PDA

View Full Version : Magnesium supplimentation


domitilo
10/11/2009, 03:10 PM
Hi all. I have been adding magnesium as per the directions on the bottle for three days. I have a 125 gal tank with about another 10 gallons of water in the sump. My reef consists of about 100 pounds of live rock. I am figuring that I have about 80 gallons of water to work with. Water param are pH 8.3 Ca 600 dk 14 magnesium is 150. I have been adding magnesium 1ml per gallon dailey for three days, and the mg level has not budged. Any comments, suggestions. Do I just continue to dose Mg until the value increases? Thanks:twitch:

SWINGRRRR
10/11/2009, 03:13 PM
It takes a whole lot of Mag to raise even a tiny bit.

royvoss
10/11/2009, 06:08 PM
mag should be 1250 and 1350 ppm. 150 is way way low. alk and cal will be very hard stablize. also , are you sure you did the test right. cannot believe you only have mag of 150. to rasie to 1300 you will like 15000 ml mag to bring it up. unless you mean 1150 was the reading you got. then you would need 2000 ml of mag.

reefinder
10/11/2009, 06:36 PM
check the directions on the test kit again for the magnesium and make sure you are doing it right and converting the right numbers. if you get a reading of 150 again buy a new test kit and do another test.

sedor
10/11/2009, 06:46 PM
Use a calculator like the one on bulkreefsupply.com's website to determine how much your going to need to add and if its quite a bit you might want to consider splitting the dose over a couple days. But swingrrr is right, it takes a lot to move the Mag level up.

domitilo
10/11/2009, 06:48 PM
I agree, the value I get is way too low. i am doing the test correctly. I will try another test kit. Thanks Dom
Already visited the bulkreef site. used the Mg calculator; I need a truck load of the stuff. ty, Dom

cardiffgiant
10/12/2009, 09:03 AM
If it's really that low, just a regular water change should have a significant impact.

patsfan1130
10/12/2009, 10:05 AM
What salt mix are you using? I find it impossible to believe is is truly 150

domitilo
10/12/2009, 10:59 AM
Yes, I understand that 150 is VERY low. However, this is what I have. To check the test kit, what I did was to add 1 1/2 ml of Magnesium suppliment,Kent brand and added 1/2 a ml of tank water. I then went ahead and added the chemicals of the magnesium test kit to see what result I would obtain.. Happy to report that the test kit showed a Mag level of 1450. I think that this proves that the test kit is good, but i still remain with a very low level of Mg. I will continue to work on increasing my level. Just ordered MgCl and will buy Mg at Wallgreens.
Any othee comments, suggestions are appreciated.:twitch:

Randy Holmes-Farley
10/12/2009, 12:45 PM
I do not believe that you have 150 ppm in the tank. It doesn't happen. :)

The test result should have been way, way higher than 1450 ppm using what you state.

domitilo
10/12/2009, 04:55 PM
Ok all, thank you very much for your help. let me begin by saying that I am a proffessional and have pretty good common sense. I am embarrassed to write that I was reading the chart incorrectly. I was correlating test result to the amount of reagent that I dripped into the test water(amount of reagent used). The chart is looking to correlate what is remaining in the syringe after the color changes. Soooo..... long story short, I was interpreting the results incorrrectly. You guys were correct in wondering what was going on.
I certainly learned a lesson and maybe some one else will benefit from this thread. Thanks again, I plan to post my water params in the near futur as I move on in my search of obtaining the reef tank of my dreams. Thanks again, Dom
BTW, my Mag level is now pretty high at 1440

Randy Holmes-Farley
10/13/2009, 04:38 AM
:thumbsup:

It happens more often than you might think.

Happy Reefing. :)