Mag won't go up, stuck at 1200

[Rakie]

Hey guys, my mag is stuck at 1200 and wondering if there's any reason besides outrageous mag usage.

45g SPS cube, tons of coral.. Was using ME Corals 2 part with mag, and slowly my mag started ticking down further and further. A triple x daily dose didn't even stop it from going down.

Now I'm using ATI Essentials -- Dosing 75ml Alk, 75ml Cal, 100ml Mag, and the mag went from 1200 to 1150 overnight. I dosed 300ml of Mag this morning, and it rose to 1200 from 1150. I then went and got Brightwell magnesium and dosed 40ml -- This should have raised my mag about 25ppm -- it raised it Zero.

So any idea whats going on here?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Only thing I'm sure of is that you do not have more than 1-2 ppm per day magnesium usage, and then only if you have 10-20 ppm calcium usage each day.

It NEVER drops 50 ppm per day. That's purely testing error.

 

[Rakie]

Only thing I'm sure of is that you do not have more than 1-2 ppm per day magnesium usage, and then only if you have 10-20 ppm calcium usage each day.

It NEVER drops 50 ppm per day. That's purely testing error.

Actually I was thinking more like precipitation or something. I'm just unsure how it keeps getting lower and lower, no matter how much I dose.

That's the most I could raise it within a day?

 

[spiraling]

It sounds like you test kit is bad. Is it expired?

 

[Rakie]

It sounds like you test kit is bad. Is it expired?

Not as far as I know, and it's definitely not expired. I've tested by putting a little mag in a cup of salt water and it tested higher.

I guess it could have spoiled? But it's dec 2018 expiration.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Actually I was thinking more like precipitation or something. I'm just unsure how it keeps getting lower and lower, no matter how much I dose.

That's the most I could raise it within a day?

Nope. Magnesium precipitates as a small amount of inclusion into precipitating calcium carbonate. Calcium and alkalinity would drop like a rock to lose 50 ppm magnesium. You don't have that much alk in seawater, and just barely enough calcium if you precipitated it all.

Either your test kit is off or you didn't add enough (or added the wrong thing).

Have you used a calculator to see how large of an impact those additions should have? Magnesium usually takes large doses to have a noticeable impact.

 

[Rakie]

Well there's no known calculator for ATI essentials, and the manual doesn't specify. I went based on dosing and test results. I suppose my test kit may have gone bad. I'll try and use another test tomorrow.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I wouldn't assume the kit has gone bad, just not nearly as reproducible and accurate as you'd like.

Without knowing the concentration of the additive, one can't know what rise to expect to see.

That said, my quick search on ATI essentials shows three additives, and no separate magnesium additive. I see an alk, a calcium/magnesium, and a trace elements. Maybe there's a different product that you have now?

http://zeoprs.jp/ATI Essencials/ATI-Essentials-v2.3 english.pdf

 

[Rakie]

I wouldn't assume the kit has gone bad, just not nearly as reproducible and accurate as you'd like.

Without knowing the concentration of the additive, one can't know what rise to expect to see.

That said, my quick search on ATI essentials shows three additives, and no separate magnesium additive. I see an alk, a calcium/magnesium, and a trace elements. Maybe there's a different product that you have now?

http://zeoprs.jp/ATI Essencials/ATI-Essentials-v2.3 english.pdf

Actually, it says Elements #1 = Alk, Elements #2 = Cal, Elements #3 = Mag. And elements #2, and #3, contain the trace.

So elements #3 is separate mag.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Actually, it says Elements #1 = Alk, Elements #2 = Cal, Elements #3 = Mag. And elements #2, and #3, contain the trace.

So elements #3 is separate mag.

You're right. I may have misread it.

It says equal parts dosing for maintenance, so it would take a mammoth amount of the part 3 to boost magnesium by 50 ppm. I'd look to use a different product, specifically for magnesium boosting.

 

[Rakie]

You're right. I may have misread it.

It says equal parts dosing for maintenance, so it would take a mammoth amount of the part 3 to boost magnesium by 50 ppm. I'd look to use a different product, specifically for magnesium boosting.

Yeah I've got Brightwell Aquatics magnesium, it says 1ml per gallon will increase 26ppm.

How much would you advise raising my Magnesium per day?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Yeah I've got Brightwell Aquatics magnesium, it says 1ml per gallon will increase 26ppm.

How much would you advise raising my Magnesium per day?

What do you think it is now? Usually, 25 ppm per day is good.

The issue is not the magnesium, but potential impurities in it.

