Magnesium dropping VERY quickly

S

shinna

New member
Hi,

My magnesium levels are dropping at an alarming rate. They were 1270 when I read so I used seacham buffer which put the level up to approx 1320. The next day I checked & it had dropped to 1260, when I checked again the next day it was down to 1200! I'm checking after the lights have been on for approx. 4 hrs so I don't think its anything to do with my pH swing, which is 8.1 & alk 3.0/3.5meq when lights are on & 7.9 when the lights are off. Anybody any ideas or has anyone had a simliar problem in the past?

Other readings:

alk 3.0/3.5meq
ph 8.1
phos 0.01
calcium 440
nitrite 0.01 (which is a slight concern)
ammo 0.00
sal 1.023
temp 26c
 
My magnesium dropped quicker after I added a kalk reactor. I believe there is an article in the reef chemistry forum about kalk depleting magnesium levels at a faster rate. Do you drip kalk? In addition, it takes a lot of magnesium buffer to keep a high level. You will probably use the container, and still not reach desired levels. If you have a calcium reactor some people use dolomite from rock quarries in their reactor to increase mag levels. It requires a lower pH to dissolve though, around 6.0. HTH
 
Seachem buffer has nothing to do with adjusting mag, do you mean some other product? Buffer only raises PH and alk.

Have you tried another test kit to confirm the results? I have never heard of mag dropping that fast.
 
Seachem Magnesium Buffer in the orange tub NOT the Seachem Alk & Ph buffer in the purple tub!!!

No kalk reactor or drip kalk. I also don't use a calcium reactor.
 
Shina, IME none of those commercial products will give you significant increase to your mag levels, I once figured out that I would need 14 containers of a commercial mag liq, to bring my mag to target.
I started using Randy Holme's recipe and it took almost a gallon of the formula to bring it to level, now I just replenish a little per week.
 
I've got a Seachem mag product that I think is just MgCl flake. I've also got a 10lb bag of mag flake. Thats what you want.

Go out and buy some MgCl flake, and some Epsom salts, and mix up your own. I'd have someone else check it though, I've never heard of mag dropping that fast.
 
My experience with Mg levels in my tank is my numbers on the test kit bounce around fairly regularly. It is quite interesting, I bounce around between 1200 and 1350 within a week both up and down with no additional Mg supplements. I do run zeo and add a fair amount of the suplements, not that there is any Mg supplement in any of the various supplements I add (did that make sense?). I have never had to add any direct Mg supplement to this point as it apears my make up water has a fairly high concentrate of Mg, though even this number bounces around when I test the make up water. I use a 60/40 mix of Kent and IO.

Back to the test kit issue. I have a fairly new Salifert Mg kit and I try to be very careful in the titration of the stuff. I did have an interesting spike in calcium and Mg and depletion of alk in the system (my params were whacked and the corals showed the stress. I lost one frag)about 6 weeks ago. Once I nailed down the issue, the whacked params I began to systematically bring the calcium and Mg down and raise the alk slowly. This took about three weeks, corals responded immediately with improved color and growth. During this time my Mg numbers on the test kit stayed pretty constant, 1400 and above. Once I got back down in the 1300 range my numbers began to bounce around again on the test kit. Weird huh? The test kit is not that hard to use and I test at least once a week and much more often if I notice my sps are looking weird in any way. I kind of wonder about the time of day issue, does my Mg really jump around during the day, it seems improbable. I guess it is probably operator error with the test kit. But in general If it stays above 1200, which it always has, I leave it alone. For whatever this is all worth...If I was really concerned I would get a second person to run the Mg test and see what they get off the same sample water.
 
Thanks slojmn, so if my mg stays above 1200 you all reckon that my corals should be ok? I only have two monti caps & candycane re SPS & LPS but I was planning on putting a few more SPS frags in very shortly.
 
I've never tested my Mg :eek2: ...ever

IMO it's over rated... everything I've read leads me to conclude regular water changes contain ample levels of Mg to keep it in line. The last thing I need is another annoying test kit :lol2:
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8056949#post8056949 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by PUGroyale
I've never tested my Mg :eek2: ...ever

IMO it's over rated... everything I've read leads me to conclude regular water changes contain ample levels of Mg to keep it in line. The last thing I need is another annoying test kit :lol2:
Click to expand...

I didnt test mine for a while. Then when I checked, it was 850. Turns out tropic marin only mixes to like 1000. Dosing magnesium fixed all the alk and ca issues I was having.
 
Pug Mine drops like a lead ballon if I do not supplement. What salt are you using?

I too find it interesting how MG jumps around. Mine dropped to about 1000. So I very methodically raised it about 100 per day until I got to 1400. One week later I re tested fully expecting a sub 1400 test and came up over 1500. Go figure.........
 
i think the Mg and CA going up and down together. If you are adding Kalk then CA and Mg will drop.
 
I check mine once a month always right where it should be.
I never add any Mag.
I don't use kalk and do water changes with Oceanic if that helps anyone.
 
I use reefcrystals & 10% each week. After testing it daily for one week it seems to drop by approx 30/40 per day. So long as its above 1200 am I right in thinking my corals will be ok so long as all other tests are ok?
 
I think the best range for Mg seems to be between 1250-1350 as this is the NSW value according to Randy's article. I personally shoot for 1300 but I try not to chase numbers...it always gets me in trouble. Unless of course my alk gets whacked. that seems to be the one prameter that I do need to stay on top of and keep in line. Youmight want to keep an eye on your Mg levels and if they go below 1200 have a supplement on hand to raise it.
 
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