Mag and Epsom Salt

Actually, I got the Epsom Salt idea from Randy. I already saw his new receipe and read a bunch of his older article.

The problem with many in Cali is that we cannot find de-icers like Calcium Chloride or Mag-flake.

If I read the article correctly, the new receipe will just maintain a certain level only?

Thanks for answering everyone and hope this thread is kept up.

Please leave the personal attacks or whatever at home.
 
I dump epsom salt directly into my sump with no problems.

Not saying you should do this, just saying no problems have occured from doing it.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6640444#post6640444 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jay24k
For quality magnesium, buy the MAG Flake from harveysalt.com
It runs about 41 shipped for a 50 pound bag. It's easy to get ahold of, just alot of people don't know.
Click to expand...

I bought a 50lb bag from them a couple of weeks ago. I had a nice little chat with the salesman. He was asking what we were using it for as he has gotten several requests from reef tank owners. I explained the requiremnt for magnesium to him in a brief lesson of reef chemistry. He was very interested and was happy to ship the stuff a bag at a time. The final price is mostly shipping. Hopefully he won't follow the lead of some other companies and mark up the price now that he knows how we are using it. :(
Allen
 
There is a place in Chicago that is selling the stuff too, but they wont ship it. It only costs $10/bag though if you can pick it up. Its about a 1.5hr trip for me to get it though.
 
Yea reeferal, he mentioned to me to dump half a cup into my bathtub for soft skin LOL. He asked me the same thing about the magnesium. I mentioned they might do well if they offered it in smaller potions for people with smaller tanks.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6646763#post6646763 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jay24k
Yea reeferal, he mentioned to me to dump half a cup into my bathtub for soft skin LOL. He asked me the same thing about the magnesium. I mentioned they might do well if they offered it in smaller potions for people with smaller tanks.
Click to expand...

Up here we can always use extra on the driveway for ice melting. I know that doesn't help you.
It is also used though for dust control in riding arenas so you could spread it on the ground in your indoor horse barn. HTH :D

Allen
 
The flake is what we had the analysis on, but I expect the pellet is OK too. Here's my comment on that difference from the article:

Substitutes for Dead Sea Works Magnesium Chloride Hexahydrate

Dead Sea Works is a business unit of ICL Fertilizers. They sell magnesium chloride hexahydrate in the U.S. as a deicer and apparently distribute it also to artificial seawater (salt) manufacturers. In the past, potential impurities (such as ammonia) have left many aquarists, and even some companies, wary of using deicing or any other grades of magnesium chloride hexahydrate. However, the Dead Sea Works company recently supplied a detailed impurity profile of its product listing most impurities (29 in all). None was high enough to concern reef aquarists. Included in the profile was an indication that it had adequately low ammonia. Subsequent analysis by Greg Hiller of some of the supplied material confirmed that the ammonia is low enough to use.

The recipe above is based on the MAG Flakeââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s bulk density supplied by the manufacturer. They also sell a pelletized product, which may be OK to use, but probably has a slightly different bulk density (they do not provide the bulk density for that to my knowledge). Exact values for the magnesium part are less important than for the other parts, and when using pellets I recommend just following the directions stated here for flakes, unless better information becomes available in the future.
 
The guy at harvey salt mentioned there is no difference between the pellet and the flake. He did say the flake is cheaper and dissolves much faster.
 
How much do you dose of the flake im going to get myself some.?? thanks jay24k and randy. and every1.
Aaron.
 
I don't know yet. I need to find out the exact amount of cups per gallon.

Here's the recipe:

An Improved Do-it-Yourself Two-Part Calcium and Alkalinity Supplement System
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/rhf/index.php

the contents:

Introduction
Comparing the Two Primary Recipes
Recipe #1
Recipe #1, Part 1: The Calcium Part
Recipe #1, Part 2: The Alkalinity Part
Recipe #1, Part 3: The Magnesium Portion
Recipe #1, Part 3A
Recipe #1, Part 3B
Recipe #2
Recipe #2, Part 1: The Calcium Part
Recipe #2, Part 2: The Alkalinity Part
Recipe #2, Part 3: The Magnesium Portion
Recipe #2, Part 3A
Recipe #2, Part 3B
Dosing Instructions
Substitutes for Dowflake Calcium Chloride
Substitutes for Dead Sea Works Magnesium Chloride Hexahydrate
Where to Buy the Materials
Calculation Rationale for the Recipes
The Design of the Calcium and Alkalinity Parts
Residual Ions from the Calcium and Alkalinity Parts
Residue Remaining from Recipe #1 when using Recipe #1, Part 3A
Residue Remaining from Recipe #1 when using Recipe #1, Part 3B
Summary
Reference Links
 
Thanks. I have your article linked, it's just that I really haven't had time to start dosing yet.
 
I am setting up a 600gal display that will prob have close to 1k water volume once I am complete... Do you know about how long a 50lb bag of MAG FLAKE would last me... I am using IO salt... Just a ruff educated guess...
 
It's really hard to tell how much you would use. You would need more information.

What is the magensium levels of IO?
How much does your system consume? It will vary.

You will need 5 cups of magnesium per gallon of the dead sea stuff. If I recall, that was about 2 lbs. So you can make about 25 gallons of this stuff. If you do the 2 part method, how long does his calcium/alk last you. You only add 2.5 cups when you finish a bottle of the 2 part. So I can imagine it will last awhile.

Best way to find out and just start using it. Even with calcium/alk, you really don't know how long it will last. I go through a gallon of the calcium mix in about 3 weeks max in my 180. I have alot of sps tho.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6685159#post6685159 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jay24k
It's really hard to tell how much you would use. You would need more information.

What is the magensium levels of IO?
How much does your system consume? It will vary.

You will need 5 cups of magnesium per gallon of the dead sea stuff. If I recall, that was about 2 lbs. So you can make about 25 gallons of this stuff. If you do the 2 part method, how long does his calcium/alk last you. You only add 2.5 cups when you finish a bottle of the 2 part. So I can imagine it will last awhile.

Best way to find out and just start using it. Even with calcium/alk, you really don't know how long it will last. I go through a gallon of the calcium mix in about 3 weeks max in my 180. I have alot of sps tho.
Click to expand...

I figured I was asking "one of those can't be answered questions" LOL, I am going to be running a GEO CA reactor on the system, but I wanted to get something to bump up the IO mix to the right levels so that I can maintain them easier...
 
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