 

[Rakie]

Well going by my potentially faulty test it's 1200. So far my test has been reliable but I suppose it may have gone bad. I'll test twice when I get home and see. But that's good to know 25ppm is a good daily increase.

Magnesium has been dwindling down for months, unless I dose absurd amounts of it. SO either Mag use has been slowly decreasing, or my test kit has been slowly going bad.

 

[mrtian97]

I am experienced similar and turns out my Red Sea Test kit is bad (eventhouugh not expired yet). It was reading 1200 , then when I got the new Red Sea kit, it reads 1500.

I have same issue with my red sea alk test kit, it's reading about 2 dKH lower (not expired test kit)

 

[GoVols]

Yeah I've got Brightwell Aquatics magnesium, it says 1ml per gallon will increase 26ppm.

Rakie,
If you using the Red Sea Pro kit, I trust the Salifert more.

Do you have the Brightwell's mag liquid?

Here's a calculator but I'm dumping their liquid mag. it raises my cal too.
Gotta have cal in that product.
https://www.marinedepot.com/md_educationcenter_calculators_reef_chemistry_calculator.html

Freddie

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Well going by my potentially faulty test it's 1200. So far my test has been reliable but I suppose it may have gone bad. I'll test twice when I get home and see. But that's good to know 25ppm is a good daily increase.

Magnesium has been dwindling down for months, unless I dose absurd amounts of it. So either Mag use has been slowly decreasing, or my test kit has been slowly going bad.

I'm not sure "absurd" is correct. It is not the proper product to boost magnesium.

Bear in mind the directions are calling for equal parts dosing:

"Please note that at the beginning # 1, 2 and 3 Essentials should be dosed in equal amounts."

So assuming it is made as a proper two/three part, the magnesium boost is only about 1/10th of the calcium boost. If you are dosing 10 ppm calcium per day, equal parts is dosing about 1 ppm per day of magnesium. Even if you dosed 10 times as much of the magnesium part as the calcium part per day, that's only 10 ppm per day.

 

[spiraling]

I am experienced similar and turns out my Red Sea Test kit is bad (eventhouugh not expired yet). It was reading 1200 , then when I got the new Red Sea kit, it reads 1500.

I have same issue with my red sea alk test kit, it's reading about 2 dKH lower (not expired test kit)

I have had a similar experience with the mag kit, or I was constantly not doing it correctly. It would read about 950. I got a new batch and then it read 1250 as expected.
I'm going to check my alk one now!

 

[GoVols]

I'm not sure "absurd" is correct. It is not the proper product to boost magnesium.

Bear in mind the directions are calling for equal parts dosing:

"Please note that at the beginning # 1, 2 and 3 Essentials should be dosed in equal amounts."

So assuming it is made as a proper two/three part, the magnesium boost is only about 1/10th of the calcium boost. If you are dosing 10 ppm calcium per day, equal parts is dosing about 1 ppm per day of magnesium. Even if you dosed 10 times as much of the magnesium part as the calcium part per day, that's only 10 ppm per day.

Randy,
I can't explain it but (lol)... the only time that I have a mag "sump" is during coralline growth spurts.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Randy,
I can't explain it but the only time that I have a mag "sump" is during coralline growth spurts.

Coralline has the highest magnesium content of all of the organisms listed in my article, and it may vary by coralline species. The one I list has 4.4% magnesium by weight (so calcium would be about 33% by weight; so about 7.5 Ca:Mg by weight).

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2003/10/chemistry

For my DIY I assumed an average value of about 2.5% magnesium by weight, but if most or all of the demand comes from coralline, this will be an underestimate, and magnesium can slowly decline (and, if course, folks that don't use the magnesium part will see a much faster decline).:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/rhf/index.php
"For this calculation, I have assumed that the amount of magnesium incorporated is about 6.5% of the calcium level (by weight), or about 2.5% of the skeleton by weight."

 

[GoVols]

Coralline has the highest magnesium content of all of the organisms listed in my article, and it may vary by coralline species. The one I list has 4.4% magnesium by weight (so calcium would be about 33% by weight; so about 7.5 Ca:Mg by weight).

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2003/10/chemistry

For my DIY I assumed an average value of about 2.5% magnesium by weight, but if most or all of the demand comes from coralline, this will be an underestimate, and magnesium can slowly decline (and, if course, folks that don't use the magnesium part will see a much faster decline).:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/rhf/index.php
"For this calculation, I have assumed that the amount of magnesium incorporated is about 6.5% of the calcium level (by weight), or about 2.5% of the skeleton by weight."

I just printed both your articles.

Good-Stuff

And thanks for sharing