For those who maintain MG

The only thing bad I have heard about using Epson salts is that if you need to raise your mag by 200 or more, you will get a big increase in sulfates. How big of a problem that is, I don't know?

I have used Seachem's Advantage Magnesium (crystals) for a while now. It worked good from when I raised my mag 140ppm I had to dose their maximum recommended dose for about 2-3 weeks every other day to there, but it worked with no losses. I'm at 1420ppm now, and I notice about 40ppm drop in mag per week (nano reef, lightly stocked).

I like the Seachem product even though it is a little more costly then other products out there.

 

Dang how can you dose monthly, mine depleats about 15ppm per day????

Does it drop to a certain level-like 1150-1200 and not go any lower?
at 15 a days I woulbe below 900??

 

check your other levels.... Ca, Alk, SG..... Or do you have a TON of hard corals?

 

also do you do a lot of water changes?

 

Ca 450
Kh 11
SG 1.025
PO4 .05
NO3 1

By hard corals you mean sps? If so I have about 5, I just bought 3 frags and have added to 3" maximas.

 

I used to do a 15-18 gallon water change twice a month, I figure my total water volume at roughly 75-80 gallons afte displacement/sump etc.
The big water changes I do not do any longer, and the reason I did that was the trates being at 25ppm I figured it would help.

I tried a few things to get the trates down and think I have found what works for me. I presently have my trates maintened at 2ppm or less and am doing 20 gallons per month-one water change every 30 days.

 

still you shouldn't be going through mag faster then cal and alk.
I dose .5 mil a day on cal and alk, once I have gone through the gallon of alk and cal I add 32 oz of mag then start the process all over again. Each tank is different but the ratio for alk cal and mag is 3:1 i believe.

 

I have been waiting for my Ca and KH to drop so I can fire my Ca Reactor back up, Ca is not moving KH drops about 1 or a little more per day my Ca has been constant 450 since 8-29.
I have had to dose Mg to keep it were it is-1350ish daily( its not even there most of the time), and KH dose/buff every other day.
I keep a jouranl, I have tested 5 times in 7 days, and getting ready for a test later, but I need to see the Ca start to drop, since the reactor will add both KH and Ca.

Man I had this 100% dialed in-then I decide to VODKA DOSE-

OK..... deep breaths...... dont talk about it.......breathe.

Ok all better.
Anyway here is what I have for Mg levels;
8-29 1250-So I dosed to get to 1350ish
8/30 1350
9/1 1300 dosed for what I figurd would have jumped Mg to 18-25ppm
9/2 1320
9/4 1280 dosed for what I think would be 25-ppm jump
9/5 1290

Sg is 1.0245-LOL at the ten thousandths digit, hey it was between .024 and .025

Anything there look odd?

Anyone?

Its all odd to me-(laughing while typing)

I just some day....

 

Bump

 

I don't have a calcium reactor, but I just recently started topping off with kalkwasser. Kalkwasser is a "balanced" addivitive just like running a calcium reactor. That means it is not possible to adjust the amount of alkalinity and calcium coming out of either Kalkwasser or a calcium reactor.

Since running kalkwasser for topping off, I have noticed that my alkalinity is seems to decrease very slowly while my calcium stays put. I run tests every couple weeks or so, and I just dose a Alkalinity supplement like Seachem's Builder or Buffer to keep it on track.

Why my alkalinity and calcium depletion isn't balanced is beyond me, but I'm pretty sure this is just a thing that many people deal with when running a balanced additive like Kalkwasser or a Calcium reactor..