Webmanny
Active member
Hey guys,
I just wanted to share something that most of you may already know, but I discovered recently. I have been always fighting to keep up with ALK, CA and PH because it was dropping too fast after water changes. I was surprised by how quickly my tank was consuming these elements, but I didn't know that your tanks PH, CA and ALK could be lowered because of low Magnesium.
I recently started dosing two part and things looked ok, but my levels were dropping much faster than I expected them to. I also noticed that my Mag levels were lower than most other users(1,100 normally).
I suspect this to be due to the previous salt I was using (Red Sea), but I am not 100% sure. I changed back to Reef Crystals and things improved, but the elements above were being depleted too quick for my size tank.
After much reading and investigating, I decided to start dosing Mag to my tank along with the two part and viola. CA and ALK consumption has been reduced to the expected levels, coral growth and coloration has improved and my PH average has increased from the previous 7.6 - 7.9 range to the new 7.85 - 8.25 range.
I was happily surprised by this and wanted to share with the group.
Please note that this is solely my experience and I am in no way recommending anyone to try to apply this to their tanks or that this is true science, but it is food for thought, in case you are having similar issues and want to experiment like I did.
Before:
After:
I just wanted to share something that most of you may already know, but I discovered recently. I have been always fighting to keep up with ALK, CA and PH because it was dropping too fast after water changes. I was surprised by how quickly my tank was consuming these elements, but I didn't know that your tanks PH, CA and ALK could be lowered because of low Magnesium.
I recently started dosing two part and things looked ok, but my levels were dropping much faster than I expected them to. I also noticed that my Mag levels were lower than most other users(1,100 normally).
I suspect this to be due to the previous salt I was using (Red Sea), but I am not 100% sure. I changed back to Reef Crystals and things improved, but the elements above were being depleted too quick for my size tank.
After much reading and investigating, I decided to start dosing Mag to my tank along with the two part and viola. CA and ALK consumption has been reduced to the expected levels, coral growth and coloration has improved and my PH average has increased from the previous 7.6 - 7.9 range to the new 7.85 - 8.25 range.
I was happily surprised by this and wanted to share with the group.
Please note that this is solely my experience and I am in no way recommending anyone to try to apply this to their tanks or that this is true science, but it is food for thought, in case you are having similar issues and want to experiment like I did.
Before:
After:
