For All Who Dose Magnesium...check This Out

[aurora]

I've been researching for a cheap alternative to expensive commercial Magnesium supplement. While searching for sources of food-grade MgCl, I stumbled onto a natural product called NIGARI form Japan. This product is a combination of Magnesium Chloride/Magnesium sulfate made from drying sea water and then removing table salt (NaCl). It is food grade and is used to coagulate tofu from soy milk. Supposedly the best tofu is made with natural nigari. Since this is made from sea water, it should contain the perfect proportion of MgCl/MgSO4....supposedly about 10 to 1...and should not alter your water chemistry too much. The problem with using Epson salt (MgSO4) is that overtime this may cause a gradual increase of Sulfate in the water with potential associated dangers. MgCl from "ice melts" probably contains too much contaminants, IMO.

You can order nigari from online natural food stores. I just ordered a 50lb bag for $50 shipped. I think this will last me...forever.

Anyone have any experience with this product...please post.

 

[leykis1o1]

maybe split a bag 10 ways and you would be good

 

[Habib]

aurora:

Interesting.

In a quick search that I did I saw that it should not contain more heavy metals as set forward by the FDA. Since it is meant for human consumption it might contain too much heavy metals for aquarium applications.

From:

Nigari - Soy Milk Solidifier - highest quality food-grade magnesium chloride, obtained from deep sea water.


FWIW deep sea water can contain a.o. elevated levels of heavy metals beacuse there the dead organisms release it to the water

That Niagri is made from deep sea water can be found there:
http://www.brossan.com/nigari.htm
A few other links:

http://www.omri.org/Magnesium_chloride_processing.pdf


http://www.bischofite.ru/Eng/Appl/Appl.htm

The last link is about bischofite which is a mineral obtained by evaporation of seawater and which seems to be used for Nigari manufcture as well.

HTH

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Thanks for the info!

It would be interesting to see an actual analysis of how much sulfate and chloride are present in that product (but I could not easily find one).

If one follows the simplistic statements that all NaCl is removed from seawater, what is left no longer has a seawater ratio of sulfate and chloride.

Here's a discussion on it, including a bit more on the actual process of manufacture:

http://www.neteze.com/netizen/References/Health/Various_Salts/Nigari_labeling_standards.html

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

This Japanese patent suggests that Nigari can contain a lot of potassium:

Seasoning compositions containing bittern solution (Nigari). Watanabe, Katsuhiko; Tanisawa, Junko. (Asahi Chemical Industry Co., Ltd., Japan). Jpn. Kokai Tokkyo Koho (1999), 6 pp. 19980410.

Abstract

The invention relates to a seasoning compn. providing complex aftertaste, wherein the compn. contains base seasoning agent, e.g. nucleates, sodium glutamate, org. acid, free amino acids, and/or protein, and bittern soln. (Nigari), which is a sea water conc. after sepg. NaCl, contg. MgCl2 10-80, KCl 10-60 % in dried form. A bittern soln. was combined with yeast ext. contg. free amino acids at 5 % for making a seasoning for vegetable soup.

 

[aurora]

I received the nigari salt yesterday and used it on my tank to raise my Magnesium from 900 to 1300 without any noticable effects on my corals or fish. This will be the first time that I dose Magnesium. It took about 5 lbs of salt. As a matter of fact, some of the corals seem to have perked up.

I've kept reef for the past 5 years and have never checked magnesium levels on my tank. I've always assumed that water changes will fix any low level. I think I ran into a bad batch of IO salt in my last 200G bucket. I have some very large sps colonies that begins to show signs of stress this summer and lost a few to a creeping rtn that takes about 2 weeks to go through a colony. Another worrisome sign that points to a chemistry problem is that coraline growth on the glass really slow down. Other sps colonies seem to be doing well and growing. I suspected low magnesium and recently invested in magnesium test kit and found my magnesium level to be only 850. I tested a new batch of IO salt and found that mag level was only 900 in the fresh water. Since my system has a 500G total volume, you can imagine the cost of commercial Magnesium supplement. I'm considering supplementing my IO salt mix with magnesium every water change in the future.

 

[aurora]

If you live in MD/DC/VA area and need nigari...you can pick it up for a dollar a pound from me...))

 

[aurora]

Just an update. Nigari works great and my SPS seems happier than ever...my Ca reactor medium dropped another inch...always a good sign. I got the coarse/unrefined nigari and the water appears slightly yellow when mixed. You might try the refined one. I went with unrefined to reduce chance of unwanted chemical.

 

[Malcolm_C]

sounds cool, but isn't dolemite magnisium? that's sfuff is like $10 at my lfs andi think its 20pds. but i guess you would need a calcium reactor.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Yes, you'd need a reactor. The other concern is that it will boost alkalinity too. So for anything more than a very small increase in magnesium, alk will get too high.

 

[aurora]

Anyone using dolomite in their reactor? How much do you use? What form does it come in? I can't seem to find it in my LFS. I'd much prefer to test before adding any salt since too high Mg could be dangerous to your lifestock. Maybe that is why the salt makers tend to err on the low side due to variabitity in batches of salt.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Folks can buy dolomite at places like Home Depot, but again, I don't recommend it.

 

[AgentSPS]

Word of caution. Be careful what bandwagon you jump on. Lessons learned from CS salt!

 

[acropora]

Randy,Would a small amount placed in a calcium reactor be beneficial. Does anyone out there use dolomite in small quantities. Anthony

 

[simonh]

Randy,Would a small amount placed in a calcium reactor be beneficial. Does anyone out there use dolomite in small quantities. Anthony

It seems quite popular on the German reefkeeping message boards using a product called Magnesium pro (dolomite I beleive) by a company called Grotech - http://www.grotech.de/en/pflege/magn-pro_en1.html. Somewhere around 5% is put in the calcium reactor.

 

[acropora]

Simonh, Thank you. I have read about this some time ago,and never got around to trying it.What is the product sold at Home depot that is dolomite. regards, Anthony

 

[karburn]

What about Epsom Salt as a source of Mg? Hydrated Magnesium Sulfate. Runs about 50 cents a pound.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Using dolomite in a CaCO3/CO2 reactor sounds like a big mistake to me.

If you raise magneisum by 100 ppm that way, alkalinity will rise by 8.2 meq/L (23 dKH).

I just don't see any way around that problem (short of dissolving the dolomite in hydrochloric acid, which would be OK).

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

The concern with Epsom salts is that sulfate can rise considerably. For a small rise in magnesium, or in a salt mix that is already low in sulfate, that is OK. For a big rise, it is a problem.

Craig adresses that issue in this article:

http://www.animalnetwork.com/fish2/aqfm/1999/june/bio/default.asp

 

[acropora]

Using dolomite in a CaCO3/CO2 reactor sounds like a big mistake to me.

If you raise magneisum by 100 ppm that way, alkalinity will rise by 8.2 meq/L (23 dKH).

I just don't see any way around that problem (short of dissolving the dolomite in hydrochloric acid, which would be OK).

I respectfully submit.Would not a relatively very small amount work. I understand that some tweeking to establish the correct amount will be needed. I just would not mind a small increase in my Alk level.