Saturation Levels of CaCl and MgCl in RO/DI Water

[Todd]

Originally Posted by littlesilvermax

Salifert test kits as of late are not that great.

I would add about 9 times the amount of MgCl vs MgSO4. Otherwise you get too high a sulfate in the water. Not a big deal though.

Try (what I always do) mixing the calcium and magnesium in the water BEFORE you add the salt.

FWIW if you get the IO water up to about 1380 ppm or so, it is unlikely that you will have to dose magnesium to the main tank. Unless you use a lot of kalk.

Great tips, particularly mixing the Mg before adding the salt. I will try that next time. Also good to know about the Sulfate accumulation, I could not find the reasoning behind the ratio's, but that makes sense.

I will have begin a dosing schedule to bring my Mg levels up in my display, while still bringing my water change water up before doing changes. Once I get my levels upto 'normal', then I will see if I can move away from dosing Mg. I am not using any Kalk, I will just be adding Calcium, Magnesium and Alkalinity via dosing pumps.

I guess I should try another brand of test kit. Any suggestions?