Seachem Mg Supplement

[rmurken]

What’s the point to Seachem’s approach in Reef Advantage Magnesium, which is MgSO4 and NaCl? Why wouldn’t they do the expected combo of a little MgSO4 and a lot of MgCl2?

Seachem has good products and sometimes take slightly unorthodox approaches, but this just seems like a waste of packaging, since you could have a much more potent, and still balanced, supplement using MgCl2 and the sulfate.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

They told me long ago they thought there was too much ammonia in the magnesium chloride that was available.

 

[rmurken]

Thanks for sharing that knowledge @Randy Holmes-Farley!

I’ve seen that MgCl2 can have ammonia as an impurity. Couldn’t it be drive off by heating the salt?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Thanks for sharing that knowledge @Randy Holmes-Farley!

I’ve seen that MgCl2 can have ammonia as an impurity. Couldn’t it be drive off by heating the salt?

I'm not sure, but I doubt it. It takes pretty high temps to break down ammonium chloride. Wikipedia says 338 deg C, (640 deg F).

 

[shwareefer]

Old thread but..

Does that mean the majority of Seachem Reef Advantage Magnesium is Sodium Chloride or is the ratio different than with Magnesium Chloride?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Old thread but..

Does that mean the majority of Seachem Reef Advantage Magnesium is Sodium Chloride or is the ratio different than with Magnesium Chloride?

If they currently use MgSO4 and NaCl to make a chloride/sulfate balanced magnesium supplement, then it has much more NaCl than MgSO4.

 

[shwareefer]

If they currently use MgSO4 and NaCl to make a chloride/sulfate balanced magnesium supplement, then it has much more NaCl than MgSO4.

yes they do. I assume that means 920mg of sodium chloride and sulfate, if it works that way.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

yes they do. I assume that means 920mg of sodium chloride and sulfate, if it works that way.

That doesn’t say they go all the way to a balanced ratio, especially if they go by tradition and put the primary ingredient first, but they may.

 

[shwareefer]

The container and their website say ionically balanced. I've been using it for years but I think I'll switch. Aside from paying for table salt, it's never dissolved easily ( I started crushing it in a pestle and mortar to help) and I just finished my last container so that's that.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

The container and their website say ionically balanced. I've been using it for years but I think I'll switch. Aside from paying for table salt, it's never dissolved easily ( I started crushing it in a pestle and mortar to help) and I just finished my last container so that's that.

Yes, that seems like a fine plan. I wouldn’t even be sure they know how to ionically balance it.