Ca and Mg levels too high

I conducted a routine test of my water parameters on Wed. All params seemed fine with the exception of Ca (380) and KH (7 dkh). I thought the KH and Ca were a little low, so,wanted to raise the CA from 380 ppm to 420 ppm and the KH from 7dkh to 8 dkh. I use BRS 2 part solutions and for now (waiting for my dosing pump to arrive), I dose by hand. The BRS calculator recommended dosing 2.1 oz of AKL. and 14 oz of Ca to reach my desired levels. So, I dosed the recommended amounts. I dosed the Ca 1.75 oz every hr, over an 8 hr, period. When I tested the next day, my Ca was 440 ppm and the following day, 450 ppm and now today, 470 ppm. I obviously overdosed the Ca, but, when I tested my Mg also today, my Mg was 1480. I last tested for Mg on 7/18 and at that time, it was 1360. I have not dosed Mg since about 2 months ago. Is there a correlation between the high level of Ca and the high level of Mg? If so, should I be worried and what, if anything, should I do to bring these levels back into balance?

 

Sorry, I meant to say that I dosed 1.75 oz of Ca every 2 hrs. over a 16 hr. period.

 

I would say just do a straight water change to dilute the doses until they go back down to normal. I'm not sure if they will cause problems immediately but I wouldn't leave them that high for an extended period of time.

 

My Ca runs around 460 so you are ok there
Mg is a bit high 1350 is on the upper side
You did not say what your new dKH was???
How often do you do water changes and what is the make up of your salt when tested as to Kh, Ca, Mg and salinty?

 

Yes, higher Mg levels will make your calcium higher. We strive in the hobby to keep mg at 1350 which in turn will keep calcium at or around 420 but higher numbers like yours shouldn't affect anything. I would continue dosing your Ca and Alk daily until both gallons are gone and then dose the 20oz of Mg and you should be fine. That with normal waterchanges should bring everything back within target ranges.

 

CA/MG/DKH all play off each other. When one drops, they all should drop, thats what people mean by "Balance". Your tank should be in Balance chemically.

If you raise your CA, your MG will go up too. MG should be 3 times what your CA is. If you raise your dkh, your CA should go up too along with MG. IMO, your params are low. CA minimum of 500, MG minimum of 1500 (inrelation to CAx3). I keep my DKH around 11-12.

The best thing to keep your params in check, is use a quality salt mix to begin with. I reccommend using Coralife SeaSalt. Thats all I use and have had great success with it.

AWT Reef Salt Analysis

 

I use Red Sea Pro
Results today (before 5% water change today)
Ca= 480
dKH= 9.5
Mg= 1325
SG=1.025
Temp 78.9f
I hardly ever ck ammonia and nitrate unless something does not look right....it sits in my home den/office where I spend 60% of home time at so I watch it close anyway

 

There is absolutely nothing wrong with your current levels. I have Cal at 500 ppm and Mag at 1380-1420 ppm. The ratio in natural sea water is 3:1 mag to cal. Cal at 470 would be in ratio to mag of 1410. You are fine and I would maintain the levels you have now as compared to where you started out.

 

Okay, some varying views there. PierceEye, when I tested KH the next day it was still 7dkh. I do a 5% water change every week on my 90 gal. and I use ReefCrystals. I read the AWT analysis on synthetic salt mixes and according to this analysis, ReefCrystals looked like this; Salinity 31.0 ppt, Ca 341.5 mg/l, Mg 1118.8 mg/l and Alk 3.1 mEq/l. Thanks everyone for the quick responses. It sounds like I should not worry too much and that the high Mg level was caused by the high Ca level. Thanks again everyone.

 

Nothing wrong with your numbers. I keep my Ca at 440-460, dKH at 10-11 and Mg at 1400-1450. As long as mine are in those ranges I feel I'm good. When I hit those low end numbers, I dose to bring it back up to the high end.