Dosing BRS Magnesium mix

slythy · Jul 23, 2022

Does this seem reasonable for the BRS Magnesium mix? Whats the actual dosing instructions? This just seems like a lot of fluid to dose. My euphyllia isnt happy and just trying to make it happy 1 parameter at a time.

Mike konesky · Jul 23, 2022

Yup that looks right. Takes a ton to boost mag.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jul 23, 2022

BRS uses my recipe. You can always double check amounts here:

Reef Chemistry Calculator

slythy · Jul 23, 2022

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
BRS uses my recipe. You can always double check amounts here:

Reef Chemistry Calculator

Is that labeled Randys part 1 and 2?

homegrowncichlid · Jul 23, 2022

In using this stuff, is it really necessary to mix the salt into a full gallon of water?
has anyone calculated how much the dry salt will increase X gallons by X PPM?
With sea chem powder, it has a formula on the bottle, and I'd just mix X spoonful into an empty soda bottle with x water and shake, then dump the whole thing into my system to raise Mg by X amount.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jul 23, 2022

slythy said:
Is that labeled Randys part 1 and 2?

yes.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jul 23, 2022

homegrowncichlid said:
In using this stuff, is it really necessary to mix the salt into a full gallon of water?
has anyone calculated how much the dry salt will increase X gallons by X PPM?
With sea chem powder, it has a formula on the bottle, and I'd just mix X spoonful into an empty soda bottle with x water and shake, then dump the whole thing into my system to raise Mg by X amount.

Which stuff, the magnesium? You can come pretty close by electing Epsom salt from the calculator.

But I see no reason to not make it up as it was intended to be.

BoriReefer · Jul 23, 2022

Download the BRS app for dosing. But yeah usually takes a lot to adjust mag with the BRS solutions. That’s been my experience when I’ve had to dose mag

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jul 23, 2022

BoriReefer said:
Download the BRS app for dosing. But yeah usually takes a lot to adjust mag with the BRS solutions. That’s been my experience when I’ve had to dose mag

Yes, it takes a lot because even dry powder magnesium additives only contain a small amount of magnesium (about 11% by weight), and the amount folks typically want to boost magnesium is quite large)

when I designed the recipe BRS uses, I did not see any benefit to making it more concentrated, and still don’t.

mrpontiac80 · Sep 13, 2022

I’m bringing this thread back with an observation and a question. Sorry it’s long.

my tank is 65 gallon all in one and I estimate 50 gallons of water. My magnesium is normal around 1380-1400.
I noticed some coral not looking their best and tested mag as I do once a week. It tested at 1340 and I wanted it at 1400. Using brs 2 part I used the calculator and it came out to 241.9 ml.
to be on the safe side I dosed 200 ml and within a couple of days I lost a really big multi head torch, favia, birds nest, and chalice. Everything else continues to look good.

Now I dosed in my gyre stream and although I did not dump it in I did pour it in gently. I immediately sent off for an icp test through ATI and just got everything back today. The parameters are I’ll very good just low on some trace elements for the most part.
My friend has a ph probe and noticed when he doses mag, the ph drops quite a bit almost immediately. Between the two of us we kinda feel that each time we have lost some corals it was often after a magnesium adjustment.
So can to much magnesium poured in too quickly change something like ph or etc to stress out coral? I’m almost certain whatever caused my troubles was an error on my part but I’d like to not repeat it!

Pics before and after and test results attached. Thanks for your thoughts

Randy Holmes-Farley · Sep 13, 2022

I don’t think anyone can notice a difference in a tank at 1340 ppm and 1400 ppm magnesium, and both are above natural levels.

When you say BRS two part, you dosed 200 mL of just part 3, right?

Magnesium itself should not alter the pH of seawater when added in reasonable quantities. You might measure the pH of your part 3 and see what it is.

mrpontiac80 · Sep 13, 2022

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
I don’t think anyone can notice a difference in a tank at 1340 ppm and 1400 ppm magnesium, and both are above natural levels.

When you say BRS two part, you dosed 200 mL of just part 3, right?

Magnesium itself should not alter the pH of seawater when added in reasonable quantities. You might measure the pH of your part 3 and see what it is.

Correct. I dosed my normal 20 ml of cal and alk. And 200 ml of mag.
I use a Red Sea test for my pH. I assume I would test the magnesium in the identical way I would test my tank water correct?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Sep 13, 2022

mrpontiac80 said:
Correct. I dosed my normal 20 ml of cal and alk. And 200 ml of mag.
I use a Red Sea test for my pH. I assume I would test the magnesium in the identical way I would test my tank water correct?

A test kit won’t work well for something that may be far from seawater in pH. A pH meter would be needed. The pH could be anywhere from 5.5 to 7+ and not be unusual for the magnesium.