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#1
07-12-2013, 04:05 PM
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FWIW, the Balling Light method mixes up to very similar concentrations as Randy's Recipe #1. I did the math awhile back so I could reference the uptake in my SPS tank. My tank uses about 1.25 mL per gallon per day each of calcium and alkalinity to try to give you a rough idea of what you might need. The only corals in the tank are SPS, but no clams.
Also, I do use the Trace 1, Trace 2, and Trace 3 elements in my dosers which is the full Balling Light method. Many people say they use the Balling Light method, but they are only using the calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium which is like Balling Light Light.   Last edited by Myka; 07-12-2013 at 04:12 PM. 
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#2
07-12-2013, 04:52 PM
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OK, makes sense and that is all in line with what I've read over the years.
Let me clairify; I have to dose stupidly huge amounds of Mg and only Mg in my tank. Is there a more efficient way of doing this? Or what is the best way to cocentrate my current suppliments. I don't really care so much about Ca and dKH because the amount I dose via doser is manageable at this point. Why I am asking this question is because I am having to dose SO MUCH of Magneisum. Pretty much I am asking how people are getting around this issue, if they too also have a huge Mg. draw. I am not trying to raise my Mg, but keep it steady in the 1300-1400ppm range. I'd like 1400ppm but 1360ppm is about as high as I can consistently keep it. I wanted to see what everyone else is doing and how they were doing it. Here is my systems's current draw, however the draw on Magnesium is increasing. My magnesium use is partially tied into my clam growth. Ca ~10ppm/day draw - 430ppm is an easy and consistent number for me dKH - I only dose to mantain my parameter of 9 Mg. 20-30ppm/day draw but its getting closer and closer to 40ppm/day pH is consitently between 8.17 and 8.3 Depending on lights on/off So what I'm kind of hearing is not many other people have a Mg draw like I do and that for the most part once you've overcome the tedious product consumption happy portion of raising your levels, you're only dosing for maintenance purposes. I used just Mg. Chloride to originally bring my levels in line back when the tank was first started. I use(d) both Mg. Chloride and Sulphide to dose from February - May. June and July have been Chloride only because its all I have left. I actually miss dosing the Sulphide because I think it had a positive impact on my clams, but 2 months of merely observational data isn't really useful. Mindy, how much overall water volume do you have? I see you mentioned the 90g, but I'm not sure if thats just the display or total system. My current water volume is 550g and I am not done adding onto this system. When I'm done I should have 1000g total. The costs really start to creep up at this level because you have to buy everything in such large quantities. How do you find the costs on dosing a system of your size?
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#3
07-12-2013, 05:20 PM
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Quote:
The BRS supplements are significantly cheaper and you can buy 5-gallon pails of the supplements. That's another option for you. I find I get better color and less algae growth when I use FM compared to BRS (particularly calcium and magnesium), but that's not a controlled experiment, that's just from switching back and forth a couple times and noticing small differences. I noticed similar differences when switching back and forth between IO and H2Ocean salt too. I also notice that the FM magnesium is less likely to become a solid block than the BRS magnesium which always got wet and rock-like on me. FWIW, it takes A LOT of magnesium chloride to RAISE magnesium. It's not so bad once you've figured out how much you need to dose. Maybe you need to add a bunch to your waterchanges PLUS dose it on a doser. You mention calcium and alkalinity on a doser, are you manually dosing the magnesium? How much are you actually using? Since I add 335 mL total Mg mix to my tank every 2 weeks, using the Reef Chemistry Calculator I can figure out my tank is using "pretty much exactly" 100 ppm every 2 weeks or 50 ppm per week. Since you are using about let's say 30 ppm per day you're looking at about 3.6 kg of product PER WEEK for 550 gallons of volume. That's huge. I am guessing however, that this is a spurt in Mg uptake as others have already suggested. Mess around with the Reef Chemistry Calculator both going forward and also reverse calculating to figure out how much you need to dose and see if you really are out of line or not. This calculator is really handy for figuring things like that out. FYI, the FM and the BRS Mg chloride are both "hexahydrate" aka MagFlake. Here's a good article that explains where the Magnesiu is going. Keep in mind Randy Holmes-Farley wrote it in 2003. Aquarium Chemistry: Magnesium in Reef Aquaria Last edited by Myka; 07-12-2013 at 05:23 PM.
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#4
07-12-2013, 05:31 PM
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FYI, Mg chloride from BRS is $76.99 if you're a preferred customer (or if you buy 3). So 3 of these plus shipping to my address is about $350 taxes in. I think the 5-gallon pails are 30 lbs (13.6 kg) so this 90 lbs (40 kg) would last you 10 weeks at your current uptake which comes in at around $1800 per year. I'm not sure you could find it any cheaper. Eventually with growth, you will be looking at doubling that amout if you're doubling your volume to 1000 gallons.
 I hope you're a heck of a lot richer than me.  FM Magnesium chloride when buying 4kg pails would be like $2500 per year not considering any shipping charges. I'm not sure if FM offers larger sizes as custom orders or not. The trouble is that these chems are heavy and cost a fortune to ship. Last edited by Myka; 07-12-2013 at 05:33 PM.
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