Jump to content
Top Shelf Aquatics

Low Mag, Cal, KH (any more advice out there)


akashi

Recommended Posts

Kh 6.8 i know i need to get that to 8-10

 

Mg 1050 lfs told me 1300-1500 is where i need to be at

 

ca 360 lfs told me i need to be at 400-500

 

sg 1.024

 

lfs told me to deal with mg and that will help with my kh so i bought some liquid concentrated magnesium and they told me to dose 3x the noraml dosage to get things started. can i deal with cal at the same time as mag or should i do one at a time

 

Edit: i noticed in time and took it to my lfs my frog spawn isnt doing well, it lost 3 tentacles and brown stringy stuff was coming out of it and my other coral which is a hammer is tucked all the way into its skeleton, been having these 2 coral for over a week now

 

here are some pictures of them

http://imgur.com/a/Hw3Qq

Link to comment
  • Replies 51
  • Created
  • Last Reply
mystersyster

Um.... how many corals do you have? What salt are you using? Are you testing for magnesium? Are you testing for anything? My philosophy is do not dose without testing. Dosing 3x the normal dosage sounds like a bad idea. I've never heard of a frown spawn, but I guess you mean frog spawn. If you only have 2 corals you shouldn't have to dose. Sounds like your hammer coral is done for. Kh between 7-9 is best ime. Calcium between 380-450 should be fine.

Link to comment

Um.... how many corals do you have? What salt are you using? Are you testing for magnesium? Are you testing for anything? My philosophy is do not dose without testing. Dosing 3x the normal dosage sounds like a bad idea. I've never heard of a frown spawn, but I guess you mean frog spawn. If you only have 2 corals you shouldn't have to dose. Sounds like your hammer coral is done for. Kh between 7-9 is best ime. Calcium between 380-450 should be fine.

2 corals, i buy my water pre mixed from my lfs, and i got everything tested i posted the numbers of the test, and i also posted a imgur link with the pictures if you care to give them a look and i also bought a magnesium test kit

Link to comment

@mysteryster well to be fair, my tank has been up for about 3 weeks now, ive used dr,tims bacteria to help with the cycle for about week before adding everything, and when i had the coral i didnt test for mag cal or kh before doing so at hand because i didnt think it was that time to start checking those things just yet, i believe it was my fault and not the lfs

Link to comment
Cencalfishguy56

@mysteryster well to be fair, my tank has been up for about 3 weeks now, ive used dr,tims bacteria to help with the cycle for about week before adding everything, and when i had the coral i didnt test for mag cal or kh before doing so at hand because i didnt think it was that time to start checking those things just yet, i believe it was my fault and not the lfs

naw the LFS is giving you lousy water, my guess is they are giving you salt water but not reef elevated saltwater, I would use a good salt like Red Sea blue bucket and mix it yourself so you don't run into these problems, there's no way your levels should be that low with just two corals
Link to comment
mystersyster

It really depends. If you magnesium was really that low then you might be fine. I wouldn't recommend raising mag more than 100ppm per day. You really NEED to be testing if you dose anything at all. But seriously, you might be better off getting a good salt and mixing it with distilled water if you don't have an RO/DI machine for now.

Link to comment
Cencalfishguy56

well i already did the 3x dosage of magnesium was that a bad idea or no

bad idea if you're not testing, increasing magnesium at a substantial rate will piss corals off even more but not too troublesome, alkalinity and calcium are the big duo that are most important tho, mystersyster has some good advice also
Link to comment

update on the frogspawn, its taking this this worse, its losing tentacles and already receding all the way back i dont think its gonna make it tonight but my hammer coral is doing fine hasnt lost any tentacles and is just tucked all the way into its skeleton

Link to comment
Cencalfishguy56

update on the frogspawn, its taking this this worse, its losing tentacles and already receding all the way back i dont think its gonna make it tonight but my hammer coral is doing fine hasnt lost any tentacles and is just tucked all the way into its skeleton

man I'm sorry, I vote for you buying your own salt and mixing, and see how it goes for you
Link to comment
Cencalfishguy56

should i pull it out of my tank at this point its lost all its tentacles

is it all skeleton now? Do you only have two corals in your tank?
Link to comment

its peeling its tissue all the tissue back and its floating in the water i took it out right now, and the only coral in my tank right now it a baby frag hammer coral which is tucked in its skeleton he isnt peeling or anything

Link to comment

updated, gonna do another small dose of magnesium and also my hammer coral did not make it at all so all im left with is my 2 black ice clown fish

Link to comment
mystersyster

Listen man. Your tank is too immature for corals, and you shouldn't be dosing. Get some good salt, and mix your own water. I haven't dosed magnesium in months. It shouldn't be that low. What you're doing now is not a path to success. No salt mix should be that low in magnesium.

