How to raise Magnesium

Dez · #1 09-18-2009, 04:56 AM

Hello,

I recently bought some chemicals of a fellow canreefer and got some Magnesium (originally he got it from littlesilvermax I think).

I tested my parameters tonight and the Magnesium is sitting about 1100ppm. So it's a little bit low.

How would I go about raising it. I was reading through the Randy's 2 part article and it says to dissolve both magnesium and epsom salts together to raise the Mg?

What does the epsom salts do, and do you have to use epsom salts when raising Mg.

What should my dosage be, I have about 280 gallon water volume. My calcium is at 400, and my alk at 9dkh.

Should I dissolve some Magnesium into top off water? Thanks so much.

Delphinus · #2 09-18-2009, 05:06 AM

If you use the crystals from littlesilvermax you don't need epsom salts.

You'll be shocked at how much Magnesium it takes to raise it just a little bit. That's why I buy the stuff in bulk from littlesilvermax; a $30 bottle of liquid additive obtained locally will typically last me one water change whereas 30lbs of powder will last months and months if not a whole year or more.

What I would do is take a tablespoon (15ml) and add it and then test, and then gradually increase the amount dosed, but don't exceed say 100 per day (more of an arbitrary number on my part, but I don't like raising params too quick). But you may find you're adding 15-20 tablespoons (ie. 300ml -ish) to get that 100.

I get lazy and just dump the crystals in the sump but yeah, you can dose your topup water or just get a half litre of RO/DI and mix it in or whatever. I find that once Magnesium is at target levels, it's easy enough to maintain via water changes (I test every batch of salt for Ca, Alk and Mg and adjust my water change water to match targets). Incidentally it may shock you how much you will have to change your amounts for every new bucket, at least it did me, so I recommend this approach to everyone: test your new saltwater and dose it manually to make it where you want it.

Delphinus · #3 09-18-2009, 05:09 AM

Shoot, I missed your water volume estimate. I was adding 15 times 15ml in my *40* tank to raise it 100 when I was fighting low Mg (bad salt, this is why I say test every bucket, just because you paid more for it apparently doesn't mean squat for quality control

)

Anyhow basically you're gonna be adding a whole lot of Mg. My suggestion to start with one tablespoon, yeah, if you do that, you're not even going to notice a bump in the levels the next day.

But the principle remains sound, start small and work your way up to an amount that raises it say 50 to 100 and leave it at that per day until it's at 1400 or wherever you're going with it.

Delphinus · #4 09-18-2009, 05:11 AM

You'd think I could collect my thoughts before posting so that I post once instead of three times.

Last but not least, be also wary that adding a lot of Mg crystals will affect (raise) your SG a little.

buddyreefer · #5 09-18-2009, 05:14 AM

the amount of epsom salt also depends on whether you are using balanced diy 2 part dosing or a reactor cal/kalk etc.

globaldesigns · #6 09-18-2009, 05:31 AM

I use Seachem Magnesium crystals, you can get them at your LFS or JLAquatics... Crystals are much cheaper than the liquids.

Usually Strontium and Magnesium levels are consistant with each other, if you need Magnesium then you should add Strontium. For this reason I only test for Magnesium levels, but if they are low, I also dose accordingly for Strontium based on this fact

Again, Strontium in crystal form is very cheap.

I hope this helps

banditpowdercoat · #7 09-18-2009, 12:25 PM

I'm finding with my latest bucket of IO salt. for 15gSW, Its taking 2/3 cup of Littlesilvermax's mag suppliment to get 1400ppm. whereas 3tsp of Ca to reach 400.

Dez · #8 09-18-2009, 02:17 PM

Thanks for all the response guys. I have the crystals already, I will just mix it with some top off water then and slowly raise it over some time. Thanks again.

Tom R · #9 09-18-2009, 04:43 PM

I find the use of this Reef Calculator to be valuable when trying to determine the amount of chemical required to bring my target levels back into line.

http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chem_calc3.html

Tom R

RuGlu6 · #10 09-18-2009, 08:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by globaldesigns

I use Seachem Magnesium crystals, you can get them at your LFS or JLAquatics... Crystals are much cheaper than the liquids.

Usually Strontium and Magnesium levels are consistant with each other, if you need Magnesium then you should add Strontium. For this reason I only test for Magnesium levels, but if they are low, I also dose accordingly for Strontium based on this fact

Again, Strontium in crystal form is very cheap.

I hope this helps

Can you mix strontium and magnesium together?
thx