Dosing is hard

Brand00995576 · Oct 10, 2017

Hi I have a question about dosing and I ask my local fish store and they sold me some stuff called all for reef by tropic marine I tried it out and my paraments went back up a little but its an all in one dosers does anyone have any experience with this and if its bad should I return it and get something else
:mixed reef up for 10 months 8 with fish and I've hard soft corals with a crappy light for 7 months and last month I got some laps after upgrading with a large sump and lights 55 gallon with 40 gallons in the sump

psirex · Oct 10, 2017

You will run into dosing issues if 1 parameter is off........

Brand00995576 · Oct 10, 2017

Ok so should I take it back and what should I get

Xclusive Reef · Oct 10, 2017

What’s your parameters like without adding anything ?

Brand00995576 · Oct 10, 2017

Well I just added some lps last month and the paraments weren't changeling until this week but when I didn't dose they were 9 dkh 1350 mg and 450 calcium then the 5 lps and 10 softies I've had for along time used up my elements to 1200 mag 450 calcium and 7.7 dkh in one week

DancingShark · Oct 10, 2017

What are you dosing for? Have you tested to see where your levels are?

Brand00995576 · Oct 10, 2017

I need more mag and dkh but my calcium is at 450 Im useig salifert testkits mag is at 1200 and dkh is at 7.7

Brand00995576 · Oct 10, 2017

What do I do

DancingShark · Oct 10, 2017

I think that some simple kalkwasser can help you with keeping those parameters in check.
I have only dose that in my mixed reef tank with lots of sps and my number are rock steady. I do water changes about 2 to 3 weeks apart.
Just keep in mind go slow with things. But you probably know that.

And maybe brs two part would be easier to dose since they have a online calculator.

kazikage42 · Oct 10, 2017

Don't get too crazy chasing numbers, choose what levels you desire and keep it stable as possible. I keep my parameters calcium 420, dkh 7.5-8, mag 1300-1400. I've never heard or used the brand of dosing, but I recommend using ESV BIONIC 2 Part. Comes premixed and easy to use. I personally use this and I love it.

Heliarc19 · Oct 10, 2017

A few new corals will not drop mag that much, are you doing water changes?

saltyfilmfolks · Oct 11, 2017

psirex said:
You will run into dosing issues if 1 parameter is off........

not that true

saltyfilmfolks · Oct 11, 2017

Try this.
Test once a week.
Don't change your water change schedule at all.
Dose the minimum reccomnded dose per gallon. It says right on the bottle. Or just use 5ml per day.
Dose all three liquids evenly.
Test every week and make a note.
Add 5mil at a seperate time. Continue this every week for two months till you get the numbers you want.
If you get "out of balance don't sweat it , it's not that bad and get the results double checked at a lfs before you mess with it by extra dosing. You could just have a little more alk or cal in the salt mix you're using not a big deal.

I test all 3 twice just to check for error.
Fwiw I keep my alk at 8 because I use less doing fluid.

Hans-Werner · Oct 12, 2017

All-For-Reef will dose magnesium too. Your parameters are quite ok. A drop of magnesium by 150 ppm in one week is nearly impossible exept by lowering salinity/specific gravity. If salinity hasn´t changed at all it may be a measurement artifact.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 12, 2017

Hans-Werner said:
All-For-Reef will dose magnesium too. Your parameters are quite ok. A drop of magnesium by 150 ppm in one week is nearly impossible exept by lowering salinity/specific gravity. If salinity hasn´t changed at all it may be a measurement artifact.

Just in case the OP doesn't accept that answer, I'll reiterate it: that magnesium drop is just measurement error.
Real magnesium consumption is about 1/10th of the calcium drop (or less).

With a 1.3 dKH drop in alkalinity and an undetected drop in calcium, I'd be surprised if magnesium actually dropped more than 1 ppm.

Stigigemla · Oct 17, 2017

I say that a Magnesium drop of 150 mg/l is quite normal in a new tank. I have seen that many times by beginners. It precipiates on the stone. But if you get after several months its an error in the testing. The magnesium consuming will slowly diminish and after a year (or 2 if it is a big tank) the consumption will go down to almoust zero. I have experienced reefers that dont add magnesium anymore. The salts are often a little bit high in magnesium so it might be enough added via the water changes.

But for now i would add magnesium chloride. The normal you buy has about 1/8 of magnesium so you should add about 8 x 150 mg per liter. Or 7,5 gram per gallon water. I recommend to divide it in 5 doses in order not to schock the animals. If you have a sump just put the powder by the skimmer. If you dont have a sump solve the dose in a gallon of water and drip it in front of a pump.
You might want to add one or two much smaller doses in the next months but the big abnormality in magnesium consumption is over.

And: It is no reason for panic. If you don´t do it this week next week is OK too. It is more important to control the alcalinity.

Bronx19 · Oct 17, 2017

Make up two solutions using Randy's formula, of calcium and alk.
http://thereefuge.com/threads/randys-recipe-maintaining-calcium-alkalinity-and-magnesium.376/

Test your alk each day and add the appropriate amount based on the reef calc. Add the same volume of calcium.
http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 17, 2017

Stigigemla said:
I say that a Magnesium drop of 150 mg/l is quite normal in a new tank. I have seen that many times by beginners.

There's no mechanism for a 150 ppm magnesium drop in a short time in any reef aquarium, new or not. How do you propose that happens?

I've seen it reported many times too. I've also seen rises of 150 ppm.

They are ALL testing error.

Real magnesium consumption is, at most, 1-2 ppm per day, and is about 1/10th of the calcium drop.

bpn · Oct 17, 2017

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Just in case the OP doesn't accept that answer, I'll reiterate it: that magnesium drop is just measurement error.
Real magnesium consumption is about 1/10th of the calcium drop (or less).

With a 1.3 dKH drop in alkalinity and an undetected drop in calcium, I'd be surprised if magnesium actually dropped more than 1 ppm.

Was looking for this clue for a long time. Thanks Randy

Stigigemla · Oct 17, 2017

What i believe is that in the handling and transportation of the stones magnesium are depleted. Maybe it is because of a pH drop in the surface of the stones in transportation (dying algae and animals).
Among my beginners is a med Dr. and a Vet. I do not think they do big errors in testing. They are around 50 years old (I have not asked) so they have some old school education.
The med was not pleased when i wanted to instruct her how to make the tests. And you have to add much more magnesium than calculated from the water volume.
Two of my customers (the vet and a friend of her husband) started 250 gallon tanks from scratch with about 220 pounds of "new" live rock and they used up more than 8 pounds of magnesium chloride the first months. Now after 3 years their SPS tanks use the Balling method but no magnesium added.
It does not happen those who buy used live rock from another reefer.
I do have one customer thats has high levels but he has transferred his stones from his old tank with 1800 in magnesium to a new tank. He just added 50% water with guessed 1440 in magnesia (i measured another bag). And in the new tank its 1800 again although it has 50% new water.
I believe the magnesium in the tank is in a kind of equlibirium with the content in the stones.