Mag OFF

Kenmx10 · Dec 28, 2015

HI Randy, Ive got something going on with my magnesium and would appreciate your opinion. I did a 20% water change a little over a week ago and the Magnesium was a little low afterward, around 1280, as would expect. So I dosed over a couple days to get it up to 1350. A week later I tested the Mag and it was at 1280 again. So I dosed enough to raise it up 25 ppm. Tested the next day and it read 1240. The test kit I'm using is a new Red Sea kit. Each time I tested, I tested three times, and the readings were always the same.
Im guessing the test kit is bad. Alk and calcium are staying the same at 7.9 and 425. Dosing Kalk. Can you think of any reason why the magnesium could drop that fast?

Also does the two part magnesium from BRS have a shelf life that could be losing its potency ? Thx.

Downbeach · Dec 29, 2015

Are you sure you're performing the test correctly, that Mg kit is a little tricky with having to add the reagent A one drop at a time, and mixing each drop for 15 seconds per each drop, and keeping track of the number of drops used. In case you haven't seen it here is a demo on the test kit:

Randy Holmes-Farley · Dec 29, 2015

Kenmx10 said:
HI Randy, Ive got something going on with my magnesium and would appreciate your opinion. I did a 20% water change a little over a week ago and the Magnesium was a little low afterward, around 1280, as would expect. So I dosed over a couple days to get it up to 1350. A week later I tested the Mag and it was at 1280 again. So I dosed enough to raise it up 25 ppm. Tested the next day and it read 1240. The test kit I'm using is a new Red Sea kit. Each time I tested, I tested three times, and the readings were always the same.
Im guessing the test kit is bad. Alk and calcium are staying the same at 7.9 and 425. Dosing Kalk. Can you think of any reason why the magnesium could drop that fast?

Also does the two part magnesium from BRS have a shelf life that could be losing its potency ? Thx.

There's no shelf life to the additives. They last forever.

I agree the kit is giving variable results for some reason since the magnesium is not dropping that fast, and a number of folks have issues with it (and other mag kits), but I'm not sure what you should do about the kit other than check things like the video above.

FWIW, all of the values you post are OK so don't stress too much over it.