This may get a little lengthy but I want to paint the entire picture. I setup a new 150g reef about 3 months ago. I have a 55g tank for my fuge/sump as well, so total volume is roughly 150-175 gallons. I started out using Instant Ocean regular salt mix. I've since switched to Coralife. My life rock came from a local reefer who kept about 150 lbs wet and circulating in saltwater for over a year, but kept dark the entire time. I had some dino's about 2 weeks ago, they went away. I'm now seeing GHA which I expected, but looking closer it appears to be Bryopsis. So I decided to increase Mag to 1600-1750 range with Brightwell Hydrat-MG. I received my Mag supplement last night so I tested my MAG level using a Red Sea test kit. It read 1000 ppm which I thought was crazy low. So I tested again and got the same reading. TBH my test kit is probably 3-4 years old at this point, but it's been sealed the entire time so maybe that's the issue? My ALK is right at 9, I haven't tested Calcium yet, but I'll do that this morning. I really don't have any corals in the tank to take up CAL/ALK so looking at the salt mix testing charts I was expecting ALK to be around 11 but I'm seeing 9. Expected MAG to be around 1300-1350 but it's at 1000?
The tank is in my basement but my skimmer is a Deltec 2060 so it should be getting plenty of air. I have 2 Gyre pumps creating lots of turbulence on top of the water to create a good gas exchange. My tank is acrylic and I leave both lids open partially but still covered to prevent fish from jumping out. I was thinking of running an air line outside to pull in fresh oxygen but does my crazy low MAG mean something else is wrong? Old test supplies?
My tank is heavily stocked with fish who get fed about 2-3 cubes per day. My fuge is lit 24/7 and I'm growing chaeto and red algae....so far the bryopsis is winning in the fuge and display tank though. Nitrates are right around 8 to 10 ppm, I don't have Phosphate readings, I'm out of reagent, so I'll order that today (maybe a salifert Mag test too?)
Thanks in advance.
The tank is in my basement but my skimmer is a Deltec 2060 so it should be getting plenty of air. I have 2 Gyre pumps creating lots of turbulence on top of the water to create a good gas exchange. My tank is acrylic and I leave both lids open partially but still covered to prevent fish from jumping out. I was thinking of running an air line outside to pull in fresh oxygen but does my crazy low MAG mean something else is wrong? Old test supplies?
My tank is heavily stocked with fish who get fed about 2-3 cubes per day. My fuge is lit 24/7 and I'm growing chaeto and red algae....so far the bryopsis is winning in the fuge and display tank though. Nitrates are right around 8 to 10 ppm, I don't have Phosphate readings, I'm out of reagent, so I'll order that today (maybe a salifert Mag test too?)
Thanks in advance.
just do your testing! Do not dose anything you can not test for after.
