Quote:
Originally Posted by bv_reefer
no no i test for all those, just thought i'd point out the important ones first..
pH 8.3 ; ammonia undetectable ; nitrite 0.25 ; nitrate 0 ; alkalinity as mentioned 8 dKH ; phosphate 0
i'll start dosing some form of magnesium in that case, think kent tech-m will do it, i've been relying on my salt mix (seachem reef salt) as a constant source for magnesium!
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You shouldn't have ANY nitrites show up in your tank once your tank has cycled. This shows there are some other problems going on with your tank (which likely have nothing to do with your cal, alk, or mg), but I am suspicious that you would have nitrites but no nitrates. I would get an LFS to test your water for you to double check the numbers, and make sure your kits are accurate.
You can safely raise your magnesium 100 ppm per day with no troubles. The Kent Tech-M product is Magnesium sulfate, which is epsom salt, and not the best choice as a single source of magnesium. SeaChem Magnesium is a blend of Magnesium chloride and Magnesium sulfate and is a better product imo.
I'm not familiar with the SeaChem salt, when you mix up a batch of salt and let it mix for 24 hours what salinity do you mix it to? What does the cal/alk/mg test at? If they are off to begin with, then you need to buff up your waterchange water before you even use it. I use Instant Ocean salt, and I have to add a bit of calcium, and quite a bit of magnesium to get it to the proper levels before I use it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Oscar
I am testing for all of these too. As some others have reported there was a batch of Kent that had some weird parameters. Calcium is continuously high, while Mg is low. So I have recently been dosing to get the Mg up.
My Alk has been too low. So before dosing for alk I think I am going to hold off on the purple for a few weeks to see what happens.
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Personally, I really dislike Kent salt. I will take Instant Ocean over Kent any day. Be sure to buff up your waterchange water before doing a waterchange as I said above. Stopping the Purple Up dosing isn't going to raise your alkalinity.
