I'm stumped ...
- Thread starter LJC6780
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jsker
Reefing is all about the adventure
I reas
my thought is since the reef crystals has a high alk, that is the reason for the quick Mg drops. When I was using reef crystals I was always adding Mg.
bdare
Well-Known Member
How does high alk make mg drop?! I'm not sure that's possible.
jsker
Reefing is all about the adventure
I am going going from experance.
Even if I haven't done a water change since Saturday and have been dosing all week? My alk used to hang consistently at 12.5ish but has stabilized at 10.
I didn't dose today so we will see what it is tomorrow.
jsker
Reefing is all about the adventure
I switched out salt my and I am now running 8.2. 10 is even really high. Sea water is at 7.0 alk. I have also noticed by experience that the higher the alk the more Mg and Ca are consumed. We all have to find the balance in our systems, but running higher alk can also cause some issues. Some run ultra low nutrient system with a low alk. I run a higher nutrient system and keep my alk higher.
I found that after switching my salt and dosing the balling method my system parameters now stay steady. My system is also now over 2 years old and newer system under 9 months are going to have swings.
jsker
Reefing is all about the adventure
Switching to the IO blue bucket or a brand of salt that is lower in alk. The reef salt that I use has a dkh of 7.4 to 8.2
Randy Holmes-Farley
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There's no mechanism for precipitation of magnesium that doesn't use massive amounts of alkalinity. At a minimum, 2.8 dKH of alkalinity for each 12 ppm of magnesium.
Randy Holmes-Farley
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Yes. For the entire month of February, all of those results can easily be test kit variation, IMO.
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how many ppm per day magnesium are you dosing? To boost it a lot takes MASSIVE amounts. Way more than calcium additives. Even solid magnesium additives are only about 10% magnesium by weight.
I'm not looking at the bottle but I started with 5ml then upped to 7.5ml then I think the last dose was 15ml then I threw in another 10ml before bed. Didn't dose yesterday and by today had dropped 15 points. I've been doing some reading and video watching on magnesium supplements. It seems you need both kinds and this one is just one of the two. I'm thinking I'll need to just set up a doser at some point to keep things from swinging up and down from day to day.
lamyers3
New Member
LJC6780, I notice in post #8 that you are using Salifert for testing Magnesium and then in post #19 you measured 5ml. Now that I'm home and can see the instructions. I was wrong Salifert Mg test uses 2ml for testing and alk is 4ml. If you are using 5ml in your test it would have cut the reading in half.
The test kits do go bad. I just did a major change to my tank, removing all my over grown corals. When testing to balance the tank, I was getting really high numbers for alk 10.2 and low for cal 340 and mg 1240. Did two water changes over a week, adjusted my dosing and the same results when I tested the water. Got new test kits, retest and the numbers are where the tank usually runs. alk 8.0, cal 420 mg 1320. I us Red Sea blue bucket salt.
Just trying to help, don't give up. I learned from reading a lot of posts. Best thing I learned stop chasing numbers, think about what I was doing and change one thing at a time and the hardest part wait to see if it corrected the problem.
The test kits do go bad. I just did a major change to my tank, removing all my over grown corals. When testing to balance the tank, I was getting really high numbers for alk 10.2 and low for cal 340 and mg 1240. Did two water changes over a week, adjusted my dosing and the same results when I tested the water. Got new test kits, retest and the numbers are where the tank usually runs. alk 8.0, cal 420 mg 1320. I us Red Sea blue bucket salt.
Just trying to help, don't give up. I learned from reading a lot of posts. Best thing I learned stop chasing numbers, think about what I was doing and change one thing at a time and the hardest part wait to see if it corrected the problem.
Gotcha. I was referring to the calcium test, which uses 5ml, in that post. Sorry for the confusion. Yes, I use the included 2ml syringe for the magnesium test.
This is the only thing I'm trying to change. Well. That and phosphates but that was just putting some phosguard adsorbent in the sump. It's finally down to 0.049 as of my last test. I guess I'll try a new test and see if that is the problem.
Randy Holmes-Farley
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Randy Holmes-Farley
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Magnesium never depletes fast enough to need a doser (although one can use a doser), and is not depleting at all if you are not adding significant amounts of alkalinity.
You do not need both types of magnesium additives to keep it stable (although that is better for other reasons), but you don't need any magnesium supplements at the moment.
Are you saying it's my fault or the test's fault ... because I can't help but take your comments personally. I can video me doing the test, exactly as the instructions say if you don't believe me. Short of weighing the granules, I'm measuring as exact as I can with a tiny plastic spoon. Wiping excess from the handle and making sure it's as even as possible each time.
