Mag to 1600ppm
- Thread starter Jorgens
- Start date
There isn't enough Mg in trace elements to ever increase your levels. You either had a testing error in your inital reading or your new one. The amount of Magnesium supplement to legitimately increase to those levels is signficant ( 100s of ml or more depending on your tank size ) and would be no accident it would have to be intentional.
The only other way is if your salinity changed. If salinity 1.023 vs 1.026 can easily account for 100ppm just because it's the 3 largest element. Increase the salinity your increasing the ppm reading as well. So need to verify your salinity when you compare your readings to be sure apples to apples. While the same is true for all elements becuase Mg is such a major element that it's more notable then say calcium.
Jorgens
New member
salinity steady at 1.026. I'm using red sea mag test kit. Never tested mag till a week ago. First test was 1280, 4 days ago 1440 today 1600. Brand new kit special ordered from my lfs as they don't normally carry them. I will double check for an exp date and go to another test now just to see....
There is no other explanation. Either salinity change, Large water change with saltwater that is higher than your show, added lots of Mg additive added, or test error.
The amount of Magnesium supplement required to increase levels takes ALOT. Trace elements could never never elevate that much, not even if you dumped the whole bottle in.
I personally have never used Red Sea so I can't attest to accuracy or how to administer the test.
The amount of Magnesium supplement required to increase levels takes ALOT. Trace elements could never never elevate that much, not even if you dumped the whole bottle in.
I personally have never used Red Sea so I can't attest to accuracy or how to administer the test.
Me personally, as long as reading is at or above 1280ppm, I really don't care what it is especially if I'm not adding magnesium supplments to where I could be overdosing. Might would track it more closely if I was way off and adding lots of supplements to get back on track.
So if it's 40ppm +/- it doesn't really matter for our purposes.
My tank is very predictable so I rarely test for it. I pretty much know where it's at. But until your tank is real mature and predictable I'd test probably monthly. Since magnesium levels are so slow typically only 1-3% of your calcium rate it isn't something you have to track too closely from month to month.
So if it's 40ppm +/- it doesn't really matter for our purposes.
My tank is very predictable so I rarely test for it. I pretty much know where it's at. But until your tank is real mature and predictable I'd test probably monthly. Since magnesium levels are so slow typically only 1-3% of your calcium rate it isn't something you have to track too closely from month to month.
I work as a med tech and being as particular as I am I still get that kind of occasional bouncing around of readings on the Red Sea Mg test. The end point of the titration is very sesitive to ambient lighting conditions and a slow drift back to the final color after each addition. Try using natural sunlight and the same piece of white paper as a background. Also give it ten seconds after what you think is the last drop and recheck to see if the color has gone from blue back to purple (the end point is a pure blue, no purple to it).
Alex
Alex
justmedanny
New member
I like to share my experiences. Something like this happened to me before with my MG test. What happen is, I was not cleaning out the little cup well enough that tests for the MG levels. I cleaned it with some Vinegar and distilled water and the test started testing regularly again. Make sure you clean everything out good because I'm sure any dry salts and/or dried precipitation can throw your results off.
