No Mg consumption using Triton (or any balling)

Mortie31 · Nov 24, 2017

hi All, I’m hoping someone can help out I posted the below question on the Triton Facebook page but no one bothered to answer, so thought I’d ask the experts for some help.... why is my Mg uptake zero if corals “supposedly” uptake it in set ratios to Alk and Ca.

Hi All my tank is very mature, 6 years plus, I switched to Core 7 several months ago and I still haven't dosing a single ml of Mg as it's always 1470 ish on ICPs and my test kit. When I was balling I had the same situation, my uptake of Mg has been next to zero for over 4 years. I love the ease of using triton, but I'm wondering what additives I'm missing out in not dosing bottle 1 at all? and how it will affect long term? I'm considering switching away as it seems a waste to not use it. What is the concentration of Mg in your mix? A ratio of Mg to Ca would suffice. Will it actually raise my levels If I dosed it anyway despite a total lack of uptake? I am aware that Mg coral uptake is minuscule anyway and generally is approx 10 times lower than Ca if not even less. My Alk is 7.5 and use of other 3 bottles is 24 ml/ day. Hope you can advise.

sghera64 · Nov 24, 2017

Are you adding anything besides RO/DI water and fish food? Do you have a CO2 ( ie carbonate) reactor?

Mortie31 · Nov 24, 2017

sghera64 said:
Are you adding anything besides RO/DI water and fish food? Do you have a CO2 ( ie carbonate) reactor?

No nothing I have done water changes in the past but not for a few months now, I do use a CO2 scrubber on my skimmer but that’s only been on for 8weeks or so.

wopadobop · Nov 24, 2017

Alk consumption increased from scrubbing co2 from the system? Triton does not recommend co2 removal media . Weird for sure though. It is a long term problem and not necessarily Triton. I believe bottle 1 has iron which will effect algae bed and green coloration but if it isn’t low on icp it’s nithing to be concerned over.

Lots of things use alk , bacteria and algae being two besides coral. If they are using up alk then your other levels will not go down as fast. Very odd that you have had no magnesium uptake for years.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Nov 24, 2017

Real magnesium consumption can be very low and would not typically ever get above 1/10th of the calcium depletion rate. So 1 ppm per day might be reasonable and is often lost in the noise of water changes and imperfect magnesium testing.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Nov 24, 2017

wopadobop said:
Alk consumption increased from scrubbing co2 from the system? Triton does not recommend co2 removal media . Weird for sure though. It is a long term problem and not necessarily Triton. I believe bottle 1 has iron which will effect algae bed and green coloration but if it isn’t low on icp it’s nithing to be concerned over.

Lots of things use alk , bacteria and algae being two besides coral. If they are using up alk then your other levels will not go down as fast. Very odd that you have had no magnesium uptake for years.

Bacteria and algae do not typically consume alkalinity, and when they do it us either because nitrate is increasing or they are calcifying organisms like halimeda.

CO2 scrubbers may increase the demand for calcium, alkalinity and to some extent magnesium, by increasing both coral growth and abiotic precipitation of calcium carbonate, but does not deplete alkalinity alone.

Mortie31 · Nov 25, 2017

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Real magnesium consumption can be very low and would not typically ever get above 1/10th of the calcium depletion rate. So 1 ppm per day might be reasonable and is often lost in the noise of water changes and imperfect magnesium testing.

Thank you Randy, it’s certainly my experience, it also begs the question why do we all refer to the big 3 Ca, Alk and Mg as being crucial when it appears Mg doesn’t really fit into that combination?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Nov 25, 2017

Mortie31 said:
Thank you Randy, it’s certainly my experience, it also begs the question why do we all refer to the big 3 Ca, Alk and Mg as being crucial when it appears Mg doesn’t really fit into that combination?

I’ve often said that newer folks need not even measure it. IMO bad test results cause people more magnesium angst than is worthwhile.

If you use a two part that properly includes magnesium, I wouldn’t measure it. [emoji3]