Magnesium Issue

[sharko88]

So I suspect I have low magnesium since I can't hold steady DKH very long. I borrowed a buddy's Red Sea Magnesium test kit and it is saying my magnesium is at 1000ppm. Is there a LFS in town that will do a magnesium test? I want to get a second opinion before going that route. I use Red Sea's Coral Pro salt so I didn't think I would be having any Magnesium problems.

 

[bimmerzs]

@sharko88 wrote:

Hi,
If you have sps and healthy corraline growth, magnesium replenishment via waterchanges is not gonna happen. If you are not supplementing mg at all then that could be a true reading, it is a very good idea to double check that level prior to making correction's. I'm pretty sure Neptune's Cove will check magnesium for no charge.

Cheers,

 

[DaveJ]

RS Pro is also low in Mg to start with... 1000-1100 is where I would expect you to be if you have completely ignored Mg up to this point.

 

[ironbird456]

Any LFS will check your water for you. If you are close to keller I have a salifert mg test. I will test it for you.

 

[sharko88]

I double-checked (ran the test again) and got the same reading. Yeah, I have been using Red Sea Coral Pro and have not once supplemented Mg. The guy at the petstore said that if you buy good salt (he recommended the Coral Pro), then you don't have to supplement. Guess he was wrong. I have started dosing Mg. I will tell you how it goes. I know not to raise it more than 25 ppm per day.

 

[DaveJ]

@sharko88 wrote:

You can go 50ppm without a problem... did you use the calculator to figure out how much to do, or are you following the label?

Which product did you purchase?

If you want a salt that is pretty good Mg (1300) and good alk/ca numbers you can consider switching to Reef Crystals. You'll still need to bump the MG a bit with each water change, but it will be much less than RS Pro.

 

[sharko88]

I am using Seachem Advatage Magnesium to raise my Mg. I will look into the reef crystals but I just got a new bucket. Anyone know how miuch Mg supplement to add to a coral pro water change?

 

[BigJay]

@DaveJ wrote:

Bingo! Other than DaveJ telling me that I should do it for months, it was low magnesium that ultimately convinced me to switch. RS Coral Pro measured around 1200 or so out of the bucket. RC pulls around 1380 or so, depending on the batch. I add two cups of DIY magnesium supplement to the water change make up water and my mag has been around 1400 or so ever since.

PS: If you have any montis, they tend to lose color when magnesium is low, it's one of those tell-tale signs. Also, it takes a truck load of magnesium supplement to raise your levels significantly, look into getting some bulk magnesium chloride from bulkreefsupply.com. Magnesium supplement also boosts your salinity as well; so I supplement during water changes to mitigate some of that.

 

[sharko88]

Thanks for the heads up on the salinity spiking. I just read that about 1 minute ago on some other board after doing some google searches. I will also check out bulkreefsupply.com as well.

 

[BigJay]

@sharko88 wrote:

You'll be looking for the magnesium chloride, at least the gallon bucket. The other reagent is epsom salts (magnesium sulfate). You can get all you need for two bucks at WalGreens, it should be in front of the pharmacy counter. They should have a recipe on bulkreefsupply that's right for your supplementation scheme (i.e. two part, kalk, or calcium reactor).