Epsom salts

While mixing epsom salts last night, with some tank water, I noticed something. It separates like kalkwasser does. Should only the clear liquid part be used? Does it bind stuff, in the white gunk on the bottom, like kalkwasser?

 

Nope, just dump it in and let it disolve.

 

I've never heard of putting epsom salts in with your tank -- what's the benefits of it?

 

MgSO[SUB]4[/SUB] Magnesium Sulfate

You can go to the LFS and pay top dollar for Mg or go to Wal-mart and pick up some cheap.

 

ok cool thanks!

 

Magnesium Sulfate shouldn't be used long term unless you use it along side with Magnesium Chloride or supplement with weekly water changes.

 

YellowBelly is right. Randy Holmes-Farley updated his recipe to reflect this. Using Mag Sulfate along could raise your levels of sulfates. Theres a good breakdown of it over at advaned aquarist. If you have a high demand of Mag you may be able to super concentrate your levels. Its much better to make a balanced blend from both Mag Chloride and Mag Sulfate.

I use a blend of Mag Chloride Hexhydrate and Mag Sulfate. Seems to work. I rely on monthly water changes to keep the numbers down.

On the flipside would you be suprised to know that many salts include large amounts of Potassium Sulfate to buffer? I wonder what that does? So all of that might be a moot point. Who knows. Probably better to be safe than sorry.

I do know all the salts that use that. I'm not going to post them. I want to avoid a flamewar that usually surrounds salt choice. Please don't ask.

 

LOL I won't Scott! I do notice since the addition of Epsom Salts that my SG is way up to 1.28 and it doesn't go down. Is there anyway to stop it from raising it? I scoop out some water then fill it back up with ro/di until it's down to 1.025. Could this high level of salt be killing my snails? They were doing great then, I'm guessing, since starting the epsom salts, it killed them off, slowly...

 

Yeah it does raise the salinity. How much are you putting in to raise it that high? If you need that much Mag you need to switch to Mag Chloride man. Its sometimes hard to find. PM me if you cant find it cheap.

 

I'm sure you meant to say that it does elevate SG, not salinity.

Anything you add to water that dissolves in it will alter your SG, which is a measurement of the density of the substance relative to the density of pure fresh water. So in other words, when you add a substance to the water, the mass changes, but because it dissolves, the volume doesn't. (well it does just a tiny bit, but not as much as the mass does). Don't worry too much about the increase in SG, (I'm sure you meant 1.028 and not 1.28 ) you can use the increase (if you have an accurate enough instrument) to measure how much MgSO4 or even MgCl2.6H20 you need to add; just make sure your water is at the correct SG before adding it, and that you TEST after you do to make sure that it's correct.

Scott the Hexahydrate IS Magnesium Chloride, but you are just adding 6 water molecules for every MgCl2 as well. Might not dissolve as quick, but will work just fine. I'm sure you realize that, but for those lurkers that might not...