Mag/Alk help...advise from the pros!

[hermitage]

My tank params are

Calc - 450ppm
Alk - 2-3 meq/l
Mag - 900ppm

I currently dose Kalk via a Kalk reactor into my 210gal system. iIcurrently have 4 baseball sized acros that have been growing well...as well as a few Acro frags, Monti Caps, and other LPS.

I've been trying to boost this MAg, and Alk # using Seachem Magnesium, and Seachem Reef Builder. Neiher of them are doing anything. Following instructions on the bottles..and just not getting results.

So..I'm thinking about buying Mag from BulkReefSupply. Their Calcium/Alkalinity Calculator is great.

They offer several options to boost Magnesium...Magnesium Chloride, Magnesium Sulfate, or a combination of the 2. Which one is best to boost and then to maintain my Mag#? Are there any ill side effects to using one or the other?

Any opinions/suggestions on this would be great.

My second set of questions regards the Alk. I don't think this number is terribly low..I'd like to get it to 4meq/l.

Same situation here...they offer several options here also...Sodium Bicarbonate, Sodium Carbonate, or a combination of the 2. Will the mag addition, help this number creep up also? Will it depress this #? Which should I use to boost and maintain my Alk?

Thanks for everyones feedback.

 

[Treg]

How often are yoou testing? With what test kit?
Chances are, they are doing something. Maybe try to test before and after a dose.

I use Kent Tech-M for mag and Kent Superbuffer-dKH for alk. Both work well for me.

I top off with Kalk also but I still have to dose Alk almost daily.
for some reason my system uses up Alk quicker then calcium.

 

[hermitage]

I've been testing weekly, and have been on the same regimen..dosing Reef Builder and Magnesium from Seachem for about a month now.

I use a Seachem Test kits. Wonder if your Tech M is a combination of Magensium Chloride and Sulfate. i think I'm leaning toward using the combo.

 

[Treg]

My recommendation would be to dose and test Alk more often.
Not dose more, just more often. You might be going through some pretty large alk swings if your only dosing weekly. Stability is the key with SPS.

Test before and a few hours after a dose to get a feel for how much your adding and how much you need to be adding. A good target is 9 dKH.

Mag seems to take quite a bit to get the increase you want, say 1300ish. Once there though, it shouldnt drop to fast. Weekly testing and dosing with that should be fine. I'm more like bi-weekly. I mostly just dose fresh salt water for water changes. Which you will want to do or you will lower the level in your display when changing water. I might add some to the sump every 2-4 weeks.

 

[hermitage]

Hmm..I've been dosing the Alk and Mag Daily, and testing weekly. This has been ongoing for about a month. The numbers haven't changed at all. Thanks for your feedback.

 

[Treg]

Sorry, I misunderstood. Thought you were dosing weekly.

Ignore half of what I said then.


I would still test a couple hours after a dose and see how much you are increasing the levels.

If your not increasing the levels over a period of a week then you are just maintaing the level with the daily dose. Simply increase the daily dose until you reach the target level then return to the dose needed to maintain that level.



Good Luck

 

[semperfi102582]

I think your test kit is probably bad. I am surprised to see good calcium numbers with depleted magnesium

 

[odyssey1]

I wouldnt worry too much about the alk it is within range. The numbers dont matter as much as the stability. Just make sure tha ALK stays as close to the same as possible. That is why people use calcium reeactors so they can keep the CA and ALK as close to the same as possible. You will find that some tanks use up more of one or the other so you will sometimes need to dose manually.

You will find after a while that dosing everyday becomes a challenge this is what I recommend. It will help with the Mag. problem some also.

As for the low mag. I am wondering what your salinity is because this will determin what your levels should be. I run 1.023 and my Mag. is 1150-1200. I have to dose 2 times a week with IONS by Seachem. I have noticed that as my SPS are getting larger they require more Mag. How much of a load do you have on your system? It shouldnt be that much with a 200gal. tank unless you have huge or many SPS in your tank! Keep in mind I over dose the recomended totals that the directions on the IONS bottle recommends. What I would try is:

Check Levels
Over Dose 1.5 times wait 1-2hrs.
test again (hopefully levels are up some)
Wait overnight or 10-12hrs.
test again.

