Magnesium? How often?

[CoryC]

I've been dosing 2 part for about a month and noticed i was having a difficult time raising my calcium, alk has maintained but calc wasnt going up so i tested my mg and it was at around 1150. how often do you all that dose 2 part dose the mg part and what's your steps for doing so? do you stop dosing the other two for a day or so and dose just mg to bring those levels up?

 

[nova65ss]

What a- b are you using?

 

[Pappy]

Stop dosing alk for a couple days and calc should go up. I had same issue. I like to keep my alk 9-10 but couldn't get calc up til I dropped alk to around 8 then brought the alk up. As far as mag I keep mine around 1400 and it doesn't move. I never dose mag.

 

[CoryC]

I'm using brs additives. Ill try that. I can't get my calc up very much

 

[nova65ss]

I was using Kent for about a year and figured I would save some money and switched to brs annd had the same problems. I don't check my mg never have so I didn't dose the mg that came with the brs kit.

Went back to the kent reef fusion back stable and steady.

 

[Singlefin]

You will have problems stabilizing your ca and alk until you your mag is on par. You dose as much as you consume. Only way to tell for your tank is to test. Test. Test. Everyone's is different.

 

[Zack]

You will have problems stabilizing your ca and alk until you your mag is on par. You dose as much as you consume. Only way to tell for your tank is to test. Test. Test. Everyone's is different.

Yep.
Get mag up and it should help. I had same issue untill i started keeping my magnesium on the higer end of acceptable range.

 

[Aquaph8]

You will have problems stabilizing your ca and alk until you your mag is on par. You dose as much as you consume. Only way to tell for your tank is to test. Test. Test. Everyone's is different.

Very true but you also have to understand that CA and ALK are playing a balancing act. Try to imagine them on a scale, as one goes goes up the other will naturally fall to balance the scale. How high are you running your ALK and where are you trying to get your CAL? Seeing where your at on MAG is a good idea though.

 

[CoryC]

Alk I've been running at 9.3 and calc has stayed around 390. Mag at 1150. Did a water change to see how that affected it without much change. Then proceeded to dissolve 4 cups espsom salts in 1/2 gal water and dosed around 45 ml of that solution. Will post results later today

 

[rich850]

Epsom salts should be mixed with magnesium chloride to maintain a proper balance

 

[rich850]

There are different ratios depending on what you use for alk/calcium maintenance

 

[Mrfresh]

Brs has a input tool on there site. U put were ur number are at and then you put where u want them to be and it will tell u how much to dose.

 

[Mrfresh]

THE LONG ANWSER

to know how much you need to dose it's a pain, and here's how you do it...
Test ur alk cal and mag. Daily for a few days ( do not dose for these few days to watch levels drop )
Example numbers and dates
Monday alk 9.0 dkh cal 440 mag 1320
Tuesday alk 8.8 dkh cal 425 mag 1315
Wednesday alk 8.6 dkh cal 410 mag 1310

So now that you see how much ur number are dropping you can dose what you think you need.
Doses
Alk 20mls cal 20mls mag 5mls.

If your numbers stay the same as the day before then you know how much you need to dose daily. If the number raise then your dosing to much to MAINTAIN ur current levels. If the number drop you need to raise the dose. Remember you might need to does each one at different doses.

Thursday alk 8.6dkh cal 410 mag 1310

So that means ur dosing the proper amount to keep your levels stable.
Now that you have you numbers stable you can raise you alk cal and mag to the levels you want to keep them at.

You only need to do this at the start of dosing. If you keep a lot of sps you might need to do this process each month bc as ur corals grow there demand for alk cal and mag will increase.

Hopefully this made sence and will help you with what ur trying to do.
For me I only have to dose 20mls of mag once a week bc the levels don't change much
Even tho I have to dose alk and cal everyday.
Best of luck

 

[glb]

THE LONG ANWSER

to know how much you need to dose it's a pain, and here's how you do it...
Test ur alk cal and mag. Daily for a few days ( do not dose for these few days to watch levels drop )
Example numbers and dates
Monday alk 9.0 dkh cal 440 mag 1320
Tuesday alk 8.8 dkh cal 425 mag 1315
Wednesday alk 8.6 dkh cal 410 mag 1310

So now that you see how much ur number are dropping you can dose what you think you need.
Doses
Alk 20mls cal 20mls mag 5mls.

If your numbers stay the same as the day before then you know how much you need to dose daily. If the number raise then your dosing to much to MAINTAIN ur current levels. If the number drop you need to raise the dose. Remember you might need to does each one at different doses.

Thursday alk 8.6dkh cal 410 mag 1310

So that means ur dosing the proper amount to keep your levels stable.
Now that you have you numbers stable you can raise you alk cal and mag to the levels you want to keep them at.

You only need to do this at the start of dosing. If you keep a lot of sps you might need to do this process each month bc as ur corals grow there demand for alk cal and mag will increase.

Hopefully this made sence and will help you with what ur trying to do.
For me I only have to dose 20mls of mag once a week bc the levels don't change much
Even tho I have to dose alk and cal everyday.
Best of luck

This was very helpful! Thanks!!!

 

[CoryC]

yeah i've figured out my consumption on the alk and calc side of the spectrum but i've not been able to get my calc levels to raise much. also i raised my mag to about 1230 dosing with just espom salts, then found out i likely need to add the mag chloride to get the proper balance. i'm going to pick some up from a local reefer then i'll probably try raising it to 1350. my mag doesnt drop much daily, and neither does my calcium.

 

[ReefMadScientist]

@Randy Holmes-Farley
@Russ265

I didn't want to start a new thread. I just have one question. When you dose Mg does that raise Alkalinity and or Calcium? I only have to dose Mg maybe once every few months but just curious.

Thanks!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Edit: I didn't realize this was such an old thread, but perhaps the advice in the next few posts is useful aynway.

I'm using brs additives. Ill try that. I can't get my calc up very much

In the BRS system, which I invented, you should be dosing magnesium based on the volume of the other additives you dose. The amount is 610 mL of the magnesium liquid after each gallon of the other parts.

You certainly do not need to wait for the gallon of the alk part, for example to add the magnesium. Jut use that ratio: 1 mL of magnesium part for each mL of (either) the alk part or the calcium part.

Here are more detailed directions and discussions:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/rhf/index.php

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

FWIW, you need not stop dosing the other parts for more than a few minutes before dosing the magnesium part.

If magnesium is starting undesirably low, boost it with the magnesium part using an amount determined by this calculator. If the boost is more than about 25-50 ppm, split it over multiple days.

http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chem_calc3.html

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Stop dosing alk for a couple days and calc should go up. I had same issue. I like to keep my alk 9-10 but couldn't get calc up til I dropped alk to around 8 then brought the alk up.

That should not be necessary.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I was using Kent for about a year and figured I would save some money and switched to brs annd had the same problems. I don't check my mg never have so I didn't dose the mg that came with the brs kit.

Went back to the kent reef fusion back stable and steady.

That was not optimal, IMO. You should dose the magnesium part whether you measure it or not as it is needed for more than just the magnesium in it.