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View Full Version : Magnesium magically stable (and high)


lastlight
01-25-2012, 09:34 PM
I haven't dosed mag to the tank since the transfer. I dose roughly 250mL of Ca/Alk per day.

I thought my Elos kit was off with a 1500 reading yesterday so I cracked into a new one and got the same thing! How is this possible?

Not sure it's related but coral growth is great and most of my coraline has died. New coraline forms on the glass extremely slowly.

Coleus
01-25-2012, 09:43 PM
what salt are you using. I found that if i use Seachem, i never had to dose Mg.

lastlight
01-25-2012, 09:48 PM
Reef Crystals.

I also don't test my new water but maybe I should for fun. No way it's that high tho. I test the tank a day later and adjust if needed. Only minor adjustments are ever needed and I'm sure more due to corals using more of my money up.

Reef Pilot
01-25-2012, 10:25 PM
I was running about 1500+ mg in my tank for a while, too. I never dose mg, but I dose Seachem Reef Advantage Calcium which adds mg along with the ca. I was also using Royal Nature salt for a time which I think had more mg in it. Lately I have been using just the cheap Instant Ocean salt, and my mg is now running around a more normal 1200.

Reefer Rob
01-25-2012, 11:01 PM
I'm pretty sure Instant Ocean's Mg levels are up lately, perhaps Reef Crystals is as well.

Delphinus
01-26-2012, 02:41 AM
Cool! I would imagine it's your salt and you seem to be pretty diligent with waterchanges. Test your incoming and see what it's at, I bet that's why.

christyf5
01-26-2012, 03:46 PM
yeah mine is pegged at 1500 too. I think there is some truth to the IO being high in Mg or something because I haven't changed my dosing at all and occasionally (ok I'll say it, more often than not) my mg dosing container is needing to be refilled yet mg levels haven't dropped (20% weekly WC)

kien
01-26-2012, 03:53 PM
yup, me too. Used IO a lot and have not dosed mag for over two years now. I still have a container of Mag that I bought from chemmaster two years ago that's unused if anyone wants it :lol:

christyf5
01-26-2012, 03:55 PM
Wow. Maybe I'll stop mg dosing for awhile and see where the numbers go. I don't have any coralline as well but then I haven't seen much since I started the tank

kien
01-26-2012, 04:13 PM
Wow. Maybe I'll stop mg dosing for awhile and see where the numbers go. I don't have any coralline as well but then I haven't seen much since I started the tank

What I've found is that my Mg never depleted very fast at all and always hovered around 1300 to 1400 with regular water changes. I tested often at first because I bought myself a fancy schmancy 4 head doser to take care of dosing Alk, Calc and Mag but the doser never got set up to dose Mg since my mag never depleted enough to warrant dosing. I do weekly water changes of 10% with the occasional missed week here and there. Or the occassional missed month like in December :lol:

christyf5
01-26-2012, 04:18 PM
What I've found is that my Mg never depleted very fast at all and always hovered around 1300 to 1400 with regular water changes. I tested often at first because I bought myself a fancy schmancy 4 head doser to take care of dosing Alk, Calc and Mag but the doser never got set up to dose Mg since my mag never depleted enough to warrant dosing. I do weekly water changes of 10% with the occasional missed week here and there. Or the occassional missed month like in December :lol:

LOL, sounds like my December :wink:

My mg does deplete but it does it fairly slowly. I find trying to keep it at 1350 for awhile there was difficult and then suddenly it shot up to 1500 for whatever reason. I do still have a feeling it will slowly decrease to about 1250 or something but it seems to hang around there and doesn't go lower. Not sure how closely its related to Alk like Ca is but my Alk levels are always in the toilet (5-6.4) and I never seem to be able to stay on target, I suppose because I have so many SPS in the tank.

kien
01-26-2012, 04:21 PM
my Alk levels are always in the toilet (5-6.4) and I never seem to be able to stay on target, I suppose because I have so many SPS in the tank.

I don't think your toilet's Alk level really affects your tank.. but I'm no expert on that matter. I will have to test mine to see what my toilet's alk level is at as now I'm curious..

christyf5
01-26-2012, 04:22 PM
I don't think your toilet's Alk level really affects your tank.. but I'm no expert on that matter. I will have to test mine to see what my toilet's alk level is at as now I'm curious..

well if it isn't etching the porcelain I wouldn't worry about it. I don't.

Reefer Rob
01-26-2012, 05:28 PM
Tested my Mg last night and got 1450 with Elos. Tank has been running for a little over 1 1/2 months with no supplemented Mg, all IO salt.

lastlight
01-26-2012, 07:10 PM
Crazy seems like a common problem. I know when mag is low it can be tough to balance the other two but it seems to have no effect being at 1500 (normally I aimed for 1400). I can't bring it down anyways but I am going to test my next wc out of curiosity and I'll post back.

Maybe Elos sucks consistently too!

christyf5
01-29-2012, 02:38 AM
Tested tonight on a fresh bucket of IO, didn't take the time to roll it or whatever i was supposed to do to mix it.

Mg: 840 ppm
Alk: 10.4 dkH
Ca: 320 ppm

Guess I'm continuing to dose magnesium :razz:

lastlight
01-29-2012, 05:55 AM
Just did my wc today and forgot to test oops! That's crazy low christy and it takes a lot of supplements to raise mag that much.

phi delt reefer
01-29-2012, 01:01 PM
I using RC ang my mag stays above 1400. I do have to dose calc and alk daily.