Low Magnesium?

[user17482]

Hi, I have reason to believe my magnesium is extremely low. I do not have a test kit for magnesium and my LFS has just gotten a shipment in and was unable to get me one. The water has been cloudy I've tried filter floss and Vibrant. Also have been noticing a slight white film on the glass and back wall. I do believe that this is the reminisce of Calcium Carbonate. ( Alkalinity + High Calcium + Low magnesium = Calcium Carbonate. ) My test kit reads that calcium is 600 ppm or it caps out at that, My alkalinity has been 8.5 DKH. I've noticed bleaching from my Purple stylopora, Meteor cyphastrea, Visible skeleton from my Green frogspawn and receded polyps from most if not all my corals. I was able to receive a Magnesium bottle for dosing, Do you think I should dose magnesium without knowing my levels just to make sure the corals get by for another 1-2 days.
.
salinity 1.028

Temp 77.6f

Alk 8.5 dkh

No4 3.1 ppm

PoX 0.26 ppm

Calcium 600 ppm

Ph 7.8

 

[crazyfishmom]

I would just do large water changes with fresh saltwater instead of trying to dose when you don’t know what you really need to dose to. Also, please lower your salinity to 1.025-1.026. That will automatically help.

 

[Uncle99]

Me, I never dose anything without testing.
Sometimes we think we know the issue, and sometimes we are completely wrong. I doubt a small hit of MG going to move anything forward, or backwards for that matter.

 

[Reefering1]

I would just do large water changes with fresh saltwater instead of trying to dose when you don’t know what you really need to dose to. Also, please lower your salinity to 1.025-1.026. That will automatically help.

Nice, that's sums up my paragraph in 2 sentences..(!)

 

[crazyfishmom]

Nice, that's sums up my paragraph in 2 sentences..(!)

Lol happy to help!

 

[user17482]

I would just do large water changes with fresh saltwater instead of trying to dose when you don’t know what you really need to dose to. Also, please lower your salinity to 1.025-1.026. That will automatically help.

Thanks for the advice! I'll do a water change and see if that makes and improvement!

 

[Cell]

Just say NO to magnesium testing: RMM is born

OK, this thread has been many years in the making, and I'm posting it here since folks in the chem forum are probably already tired of all the threads relating to problematic magnesium testing. I'm going to propose a method, let's call it the Randy Magnesium Method, or RMM for short. All good...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I see no reason to believe magnesium is low and I would not dose it OR do a water change.

Let's explore how calcium might be high, or if that is just test error.

Did you overdose calcium to a large extent?

Are you dosing alkalinity?

What salt mix?
Salinity is measured how?