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saf
10/05/2009, 09:32 AM
My calcium has been running low ~350, so I decided to test my mg. It is also low. My problem is I can't seem to get it up. I have tried dosing seachem MG, brightwell liquid mg, and I even added the brightwell MG rocks to my calcium reactor. My mg has consistantly been around 1000 for the last week or so. Any thoughts?

eggiel
10/05/2009, 11:59 AM
whats your salinty? I think the better way is to raise you calcium first and Magnesium will fallow

luther1200
10/05/2009, 01:57 PM
I would try to get all 3 in balance. Your Ca/Alk/Mg. Once they are at balanced levels it will be easier to raise them all. If you have low Mg it will be difficult to raise your Ca. But what is your Alk?

Billybeau1
10/05/2009, 02:56 PM
It generally takes a lot of magnesium supplement to raise your level if it is low. The nice thing about mag is it depletes rather slowly so once you hit your target, it is pretty easy to maintain.

My two questions would be, what brand test kit are you using and what salt mix do you use for your water changes ?

saf
10/06/2009, 08:38 AM
I have used two different test kits. Salifert and Elos, I also use IO for salt.

saf
10/06/2009, 08:38 AM
Alk was 10

Randy Holmes-Farley
10/06/2009, 08:42 AM
You may have just not added enough. It takes a huge amount, as Billy pointed out.

Use this calculator to see how much is needed. It may surprise you:

Reef chemicals calculator
http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chem_calc3.html