You should see how much the system has used then devide by the number of hours you waited and this will tell you how much you need to add to your system to stablize it. Mine used enough that I have to dose every 3 days!!!

Hope this helps.

Jeremy

 

[odyssey1]

Also I would try using a KH test kit for the ALK. This will give you a better Idea where you are. It isnt such a broad number. the different between 2-3 could be a swing of 4dkh which is bad!!

Your tank should be stable between 50meq calcium and 1-2meq DKH.

 

[hermitage]

Thanks for the advise Odyssey. I'm going to test my kit in the morning. My Salinity is 1..025. i used ot use Instant Ocean and my Mag at that time was around 1100-1200. then Is witched to Seachem Reefsalt beacuse I was having a hard time keep Calcium up. Well..now my Calcium is up and my Mag is down..and Alk seems to have remained the same.

I have 4 baseball sized Acros, and several Acro Frags, as well as a Clam, and a few LPS. So I don't think my demand is all that much. The wierd thing is that after trying Seachems Mag (they instruct to dose twice a week, then test weekly)...nothing changed. So I started to dose daily and test weekly. Still no change in Mag#'s.

I'll try your suggestions tomorrow.

BulkReefSupplys calculator suggests that to achieve the Mag levels I want (1300 from my current 900)..I'll need a little over 5 lbs of Magnesium Chloride. this should be dissolved in 2 gallons of RODI water, and dosed in the tank at no more than .5 gals per day. The research I've done (if I've understood it correctly) is that the addition of Mag will increase my Calcium and Alk levels. So ithink I need to be careful with the Mag dosing....I'll stop now...kinda went on a rant here.

Thanks for the advise!

 

[odyssey1]

Yea dont try to do it all at once!!!!

Try to get it up 100meq at a time. That will be OK. A little overdose but no major problems. Keep an eye on the Calcium but it shouldnt change much. The alk will however change but that is a good thing i think! You want it to come up some.

You really need to check more than you were. You said you was adding 2 times a week and checking once a week!! That is not enough expecially if you are trying to get to a specific point. you need to first do as I said to figure out what your system is using then check that every day for a week to make sure it is going to stay there then you can cut back to once a week just to make sure the levels are maintaining.

I have found that directions on these and many suplements are just basic guidelines.

Also you are dripping Kalk right! This increases the calcium levels only not the alk and mag. So this could be a problem because you will need to add alk and mag suppliments to keep up with this.

There are 4 things you need to keep in check and they are
Cal.
ALK.
Mag.
and most important the PH

the fluctuation in PH can cause alot of problems. A lower Alk measurement will cause more of a chance for the PH to change more frequently. THis means the buffering capability is lower so it cant resist the change in PH.

So we need to get the Alk to a DKH of 9-10 at least in order for your PH to stabalize and your corals will be happier and their skelatons will be able to grow with calcium in the system.

 

[odyssey1]

This may have been confusing but what I was trying to say is you need to get the Alk level up first to create a buffering capability and stabalize the PH then we can begin to work on the mag and Cal.

 

[odyssey1]

Just to let you know by adding the mag. carbinate you will raise the alk so lets start out with this. Lets get the dkh to at least 10 and the mag to 1150-1250 this should stabalize the PH somewhere around 8.1-8.2.

Then lets stop the kalk drip because calcium carbonate is mainly insoluble so it we add something like KW we convert soluble calcium bicarbonate to insoluble calcium carbonate. The result is a pile of precipitated calcium carbonate lying at the bottom of the tank.

You should look into a calcium reactor to maintain your calcium then adding the KW if you need to boost the levels. KW once saturated can do more harm than good with excessive calcium carbonate buildup and un usable calcium to the system.