Rising mg

[RelentlessRob]

I am newer to reefing, I used to have a 5 gallon aquarium with a pair of clowns, as they got bigger it was time to upgrade my tank. I recently doubled the tank to a 10 and added a trident to my system. I have never tested mg but with the trident it seems to just be drifting higher and higher. The mg level is now over 1650. I have dismissed it as testing error and a need to calibrate.

I plan on taking a water sample down to my local fish shop hoping they will test it and point me to a test kit and a fix.

Is there anything I can do in the mean time.

(I have noticed bubbling and what seems like snow cropping up when the light turns on (same time the mg seems to rise))

I seem to have a pretty bad outbreak of some thing, I think its dinos.

 

[RelentlessRob]

Some images for reference.

 

[DrDirt]

Are you dosing Mg?

 

[RelentlessRob]

Small update LFS said the MG was 1480 little high but not 1600. Got a test kit for myself. I plan to test the water myself as well as my RO water to ensure there is nothing hidden in the dark.

 

[RelentlessRob]

Are you dosing Mg?

I do not dose MG. I have just begun manual doses with esv aquatics b-ionic calcium buffer system. There may be MG in it but I couldnt find anything besides something stating "B-Ionic Calcium Buffer System is also formulated to provide all other important major, minor, and trace elements in the proper ratios to duplicate the composition of synthetic seawater."

 

[Cichlid Dad]

Hello, what coral do you have in the tank?

 

[RelentlessRob]

Hello, what coral do you have in the tank?

I have a couple I am not 100% sure about it I just got a mystery 5 pack. I know I have a GSP, Others are in the images attached. I am pretty confident that the first one is a frog spawn, The second one being some kind of Zoa, The others I have no clue in all honesty. There are 2 of the last one in different color patterns.

 

[DrDirt]

I suspect this "increase" is more a function of the Trident rather than an actual increasing trend in Mg. Have you calibrated the Trident?

 

[Cichlid Dad]

So at this stage, and a small tank, I would test only and use water changes to keep your parameters in check until that won't work anymore. You will learn the tank and it's needs. Your tank will start to talk to you, and you will learn to know what it is saying. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Magnesium does not rise on its own without dosing or a salinity increase.

I'd suggest using this method for magnesium in this tank:

Just say NO to magnesium testing: RMM is born

Reef Advantage Calcium also has 17mg of magnesium. If you have a coralline algae and lots of it boosting maybe needed if you have LPS dominant tank You don’t have to test magnesium as frequently as you would test calcium/alk Dosing by hand could be more of problem but if you have dosing pumps...

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