Raising Mg

[Frenchie]

I've been trying to raise my mg for a week and a half now. I have been using the Elos tests and dosing the max amount of mg per day (10mg / 20 gallons) for over a week and I'm still only at 1000 mg. Is this normal or should I be concerened with either the test or something else?

[michika]

What is your Calcium at?

[Frenchie]

Calcium is at 360, and I have been using brightwell aquatics magnisium. 100ml per day for a 220 gallon tank.

[michika]

You might want to try bumping them in tandem, although dosing on alternating days. However, if you are happy with your Ca. level, I'm not sure what to recommend to you. I usually bump/maintain my Mg. levels with a Mag. additive in my Ca. reactor, or I used to dose mag cystals from Little Silver Max. I have never used a Brightwell product, so I don't have any hands on experience with their stuff.

[Frenchie]

Thanks Ill try the mag cystals from Little Silver Max. hopefully that will help.

Thanks for the advise,

Rene

[Tom R]

By using one of these reef calculators you will get a better idea of the dosage necessary to bring your levels up to your desired level.

http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chemcalc.html


Tom R

[MikeP]

Thanks Ill try the mag cystals from Little Silver Max. hopefully that will help.

Thanks for the advise,

Rene

I've been using Mag from LSM for about a year and it works great. I figured out how much my Mag, Cal, and Alk go down per day and dose accordingly. In my case I had to overdose quite a bit to get levels up. Now maintaining with daily dosing is easy.

HTH

[Frenchie]

Is it odd for it to be so low? I had been using instant ocean salt, but have recently switched to reef crystals. The tank is only 6 months old.

[atcguy]

i tried everything to get my levels up at one time.. I find liquid additives dont work well.. Then I tried the reefchem mag flakes.. wow.. brought it up very well over a couple days.. I use this now in my new IO salt for water changes..

[fkshiu]

i tried everything to get my levels up at one time.. I find liquid additives dont work well.. Then I tried the reefchem mag flakes.. wow.. brought it up very well over a couple days.. I use this now in my new IO salt for water changes..


Liquid additives are diluted. Dry chemicals - especially anhydrous ones - are nothing but the good stuff. jdieck's calculator that TomR mentioned is very useful also in comparing across brands/methods/mixtures of how much you need to bring your levels up.

[Rbacchiega]

I'd also try raising your calcium as well. I like to keep mine up around 430....

[Frenchie]

Ive been trying to raise the calcium as well, but I suspect the low mg was keeping it down. I will have to try the dry additive, but the calculator says I need like 600 table spoons? Does this sound right?

[xtreme]

Ive been trying to raise the calcium as well, but I suspect the low mg was keeping it down. I will have to try the dry additive, but the calculator says I need like 600 table spoons? Does this sound right?

Ya, Thats probably right. I needed to dose about 3000ml of the DIY mix to bring my Mg up to where I wanted it, and I only have a 125 gal.

[tlo]

You do need a lot to raise it, dont raise it too quickly, as it can stress your corals. Just remember it is a salt and raising it a lot will also raise your sg. I found if you need to raise your mag by a signigicant amount it is better to add it either with a water change or at the same sg as you currently keep your system at.

[michika]

I'll hook you up with some mag. crystals for free. I have tons extra and never use it. I'd rather give it away then let it continue to sit in my basement.

In regards to the link between Calcium and Magnesium, mag. facilitates the uptake of Ca. in SPS. So raising your Ca one day and Mag. the next can help you get things back on track. I used to dose Ca. one day, and Mag & dKH the next, one in the morning, one at night.

[Frenchie]

Michika, those crystals would be great. I can pick them up when I pick up the food.

Thanks!

[Tom R]

Yes it blows your mind how much additive is required to bring them into the correct levels. That is why these premixed additives available at you LFS do not seem to do anything. I use 22 table spoons of mg added to my mix for a 45G water change using IO salt. This will bring the mg levels to 1400. Once I got my mg to 1350 in the tank I only have to ensure that my water change water maintains those levels. I seldom have to dose mg between water changes. I do the same for ca.

Tom R

Ive been trying to raise the calcium as well, but I suspect the low mg was keeping it down. I will have to try the dry additive, but the calculator says I need like 600 table spoons? Does this sound right?

[mark]

You'll find IO low in Ca and Mg right out of the pail, but once you know, it's not big deal to supplement your change water.

With different pails I'll get for Ca 275-325ppm and Mg 900-1100ppm. Natural Salt Water (http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.php) is about 380-450ppm for Ca and 1250-1350ppg Mg.

[Frenchie]

So I would have been at thins a long time adding 100ml of liquid suplement each day. LOL. I'm glad theres so much good advise on this site!

Thanks everyone.

Rene

[TTT]

Is it odd for it to be so low? I had been using instant ocean salt, but have recently switched to reef crystals. The tank is only 6 months old.

I too have had problems increasing Mg and Ca levels. I have been using liquid supplements but that has become expensive. I have been using Reef Crystals but have not been impressed. I have tested new salt water mixes at 1.026 sg (using refractometer) and got readings of 360 ppm Ca and 980 ppm Mg using two different brand test kits. I will be switching to a new salt.

[TTT]

i tried everything to get my levels up at one time.. I find liquid additives dont work well.. Then I tried the reefchem mag flakes.. wow.. brought it up very well over a couple days.. I use this now in my new IO salt for water changes..

Where are you buying your Mag flakes and what is the cost for quantity?

[mark]

I too have had problems increasing Mg and Ca levels. I have been using liquid supplements but that has become expensive. I have been using Reef Crystals but have not been impressed. I have tested new salt water mixes at 1.026 sg (using refractometer) and got readings of 360 ppm Ca and 980 ppm Mg using two different brand test kits. I will be switching to a new salt.supplementing with Ca and Mg from people like LittleSilverMax will only add about $5.00 to a pail of salt and I find just takes a couple of minutes each time I make a new batch of water, plus then also have the chemicals on-hand if I ever need to boost the display levels

[michika]

I always supplement with dry product over liquids for the same reasons we mentioned above, but the bottom line is its expensive. I had to take my kalk. reactor offline and now I'm going through a lot of Ca. powder in a given week, however, if it was liquid, I am pretty sure I would be bankrupt already.