Best magnesium test kit?

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Like I said " in a perfect world " as we are all aware isn't the case your plan sounds great.
I have 2 buckets of reef crystals mixing in the low 9s and one mixing at 1350 all confirmed by spectrum. So when I test a bucket at 920 and spectrum gets 960 out of it I'm gonna venture to say salifert was close enough. Instant ocean is not the only manufacturer who has been having consistency issues lately especially with magnesium which I think is the most expensive ingredient but could be mistaken.

I won’t beat a dead horse, I’ll just say that faulty magnesium kits are the reason for my advice, and are not a perfect world situation. I’d argue the reverse: in a perfect world, test away!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

FWIW, one sometimes has to pick between two imperfect options. This is one of those situations, IMO.

 

[UMALUM]

I won’t beat a dead horse, I’ll just say that faulty magnesium kits are the reason for my advice, and are not a perfect world situation. I’d argue the reverse: in a perfect world, test away!

No horse, just exceptions.

 

[Ziggy17]

Best method: no test at all.

+1

 

[Ziggy17]

Like I said " in a perfect world " as we are all aware isn't the case your plan sounds great.
I have 2 buckets of reef crystals mixing in the low 9s and one mixing at 1350 all confirmed by spectrum. So when I test a bucket at 920 and spectrum gets 960 out of it I'm gonna venture to say salifert was close enough. Instant ocean is not the only manufacturer who has been having consistency issues lately especially with magnesium which I think is the most expensive ingredient but could be mistaken.

Spend the extra dough and buy the Fauna Marin Pro.

 

[UMALUM]

Spend the extra dough and buy the Fauna Marin Pro.

Definitely top of my list.

 

[rtparty]

Close to 20 years and I can't even come close to counting how many buckets of salt I went through. Every brand out there including a dozen that aren't even around these days. I have never seen a bucket of salt come in with super low magnesium from any of them. I have over 50 ICP tests (closer to 60-65 these days) on brand new buckets of salt.

What I have seen at least 100 times though is bad test kits or user error.

 

[Seansea]

I.can tell when my mag is low by just looking at my euphelia. Heads sucked in it's low. I test and sure as heck it's 1200. Get it back up to 1400 over a few days and they puff right up. I personally wouldn't not test for mag but that's just me.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I.can tell when my mag is low by just looking at my euphelia. Heads sucked in it's low. I test and sure as heck it's 1200. Get it back up to 1400 over a few days and they puff right up. I personally wouldn't not test for mag but that's just me.

To be clear, I do not recommend ignoring magnesium. I recommend adding it at a rate fixed to calcium. I don’t think magnesium can decline by 200 ppm if one does that.

 

[rtparty]

To be clear, I do not recommend ignoring magnesium. I recommend adding it at a rate fixed to calcium. I don’t think magnesium can decline by 200 ppm if one does that.

How do all the corals in the ocean handle magnesium well below 1400 (ocean average is around 1280) but so many try to claim magnesium needs to be higher (1400+) in our systems?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

How do all the corals in the ocean handle magnesium well below 1400 (ocean average is around 1280) but so many try to claim magnesium needs to be higher (1400+) in our systems?

Yes, a conundrum. I’m skeptical of the need for magnesium above 1300 ppm, except perhaps for coralline algae, which we have little way to compare growth rates vs in the ocean.

I personally think the placebo effect is strong here, but for folks who are already pushing faster growth with unnaturally high alk, calcium, and pH, perhaps elevated mag is useful.

 

[Seansea]

How do all the corals in the ocean handle magnesium well below 1400 (ocean average is around 1280) but so many try to claim magnesium needs to be higher (1400+) in our systems?

Dont know but I assure you my euphelia especially my hammers get upset. Add mag and they perk right back immediately.

 

[Neoma369]

Best reef salt ? Or just get evap sea salt? I've been having issues with consistency in my synthetic salt mixture

 

[thatindonesianreefer]

I.can tell when my mag is low by just looking at my euphelia. Heads sucked in it's low. I test and sure as heck it's 1200. Get it back up to 1400 over a few days and they puff right up. I personally wouldn't not test for mag but that's just me.

So only test mag when corals are sucked in?

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

Hi
I have a red sea magnesium pro test kit as of right now but i’m not that happy with the results.
They seem inconsistent and not that accurate. I plan on switching the kit with another brand (maybe salifert) but still don’t know which is the best. What do you guys use?

None of them. While still a bit flighty, the red sea mag test has been the most consistent one for me.

 

[rtparty]

Best reef salt ? Or just get evap sea salt? I've been having issues with consistency in my synthetic salt mixture

There is no “best” and there is no such thing as evaporated sea salt like marketing tries to claim with some.

Do you weigh your salt before adding? What kind of inconsistencies?

 

[gbroadbridge]

there is no such thing as evaporated sea salt like marketing tries to claim with some.

Yes there is, I buy it at the grocer to sprinkle on hot chips.

 

[KC2020]

To be clear, I do not recommend ignoring magnesium. I recommend adding it at a rate fixed to calcium. I don’t think magnesium can decline by 200 ppm if one does that.

Can you explain how to determine the fixed rate to calcium or have you written about this before ?

 

[reefsaver]

Is it ok for me to use red sea’s equipment (vial syringe and the syringe holder thing) insted of the saliferts?

Hey I think the vessel that comes with salifert is kind of calibratory, like if you look from the side you get different results than from above. So using a Red Sea vessel to mix and view in might give you inaccurate results although I'm not entirely sure.

 

[thatindonesianreefer]

Thanks