Magnesium

I just let the mag drop on its own with water changes. I never do real massive water changes. On the cube while I was dosing the high mag levels (1700) I would do a 25% water change every 2 weeks. So the 25% water change after 2 weeks, brought the mag level down for me from 1700 to between 1500 & 1550. Now I'll do just 10% water changes and let it drop to around 1280.

 

Mag 1160 Calcium was 380 and I just tested my kh which was 9 dkh or 161. Off of these numbers where do I stand?

 

Maybe I missed it but what is the Mg of your current salt mix when freshly made to your desired salinity? That will determine how fast if at all the levels change. Very possible to have a strange batch of salt or to not mix the salt and get odd numbers.

 

I would also say that the jar visualization for molecules is good, but with Mg it is a bit different. Getting Mg to a good level ~1300, increases the amount of calcium the water can hold before it precipitates out - so the water can hold more due to how magnesium and calcium react. IMO before dosing anything get the Magnesium levels sorted for stabilization but I don't think a high level of 1700 is reason to worry, just bring down with water changes if your salt isn't silly high in Mg.

 

Jeanette - how did the magnesium work for you on the bryopsis? Did you use Kent?

 

Its recommended to keep Mag at levels between 1300 to 1400. Some go higher, but I keep mine at 1400, Calcium at 425, and ALK at 10. Stability is more important that the actual values, provided that they are in range and aren't completely our of wack.


BRS reccomended that I stop testing daily while trying to nail down my dailey 2-part maintenance dose and test weekly. Chasing a specific number and dosing to bring it there was actually doing more harm than good.

 

Remember that phosphate tests are very inaccurate for every brand so don't get too upset by those. If you are off the chart for testing just use half the normal sample amount and fill the rest with ro water. When you get your final results multiply by 2. (So if you start with 1ml sample use 5ml tank and 5ml ro)

The advise over not chasing numbers is smart. If results are inside the "good" range than leave it alone 95% of the time unless you notice a decrease in health or color from how your tank looked previously, not how you would like it to look. Stability is the most important parameter. Now if you would like to see how your coral react to, for example, higher alk, then slowly bring or check Mg to proper levels if not there followed by calcium (but really those two should be dialed in before experimentation). Then start slowly increasing alk.

 

It worked well. Yes, I used the Kent Tech-M magnesium. I'm thinking of giving it another dose now just to kind of be sure that there is no residual left.