Measuring Epsom Salts at Home

[goodfortune]

Hello Dr. Farley:

I need to Dose Mg to my tank, as I found it rather low after testing a few days ago (~1000 ppm; Salifert)

I looked up the amount to dose by the reef calculator in the "Sticky" to this forum:

Reef Calculator

Based on my total water volume (appx. 60 gallons/227 l) the calculator indicated that I should dose appx. 560 grams (not all at once of course) to raise Mg from 1000 to 1250.

Since I do not have a way of measuring out 560 grams of epsom salts at home (no gram scale ) Can you tell me how many grams are in say, 1 teaspoon of espoms salts, or 1 tablespoon?

Thanks in advance!

- Michael

 

[examiner]

I'm not RHF, so hope that's OK....

For 560 grams, I wouldn't worry about teaspoons or tablespoons...you are talking 1+ pounds here. Actually about 20 ounces, so thats 1.25 pounds. Should be fairly easy to sort that out based upon the size of epsom salt container you purchase.

That seems alot of epsom to dump into a tank? Do you have access to any other more concentrated forms?

 

[Hobster]

http://reefcentral.com/calc/unit.php

560g=19.75 oz

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I agree that you can probably just use the package weight as a guide.

That said, I also show in the article (below) that a 64-ounce container of Epsom salts is about 8 cups. So 1 cup = 8 ounces = 227 g.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/rhf/index.php

 

[goodfortune]

Yes..it's quite a bit. If a kg is 2.2 lb, and a kg is a 1000 g, then 560 is right around a 1/4-lb

As for raising Mg, no more than 100 mg/l per day, right?

- Michael

 

[goodfortune]

Oh yes..I also did a large water change (~ 50%) to bring Mg into balance. As of last night, I'm at ~1100 ppm.

- Michael

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Yes, I'd aim for 100 ppm per day max, and yes, it takes a large amount of any additive to raise magnesium significantly because they all contain less than about 11% magnesium by weight.