Increasing Mg levels

[rickjames]

Ok, so I know that the Mg issue has been brought up in a thread lately, but I just thought I would bring it up again.

I have a 150 gallon reef tank with stony corals, it has been setup for about 8 months. Most of the corals are frags or small colonies. For Ca/Alk supplementation I started out using Kalk and adjusting with Kent tech A/B supplements. Then I added a calcium reactor, and once that was dialed in and running I quit supplementing kalk because I was sick of mixing it!

My issue is during all this time I have never been able to sustain my Calcium level above 400ppm and my Alk above 8.3. It usually likes to sit at 390ppm and a dKH of 8.1. I test these levels with Salifert kits.

Now I know that these are good levels but I would like to see them slightly higher. I tried bumping my calcium reactor flow through and bubble count up but I just seem to maintain those levels. Currently I bubble about 60 bpm and a constant small stream of effluent into the tank.

Which led me to the Mg issue. I bought a salifert test kit and tested the Mg level, it was only 1100ppm! It would seem that the Kent salt I use is deficient in these levels.

Which leads to my question: has anyone had any success adjusting with Epsom salts? I read the articles in Bev's links (thanks Bev) and according to the article this should be fine as long as the sulfate levels of your salt are low as well. So searching for the sulfate levels of Kent sea salt, I found this:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2005/12/aafeature1/view

Most salt mixes are 850ppm+ low in sulfur content!?

So adjusting 200ppm Mg with epsom salts shouldn't be a problem, right?

Just looking for thoughts or experiences with this.