Signs of low Magnesium

Aaaron

New member
What would be some tell tale signs of low Magnesium? Besides my 90 gallon I have a 60 cube. Past couple of weeks I have been having bubbles on my rocks, bubbles come up from the sand. And thick rust colored brown stuff on the sand. That stays clumped when you siphon it out.
 
the brown bubbles are dinoflagilates. I believe (and someone can correct if I'm wrong) this is caused by high silicates in the water. Are you using Ro/Di???


One sign of low Mg levels is that you will have a hard time growing Chaeto, mangroves, micro and macro algaes... as they all uptake MG for their bio process.

if after confirming tests show low MG. you could just do several water changes as IO salt seems to be high in MG. You could also go to your local CVS and pick up pure epsum slat which is a pure Mg supplement. careful not to overdose here. Use randy's calculator to raise to desired levels.
 
You might not notice anything, since it would require a side by side comparison to see many of the effects (faster clogging of pump impellers, etc.).
 
The most reliable tale tale sign off low mag, is a low test result...

:lol:

And even that is probably only reliable 50% of the time. :D
 
I use a Maxcap Spectrapure 90 gpd. My TDS is 70 going in and 0 going out. I use all the same stuff on my 90 and it has no issues. The mag in the 60 was in the 1,100's slowly raising it now.
 
When my mag got low my alkalinity was all over the place. I was trying to dial in my dosing again. My alk would go up by 5 ppm one day, then I would drop the dose by the appropriate amount to keep it steady. Then test the next day and it would drop 10 ppm.

Checked my mag with a new test kit and it was at 1200. Raised to 1380 over 5 days and now my alk is rock steady again.
 
Back
Top