help with dosing MAG

wait 24 hrs and its best to test the same time ea day, mag is somewhat slow to make a change in your water so add according to directions but sometimes it won't fully read accurate for 48hrs or so from one initial dosing. probably as you know going safe and slow is always best in everything you do with saltwater. Once you get the mag where you want it it doesnt deplete as fast as cal and alk does. If you were using two part after a gallon of two part is used you would ad 20 oz of mag solution and although ea tank is different thats enough for most. Always test though for accurate dosing.

 

With the Salifert, you need to keep going until it's full blue, then read the result.

I'd give it a day after you add supplement before testing again.

Probably a moot point now, but 1140 is NOT an okay level for a reef tank. Shoot for 1300-1400. You won't be able to keep Ca/Alk stable unless you get past ~1280.

 

That's what I started doing now for mg testing. I got it raised to 1200 yesterday and am waiting to test again and dose as needed. I figured 1140 would be ok for a fowlr but for the plans I have with sps I would like it in the mid 1300s. Alk has been 10 and ca has been 460 for around 8 months now consistently. And for being 15 months old I would like to see more coraline growth as well. Thanks for the advice

 

so is this correct? since my initial mg started out at 1140, i should add 40 grams of powder for a roughly 80 gallons of water? im still confused. it says add stock solution at max rate of 10ml per 20 gallons.. so 40ml's a day (40 grams) until desired levels are reached?

in other words should i be adding 40 grams of powder every day until i hit where i want to be?

 

I've been glancing over the numbers, so I can't answer that directly, but indirectly:

You raised it 60ppm yesterday dosing X amount. You could continue dosing X amount daily until you reach your target. Whatever X amount is, it should raise ~60ppm each dose.

If you're looking to increase the dose to raise it faster - be careful. You really don't want to raise Mg more than 100ppm per day. Moving parameters too quickly can be more problematic than having parameters outside acceptable ranges.

 

no stock solution is when you mix the powder 4 teaspoons with 8 oz of water. this makes a stock solution ( a solution you can dose with) ... than from that dosing solution you just made... add 10 ml per 20 gallons of the liquid dosing solution you made. do you have something to measure ml? if not 5ml is about a tablespoon. so for 80 gallons you would add 4 tablespoons of the liquid solution you made.
save whats left which all be a lot and add 4 tablespoons at the most each day till you get your level to where you want it.

when i was raising my mag level i dosed it every other day. better to go slow that goof and kill things

Do Not add the powder to your tank

if you are still in question buy the liquid ( pre-mixed) brightwells mag. you don't want to mess up with dosing mag.

 

well i deffinately did it wrong i added 15 half tsps (37.5 grams) of the magesion powder to 8 oz of water mixed it up and dumped into the sump. the part that was getting me confused is the ml and g's conversions but i understand now thanks. hopefully what i added wont cause any damage even though it was way over recommend dosage... right?

 

Is there a way I can see how much I added will raise mg? I'm nervous now

 

if my calculations are right it will only raise PPM by 53.6

 

test your mag see what your reading now.


the way you did it you should have only used 2 teaspoons of mag mixed in the 8 oz of water that amount would be the correct amount for 80 gallons of tank water. thats mixing it per use instead of creating a stock solution.