Shotter
04/24/2017, 02:29 AM
Hi All,
Nothing brand new here but a topic I wanted to raise in case some were not aware. I for one am always learning and there is so much info it can be hard to come across.
I regular read through the forum and look for info online and it wasn't until I accidentally stumbled across supplementation info.
Over the last week I have been dealing with my water parameters as I had some small issues and money wasn't readily available. My issues related to Mag, Alk and possibly Calcium as a knock on effect t adjusting the previous parameters.
I needed to increase my alkalinity from 6.4 - 9.0. I used 'baked' Bicarbonate of soda (from the cupboard). I baked it as my pH was just under 8 also so was able to take the slight increase in pH that comes from baking the bicarb.
I have also increased my magnesium level from 900 to 1400 in the same time. In the past, I have tried numerous off the shelf products which failed to have any impact and cost me around £100 in attempting. Last week I bought a bag of Magnesium Chloride (food grade) and a bag of Magnesium Sulphate (food grade) - both of these were sold side by side in a pharmacy section of the superstore as 'bath salts'. I blended the salt at 7 1/4 tablespoons of Mag Chloride to 3/4 tablespoon of Sulphate.
Again, I'm taking no credit to this. Randy Holmes has written articles on both of subjects but wanted to share my success and hope it might be seen by some other newcomers needing the same help.
My only advice is this: Test pH and Alkalinity twice a day. I usually test before I add my drip setup to see what the night before has done then also about an hour after the drip has finished to see what shift on the pH and Alk has happened and to ensure the pH doesn't spike too much.
Most importantly, I had some bath salts to help me chill too whilst the corals were getting their 'fix' ;):smokin:
Nothing brand new here but a topic I wanted to raise in case some were not aware. I for one am always learning and there is so much info it can be hard to come across.
I regular read through the forum and look for info online and it wasn't until I accidentally stumbled across supplementation info.
Over the last week I have been dealing with my water parameters as I had some small issues and money wasn't readily available. My issues related to Mag, Alk and possibly Calcium as a knock on effect t adjusting the previous parameters.
I needed to increase my alkalinity from 6.4 - 9.0. I used 'baked' Bicarbonate of soda (from the cupboard). I baked it as my pH was just under 8 also so was able to take the slight increase in pH that comes from baking the bicarb.
I have also increased my magnesium level from 900 to 1400 in the same time. In the past, I have tried numerous off the shelf products which failed to have any impact and cost me around £100 in attempting. Last week I bought a bag of Magnesium Chloride (food grade) and a bag of Magnesium Sulphate (food grade) - both of these were sold side by side in a pharmacy section of the superstore as 'bath salts'. I blended the salt at 7 1/4 tablespoons of Mag Chloride to 3/4 tablespoon of Sulphate.
Again, I'm taking no credit to this. Randy Holmes has written articles on both of subjects but wanted to share my success and hope it might be seen by some other newcomers needing the same help.
My only advice is this: Test pH and Alkalinity twice a day. I usually test before I add my drip setup to see what the night before has done then also about an hour after the drip has finished to see what shift on the pH and Alk has happened and to ensure the pH doesn't spike too much.
Most importantly, I had some bath salts to help me chill too whilst the corals were getting their 'fix' ;):smokin: