Magnesium dosing question

dazed

dazed

New member
I have been using the 2 part dosing scheme on my 40g tank for about a month so far; started at 12ml of each then dropped to 10ml, then 8ml due to the alk kept rising;

Checked my magnesium last night and it has fallen to 1155ppm (sailfert)

I have the part 3 from the 2 part solution website the bag is marked as follows:
146g magflake
106g epsom salt
add to 2.5 cups of water

I have not been adding anything for mag. because the directions say to add the 3 part when you have used a gallon of each of the alk & cal. at my current dosing rate that is going to be a while. I would like to bring the mag. up to 1300ppm?

Using the online calculator which product do i plug in the magflake and the epsom salt are listed separate? but both are listed on the bag that i have?

Current tank levels:
Ph=7.96 to 8.25 (rk2)
Alk=11.0 dkh (sailfert)
Cal=395ppm (sailfert)

I just added a 15g sump to my tank this last weekend and will try to start growing some macro to help with the ph swing at night.
 
Use "Randy's Recipes 1 and 2 versions A and B" for your mag addition. Don't raise more than 100 ppm per day.

Also you don't have to wait for the other stuff. This is just a guideline. If your mag is low, raise it. :)
 
Okay;
If I use a system volume of 45g to increase magnesium by 100ppm will take;
362.9ml; 12.2 fl oz; 72.5 teaspoons?
So I guess i mix up the bag that i have into 2.5 cups of water and see how much that will make?
 
The volume of water isn't that critical. Heck you can dissolve it in a gallon. Just make sure it all dissolves and pour it in slowly as to not irritate the livestock.

In your case, you may want to do half at a time. 50 ppm today and 50 ppm tomorrow. :) Never hurts to err on the side of caution.
 
okay I'm confused the volume of water is not that critical?
If I don't dissolve the bag that I have in the 2.5 cups of recommended water how will that affect the potency of the mix? or am I missing something here?

for example let's say I take 1g ro water and dissolve the mix that I have then I just dose the #'s from my above post?
I also just switched from io salt to reef crystal's will that help with mag. supplementing? Is 1300ppm a good target # or should it be higher?

I have not dosed any alk. for a couple of days now I'm trying to let the alk. fall down to around 9dkh.
 
Yes the amount of tsps is what you want to be concerned with.

Sea Water is about 1290 mag so yes, 1300 would be a fine place to be.

And I happen to agree that switching to RC is a good move. You will not only get more mag but you will get more calcium. :)
 
Okay; what did I do wrong, lol;
I took the part 3 of 146g of magflake & 106g epsom salt, and mixed it into 1g of ro water,
I then dosed 12 fl. oz. waited 6hrs and tested the magnesium level and found no change, so I repeated the dose again and still no change,
I then took some seachem reef advantage mag. added 10 teaspoons into a 20 fl. oz. bottle and used the water from my 1g jug from before and mixed it up and dosed the tank waited until the next morning and checked the mag. level again it had raised from 1140ppm to 1250ppm; So i mixed up another 5 teaspoons into 20 fl. oz. and hit 1320ppm. everything seemed okay but when i checked my alk. reading it has now shot up to 13.1dkh; (usually around 10.5dkh) I have not been dosing the alk. portion at all (only the calcium) for at least a week now as i have been trying to target a lower level than before, the only other change was switching to rc from io so i tested my 4 g water change last night and this is what i got;
temp= 79
sal=1.025
alk= 10.4dkh
cal=370ppm
mag=1185ppm
Do these values seem in line with reef crystals mixture?

Where did the jump in alk. come from? The combination of the dry seachem and ro that i used?
 
Those are low numbers for RC. I suspect your s.g. is lower than you think ? How do you measure s.g ?

At 1.0265 RC's numbers are more like 420 cal, 12-13 dkh and 1290 mag.

Im not sure where you alk came from but 13 is not too terribly bad. Just let it fall.

It takes a lot of Randy's mag recipe to raise magnesium.
 
s.g. is measured with a refractometer
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=9957&N=2004+114131
yeah I thought those #'s were low as well from what i remember reading from other's posts.

13dkh is not to bad but i was trying to lower the alk. in the tank due to what i had thought was alk. burn happening to my acro's turns out i was wrong and i have aefw to deal with instead.

It sure must take allot of randy's recipe to raise the mag. level;
What is a better option?
 
I use Kent Tech-M. It is listed on the calculator.

While you are ordering that, buy some 53ms calibration fluid by Pinpoint. A number of the blue handled recract;s can not be calibrated with ro/di (even though the manufacturer says so).

Mine was .003 off. :)
 
I just checked and it looks like they only have Neptune. I would stick with the Pinpoint brand as that has been tested by us.
 
I don't know why the links won't work; sorry about that:mixed:
Let me try this another way this is the product that I'm trying to link to:
American Marine Pinpoint Salinity Calibration Fluid
53.0 mS standardized fluid for calibrating the PINPOINT Salinity Monitorâ"žÂ¢ with conversion chart.


4.99 a bottle

Sound like the right stuff and how do I use it?
 
Thanks again for the help :thumbsup:
I figure while I am at it I may as well order some calibration fluid for my ph probe as well (pinpoint) do you prefer or reccomend the individual packages or the bottles??

I'm thinking the ind. ones use once and toss?

I will post the findings when the fluid comes in.
 
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