mag drop

[larryhaynes]

could someone out there help me to understand why my mag will suddenly drop from 1350 or so to 1200 in a few days? im sure its something ive been doing, because its happened before and its hard to get it back up. i dose redsea and it says to dose like 190ml per 25gal cant be right??? in my case that would be like 380!!? can anyone help ?

 

[mike007]

What are your other parameters calcium and alkalinity ? That dosage does sound excessive. You have to have all these parameters in balance in order to maintain. There directions do say. 1ml will raise the Mg level of 100 liters (25gal) by 1 ppm.

 

[larryhaynes]

So my alk has been between 8.6-9.1 for months and ca420-440 for months as well mag stays around 1350 and now alk 7.1 mg 1200 and ca is way up @540 ? I did add a few new pcs of rock in the past week could that be the problem

 

[beaslbob]

could be just measurement errors.

If it stays low then dose it back up

my .02

 

[larryhaynes]

I have double checked all my tests and it's the same .. This really sucks because I just started adding acros and nice chalices to my system everything has been really stable for months and now this

 

[mike007]

Your rock has nothing to do with calcium spikes. How are you dosing? It sounds to be you are not dosing correctly or your test results are Inaccurate. You need to get all these parameters where you want them and then figure out your daily consumption so you will know how much to dose each day to keep parameters stable.
Without keeping parameters stable you will Incur problems
keeping sps corals and others. Many of us use dosing pumps which will deliver a set amount during a 24 hour period which maintains levels without up and down swings.

 

[larryhaynes]

I have been dosing the same every day for months and it's been stable for months that's why I'm do confused

 

[mike007]

Sounds like likes you may be dosing too much calcium. You need to dose calcium and alkalinity in a equal parts and maybe up your magnesium dosage. But I would suggest getting another test from another source to double check your results. Maybe your lfs can do this.

 

[larryhaynes]

I use hanna meters btw thanks for your help

 

[beaslbob]

Sounds like likes you may be dosing too much calcium. You need to dose calcium and alkalinity in a equal parts and maybe up your magnesium dosage. But I would suggest getting another test from another source to double check your results. Maybe your lfs can do this.

and if you haven't already, review the diy two part.

In that method you dose untill you use up 1 gallon of calcium and alk then dose 300ml of the magnesium mixture.


my .02