Magnesium supplement

[Tomoko Schum]

Hi y'all,

I just got hold of a new producct called Neo Mag by Brightwell. It is a magnesium supplementing media that can be used in Calcium reactor or as part of the tank substrate to supplent Mg.

Is any of you using this stuff?

I have added some dolomitic lime (the stuff used for organic gardening) in my calcium reactor, but it is difficult to figure out the right amount and it dissolves fast and gets depleted too fast due its small particle size.

I am hoping that this stuff, which is designed for marine aquarium and has large particle sizes, will do a much better job maintaining my mg level.

Tomoko

 

[The0wn4g3]

I don't know if it is any good or not, but I do know Randy Holmes-Farley is not a fan of Brightwell products.

He doesn't mention anything about magnesium, but here are a few of his comments on their other products...

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=13784696&highlight=Brightwell#post13784696
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=13672187&highlight=Brightwell#post13672187
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1425890

The last thread contains most of his comments.

 

[Tomoko Schum]

Seaching RC, I see that Chris Brightwell gets a considerable amount of slamming for a number of glaring errors he made in describing the fundamental principles underlying his products.

While Dr. RHF did not like a few of Brightwell products, he thought a couple of them were straight forward and fine to use in another thread.

The Neo Mag media seems to be some sort of calcite by appearance. Brightwell claims that it is naturally occurring mineral mined in USA.

I will keep you guys posted on how well it maintains mg in my tank.

Tomoko

 

[The0wn4g3]

I'm certainly no chemist, but I wouldn't believe a magnesium supplement would be as easy to "mess up" as some other additives. I hope it works well for you.

Keep us updated

 

[malnurs]

yeah my mag is pretty low. around 800 last time i checked. I was thinking about geting the two-part solution from bulk reef supply. would yall recommend that to bring it up now, and then somehting like this or another product to maintain?
thanks for any help yall can provide.

Thanks,
Chris

edit: sorry Tomoko. not trying to steal your thread hehe, just figured same topic so might as well. lol

 

[HAMsmith]

If it is a naturally occuring mineral mined for magnesium it would most likely be dolomite, magnesite, brucite, carnallite, or olivine.

All of these have a bunch more minerals than just magnesium, i.e. carnalite has potassium, dolomite has calcium, magnesite may have small amounts of iron and cobalt, olivine has iron and silica.

Best case would be if it is brucite, which is just magnesium and a hydroxide (OH)2.

Anywho all that would be moot if they are somehow refining the magnesium out of the ore.

Hope that helps?

Martin

 

[Tomoko Schum]

Thank you for the great information, Martin.

Neo Mag pieces look like unpolished marble chips. It's slightly grayish white - no hint of red or pink. Its crystal does not appear to be foliated or platy at a glance.

Tomoko