highly effective KH increasing solution.I used it a long time ago before I had any fish or coral but then stopped because I never had a bad reading and didn't want it in the tank.
 
Ok well my tank has dropped since the corals went in. I guess adding so many was the reason why.

They are all like mmmmmm Magnesium.

I had put in Brine before but the fish eat it all. I think I don't feed them enough so they are always hogging stuff.

Check this out.

I dropped a small piece of squid on the brain coral and it clenched up and it was gone. Next day that thing was so wide open and it had all the tentacle poking out. At first I was like nooooo thinking it looked funny but it was ok.

My brittle stars come to my feeding stick for a small piece of squid.

My Green Emeralds are quick to get a small piece.

The 2 Damsel and Coral Beauty always try but I don't feed it to them on purpose.

My Eel eats like 2-3 pieces every 2-3 days.

I have Dr. T's and trust me AWESOME flo and so I thought maybe the Candy Canes and Torch would eat that. The Torch grabs a flying piece of squid and them later tossed it.

I put in some cleaner shrimp and put back my UV because I thought I saw Ich on the Coral Beauty but it can't be because it had the white marks mostly like straight back from it's face and it is always eating off the glass and rocks. Then today I got a free 10Gal for it maybe but it is spotless.

It eats like a hog and the spots were only there for 2 days. Probably rock crumbs.
 
Ok now it makes more sense then when I first bought this bottle.

Brightwell Aquatics Alkaline 8.3 - Concentrated KH Buffer supplement for all marine fish and reef aquaria

It just raises the ALk in the tank whoopty dooooooo I get it now.

I read posts from people who have said stuff has died when using buffers but this bottle explains how to check the water and gives a 2.5meq/L as a line to be at or above at which you wouldn't use this unless you want it even higher.

It is nice to see that info.

I think I need a more precise test since my chart has a gradient for color matching and it is very hard to be exact.

Dead center on the normal section is between 1.7-2.8 so 2.25 in the middle but my test was probably above that. My guess was about 2.3 and possible 2.5 which converts to 6.5-7 DKH.

It says if below 7dKH add it at maximum dose daily until it is at desired level. It also says to measure at the same time in the day.

It also basically says that once you reach your desired level track it for 1-2 weeks to calculate your dosage habits but I can't rely on that as the dosage will change due to many other factors so.....

Anyway I will start to fix this and track it and be smarter.
 
Ok I had added so far in the past few days close to or about 2 gallons of RO/DI mixes with 32 ounces of Epsom Salt and my Magnesium level went from 1230 up to 1425.

I had been aiming for 1500 I think from what I remember punching into the calculator so let's see.

Each gallon seems to put about 100PPM roughly because I am about 2 gallons in. I didn't measure it perfectly I just eyed it in the 3 gallon bottle.

I usually need about 1 gallon every day from evaporation. Sometimes it is as low as 1/2 gallon. I guess it depends on how late at night I decided to do it and how high I fill it.

So in the end it was a good way to do it and it was quick even spreading it out like that.

Thank you D2Mini for the good advice.

One thing though. Will using this add to my Salinity levels. I ask because they are just at .025 and seem to be sneaking a hair over it now.

I will be using a little lower salinty for my water change this weekend. Maybe like .023.

I added .023 to .022 and it jumped up to .0245 with a 20% change. Actually I think I only did a 17% change technically speaking. Still I was shocked it raised it that high.
 
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