FYI: dolomite & "magnesium carbonate"

zeroinverse

New member
Just thought I'd share info with the members...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolomite
(I'll explain why dolomite further down)


Magnesium (Mg) ions is a critical part of keeping our fish tanks happy.

As Grant mentioned in another thread, low magnesium makes it hard to stabilize your Calcium concentrations. This is because magnesium fills "holes" on calcium carbonate surfaces, preventing more calcium from attaching to your live rock. This means more calcium ions stay in the water column for your corals to extract. That is how you can increase your calcium concentrations by having high magnesium levels.

High magnesium levels are also good to prevent/starve brysopsis (spelling?) algae.

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Dolomite is often used in calcium reactors because it is a Calcium-Magnesium-Carbonate. This dissolves in the reactor and helps to add magnesium into your tank water.

Read in the Wikipedia article about how dolomite forms. It's pretty interesting. Layers of "sulphate-producing bacteria" is one way (like in deep sand beds), and also in areas of volcanic underwater channels where calcium & magnesium concentrations help the formation.

Coral atolls
Dolomitization of calcite also occurs at certain depths of coral atolls where water is undersaturated in calcium carbonate but saturated in dolomite. Convection created by tides and sea currents enhance this change. Hydrothermal currents created by volcanoes under the atoll may also play an important role.​
 
We may want to have a discussion re. the Mag/bryopsis issue as I understand the control was successful when using the product Tech M and not with regular mix. This lead me and others to conclude there was some trace element within the Kent product facilitating the bryopsis reduction possibly in conjuction with the elevated Mag level. Like I said More discussion warranted. G
 
Grant, cool, did not know about the TechM uniqueness. I just read about the bryopsis and have slowly been trying to raise magnesium, but with my last calcium reactor temporary shutdown (and lack of water changes)... my Mg has been too low to verify the increase to 1600.

We definitely should discuss and I will research more when I get chance.
 
Can't you be more aggressive when dosing mag? Meaning you really dont need to slow slow slow drip it unlike cal or alk. I do a very fast drip with mag and that's done manually rather than using dosing pumps.
 
Dragon, yes, you can pretty much dump in enough to change by 100ppm each day or so. Problem is I only bought two BRS bags of magnesium mix and that only helps me raise by 200ppm or so, given my tank volume. Problem is, I want to keep the other bag for backup purposes, so I am doing water changes and adding dolomite to my calcium reactor to raise magnesium levels.
 
Lokii, yup. I just haven't looked into where to buy and such. And to calculate the mix...
If you know where, would love to know.
 
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1371950967.586999.jpg
This is what I am using. I was under the impression that Mg sulfate is Epsom salt.
 
Oh! Sorry, I glanced at that article wrong. I thought it said Epsom salt (magnesium hydrochloride ....). Did not see the AND there!

My mistake!
Thanks!
 
Lokii, I will want a source for Epsom do I can use it as correcting factor if I ever run into imbalance. If I can get some from you, that'd be great!
 
Ha! I just checked with the wife. A while back she bought Epsom salt to make bath "bombs". Basically shaped balls of citric acid and Epsom salts and fragrances that fizz for those "nice baths"...

So that's why I have citric acids to make my own coral food and apparently now, for magnesium supplementation (at least until I use up her carton!

Buahahahahahjaa
 
If you use Epsom salt make sure you test your salinity, it's my understanding that it will affect it eventually.
You can also buy it at your local Costco in the pharmacy department.
 
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