How to use BRS 2 part?

[inetjnky]

I'm having a similar situation with reef crystals. Calibration of my Milwaukee unit and testing salinity shows 1.026. My alk is testing 7.84dkh and calcium is at 500 to 520 and my mag is around 1600. I don't dose at all currently as after a week when I do a 5g water change on my biocube 29 my levels have not yet dropped below acceptable levels for all 3. Thoughts on why my ca and mag are so high? Stop doing a water change for a week to bring them back down?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I'm having a similar situation with reef crystals. Calibration of my Milwaukee unit and testing salinity shows 1.026. My alk is testing 7.84dkh and calcium is at 500 to 520 and my mag is around 1600. I don't dose at all currently as after a week when I do a 5g water change on my biocube 29 my levels have not yet dropped below acceptable levels for all 3. Thoughts on why my ca and mag are so high? Stop doing a water change for a week to bring them back down?

How are you measuring magnesium?

A lot of folks have issues with magnesium testing for whatever reason, but perhaps it is a off batch or an inhomogeneous bucket.

In any case, it isn't high enough to warrant doing anything about except not dosing more magnesium in case it is real.

Have you tried measuring the new salt water?

 

[ndz98]

Have you not been dosing before now?

If not, I wonder if the salinity may be higher than you think.

What is it and how are you measuring it?

No I have not dosed anything before so this will be a first. My salinity has been slightly higher than I want it. It's between 1.027 and 1.028. I measure with both a hydrometer and a calibrated refractometer.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Dropping the specific gravity from 1.028 to 1.026 will drop calcium from 510 to 473 ppm and magnesium from 1600 to 1486 ppm.

So that is where I'd start.

 

[ndz98]

Dropping the specific gravity from 1.028 to 1.026 will drop calcium from 510 to 473 ppm and magnesium from 1600 to 1486 ppm.

So that is where I'd start.

Well that would be on the basis that they are exactly at those levels. I believe they are much higher than that but I don't know exactly what they are because the card only told me up to those levels and how much solution I had used. Could I just take out some salt water from the tank and replace with ro water until I reach 1.026?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Well that would be on the basis that they are exactly at those levels. I believe they are much higher than that but I don't know exactly what they are because the card only told me up to those levels and how much solution I had used. Could I just take out some salt water from the tank and replace with ro water until I reach 1.026?

The higher the levels are, the more they will drop with a salinity reduction.

Yes, replacing salt water with RO/DI would be the way to reduce it. I'd remove about 1% daily, which would then take about a week to go from 1.028 to 1.026.

 

[ndz98]

The higher the levels are, the more they will drop with a salinity reduction.

Yes, replacing salt water with RO/DI would be the way to reduce it. I'd remove about 1% daily, which would then take about a week to go from 1.028 to 1.026.

Okay I'll try that for the next week and see what it's looking like after. I'll post back if I have any questions.

 

[ndz98]

Making some progress. I have been lowering the salinity and my alk has gone down to 10.4 dKH. Slowly but surely I'll get there lol

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Sounds good.

Happy Reefing.

 

[inetjnky]

How are you measuring magnesium?

A lot of folks have issues with magnesium testing for whatever reason, but perhaps it is a off batch or an inhomogeneous bucket.

In any case, it isn't high enough to warrant doing anything about except not dosing more magnesium in case it is real.

Have you tried measuring the new salt water?

I'll have to test a new batch when I do a water change again. I haven't tested for mag in the past yet.

My test kit is the Red Sea pro mag test kit.

I'm more concerned that it keeps increasing with each water change. I was surprised to see my ca increase as well considering I've added a bunch of new frags. I'll let you know what I find in my next round of testing.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I'll have to test a new batch when I do a water change again. I haven't tested for mag in the past yet.

My test kit is the Red Sea pro mag test kit.

I'm more concerned that it keeps increasing with each water change. I was surprised to see my ca increase as well considering I've added a bunch of new frags. I'll let you know what I find in my next round of testing.

Have you used that kit on some new salt mix? FWIW, some people have issues with the Red Sea magnesium kit.

 

[ndz98]

@Randy Holmes-Farley I got my salinity down to between 1.024-1.025. Alk is at 9.4 dKH and calcium is still >500ppm. How else can I lower it (besides buying a whole bunch of coral lol)?

 

[inetjnky]

Have you used that kit on some new salt mix? FWIW, some people have issues with the Red Sea magnesium kit.

Did some testing tonight... Here are the numbers. I'll be doing a 5 gallon water change in the morning but with my numbers where they are in thinking I may be able to start going every other week with water changes. I'm still baffled on why my mag is as high as it is with testing my new batch of water but after carefully following the directions it's not as high as 1600 as previously thought.

I'm not in a position where I should or need to start dosing 2 part yet.

I'm still finding it interesting that on my rock I'm starting to see specks of purple which appears to be purple coralline but yet I still have no growth on my plastics.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

@Randy Holmes-Farley I got my salinity down to between 1.024-1.025. Alk is at 9.4 dKH and calcium is still >500ppm. How else can I lower it (besides buying a whole bunch of coral lol)?

It may not be high enough to worry about if it is in the low 500's. Some salt mixes start that high.

Use a second syringe of titrant to get to the endpoint and add the values together.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I'm still finding it interesting that on my rock I'm starting to see specks of purple which appears to be purple coralline but yet I still have no growth on my plastics.

Hopefully that is coralline and not cyano.

 

[ndz98]

It may not be high enough to worry about if it is in the low 500's. Some salt mixes start that high.

Use a second syringe of titrant to get to the endpoint and add the values together.

Yea it must be the low 500's because it was starting to change color right when I ran out of titrant. I think I'm going to buy some regular instant ocean salt and dose to get more accurate levels. I think the reef crystals might be too much for my tank.