It’s good! This was before I added any corals and a few months ago but after topping off with distilled water for a few weeks. Sorry I didn’t include more details. My levels have been good and corals have been growing and happy.
Because it was an Aquaspin Test and automatically sent to me.
Either your salinity is low or your magnesium test was done incorrectly. At 35ppt magnesium of standard salt mixes ranges between 1200 and 1450 with 1350 being the most common. A reading of 890ppm Mg can only happen in hyposalinity around 25ppt. Magnesium is not consumed by corals in large amounts (my tank used 1dKH worth of alkalinity a day and only used 2ppm of magnesium).
I did post one. Okay so a few months ago when my tank was rock only with fish and first being setup I topped off with distilled water and that dropped my levels very low after getting it tested at my lfs because I didn’t have the test kits on hand and so I started supplementing Reef Complete and my levels went back so I kept adding like half a capful to my ato weekly and it’s been good and my corals are growing I noticed. I still top off with distilled water and do weekly water changes and have been testing my levels and they have been good so I keep adding it to my ato.
I’m having trouble following this..?
So is this the result of a massive dump of non-salt water into the tank? If so then you are at hyposalinity and need to add salt back to 35ppm. Unless your using some kind of salt with no calcium/mag/alk it should bring them back into tolerable levels with fixing salinity
If your referring to the natural drop of ca/alk/mag levels by coral take up, well… that’s what dosing is for.
It’s hard to imagine how just WCs wouldn’t keep those levels in check, unless your tank is jam packed full of CCA and SPS. Do you have a tank pic or build thread?
So it’s not now and my levels are fine. And corals are happy and growing but I still add around a capful of Reef Complete weekly to my ato. I do think the test was so low because it was diluted problem solved but I still like to add my minerals back in.
Okay so I’ve been adding calcium although it says it maintains levels of magnesium.
I believe so.
If you even need it (testing regularly will confirm), use allforreef or kalkwasser to do this or dose reef complete and reef carbonate. Reef complete is not complete dosing. It is only calcium.
Thanks I’ll test again and see but also note that I think not dumping a lot of it directly in the tank and it being added in my ato may be helping that.
Adding dosing to your ato is a good way to do so in the low demand stages.
This is what I was said with my first comment... topping off too much freshwater will cause your levels to drop because you're diluting your system. Replacement freshwater for evaporation has to be near exact so you don't dilute the tank. The same applies if you don't put enough freshwater in. This will cause your tank to become saturated over time and your levels will rise. I don't use an ATO so I have a piece of tape marking my level and I only fill to that level when it drops because that is what has evaporated.
It might be just me but dosing to ATO is just adding a variation factor to dosing. I would never recommend that (hot day more dosing, cold day less)
The point of the ATO dosing is when someone can't yet justify the cost of a dosing pump but do have an ATO. Creates a middle ground where additives can be added more slowly than once per day without the added expense of a dosing pump. All of my tanks are outfitted with dosing provisions and share a RODI, so I do skip that step now, but kalkwasser worked great for my early stages of reefing when I was working with much less disposable income.
