This time it’s magnesium!

BestMomEver · Mar 13, 2019

I have an issue with magnesium. Problem is, there is a serious over abundance of it in my tank. I dose BRS three part (pharma pouches). My dkh is 10.1 and calcium is 432 (Hannah checkers). I also have difficulty maintaining pH but today it has actually been up to 8.06. It’s a miracle! Typically, I use Red Sea magnesium test kit. In the last weeks, my magnesium has stayed in excess of the high limit of the Red Sea kit which is 1600. I have been gradually reducing my magnesium dosing and, finally, day before yesterday, I turned it completely off. I tested magnesium this afternoon and it is around 1480. Still high, butt better than before. To confirm my results, I also tested with a Salifert test and got pretty much the same.

So.... how? For a month, I have been dosing about 4ml magnesium daily to the 60ml of calcium and buffer. I can hardly keep dkh and calcium levels up, even with dosing that quantity.

Questions...

1. @BRS.... do you find this to be an issue with other folks that use your products?
2. Should I use a different dosing method? If so, what do you guys recommend and why?

I should mention that I used kalk in my top off water for a while and got great results but it was way to difficult to control. Evaporation varies from day to day, week to week, season to season.

3. Has anyone had similar issues? What did you do to correct it?

60CubeReefer · Mar 13, 2019

If your mag is too high, stop dosing and let it come down naturally as consumption the tank depletes it. Wait a few days, test again, and you can figure out your daily consumption rate to dose that amount when your mag drops to where you want it.

How and what are you dosing, specifically? Is this into your 60 gallon, and if so, what kinds of corals do you have in it?

BestMomEver · Mar 14, 2019

60CubeReefer said:
If your mag is too high, stop dosing and let it come down naturally as consumption the tank depletes it. Wait a few days, test again, and you can figure out your daily consumption rate to dose that amount when your mag drops to where you want it.

How and what are you dosing, specifically? Is this into your 60 gallon, and if so, what kinds of corals do you have in it?

I am using BRS pharma calcium, alkalinity, and mag. I am using a bubble magus doser. It is my 60 cube and it’s a SPS dominated tank,