Mag dosing?

[mrcoffee2]

I currently dose just the tropic marine trace elements in my ATO. I do not believe that it doses mag though, so I have to do frequent water changes to keep the levels up.

What do you guys use to keep your mag levels in check?

 

[beaslbob]

I use Dr. randy holmes-farley's diy two part.

The mag part uses a mixture of magnesium chloride and magnesium sulfide (epsom salts). Magnesium chloride can be difficult to find but some ice melters are magnesium chloride. I got mine from a local industrial chemical supplier here. A 50 pound bag was $30 or so. that was so much I used to give it away at local club meetings and swap meets.

the expom salts are just the drug store stuff.


FWIW after running instant ocean for years my 55g mag was down to 700 or so ppm. Bringing that up to 1350ppm required 3-4 pounds of the stuff. But once the initial correction was made, the standard diy 2 part method kept it up there.

Others in our local club reported similiar experiences. It was kinda scary adding pounds but it worked just like it should have.


Hopefully the good doctor will post and fill in the blanks or correct anything "wrong".

my .02

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I currently dose just the tropic marine trace elements in my ATO. I do not believe that it doses mag though, so I have to do frequent water changes to keep the levels up.

What do you guys use to keep your mag levels in check?

have you measured and is it low?

Many salt mixes come with so much magnesium in them already that some folks never need to add any.

FWIW, I currently use BRS magnesium chloride and Epsom salt from the drug store to boost my salt mix (IO) by about 100-150 ppm. I never measure or add any to the tank itself.