Link to comment

i havent done the dose yet... i ill go pick up some salt and buy some ro/di water how much of a water change should i do in my 29 gallon? which brand of salt would you recommend

Link to comment
mystersyster

Lots of good salt out there. Nothing bad, or else they would have probably gone out of business by now. You basically have two types of salt.

 

Type #1: Elevated salt

 

This type of salt contains elevated levels of Calcium, Alkalinity, and magnesium. Basically this is what a lot of people use so that they don't have to dose anything. Water changes are what they do to "dose" the tank. Basically the elevated levels keep the levels of key elements from getting too low before the next water change. A lot of people have success doing this, however, my concern is keeping stable levels, which is most important imo.

 

Examples of elevated salts are:

 

Reef crystals and Red Sea Coral Pro

 

Type #2: Normal salt

 

This type of salt is more in line with natural sea water. If you have a coral heavy system dosing is probably necessary, since the levels will drop quickly. I like this type of salt because I dose, and it keeps my water closer to natural levels.

 

Now, so not to be confusing, elevated, and normal salts are what I call them. You wont find that on the package. I would recommend reef crystals, or red sea coral pro. You wont have to worry about dosing anything, and you should be able to add a fair amount of coral in the future without worrying about whether or not you should dose. As you gain more experience and knowledge in the hobby, you can choose the path that works best for you. Some people (like me) like to keep water closer to natural sea water. Others are fine using an elevated mix. To be honest though, magnesium is the least utilized element in salt water. That means you should have been nowhere near the level you were at. It sucks, adding things slowly, but that is what this hobby is all about. I waited 8 months before I added the clam I desperately wanted. Stabilizing the elements in your system is CRITICAL before adding corals.

Link to comment
Cencalfishguy56

Lots of good salt out there. Nothing bad, or else they would have probably gone out of business by now. You basically have two types of salt.

 

Type #1: Elevated salt

 

This type of salt contains elevated levels of Calcium, Alkalinity, and magnesium. Basically this is what a lot of people use so that they don't have to dose anything. Water changes are what they do to "dose" the tank. Basically the elevated levels keep the levels of key elements from getting too low before the next water change. A lot of people have success doing this, however, my concern is keeping stable levels, which is most important imo.

 

Examples of elevated salts are:

 

Reef crystals and Red Sea Coral Pro

 

Type #2: Normal salt

 

This type of salt is more in line with natural sea water. If you have a coral heavy system dosing is probably necessary, since the levels will drop quickly. I like this type of salt because I dose, and it keeps my water closer to natural levels.

 

Now, so not to be confusing, elevated, and normal salts are what I call them. You wont find that on the package. I would recommend reef crystals, or red sea coral pro. You wont have to worry about dosing anything, and you should be able to add a fair amount of coral in the future without worrying about whether or not you should dose. As you gain more experience and knowledge in the hobby, you can choose the path that works best for you. Some people (like me) like to keep water closer to natural sea water. Others are fine using an elevated mix. To be honest though, magnesium is the least utilized element in salt water. That means you should have been nowhere near the level you were at. It sucks, adding things slowly, but that is what this hobby is all about. I waited 8 months before I added the clam I desperately wanted. Stabilizing the elements in your system is CRITICAL before adding corals.

to add to this! Start with NSW salt and transition to elevated level salt as your reef starts growing
Link to comment

i know what your saying thank you for the information and dont get me wrong i wasnt trying to rush anything i was only taking advice from my lfs which had me under the impression that i could add my corals when my cycle was done and didnt think twice about testing their water because hey they have alot of great looking display tanks in their shop so their water was perfect and they were really helpful but i now that i ran into a problem with the tank it was under their orders that i was following to help. but i will pick up some salt from them tomorrow and make my own batch and do a water change that day and retest for everything only thing ill buy from them is ro/di water.

Link to comment
Cencalfishguy56

i know what your saying thank you for the information and dont get me wrong i wasnt trying to rush anything i was only taking advice from my lfs which had me under the impression that i could add my corals when my cycle was done and didnt think twice about testing their water because hey they have alot of great looking display tanks in their shop so their water was perfect and they were really helpful but i now that i ran into a problem with the tank it was under their orders that i was following to help. but i will pick up some salt from them tomorrow and make my own batch and do a water change that day and retest for everything only thing ill buy from them is ro/di water.

you can add after the cycle, and it's not you, it's the water you are getting, your levels should not be depleted like that from two frags, I have a 9 head colony frogspawn, a head of gold octospawn, and head of an orange hammer and my levels barely drop, they are giving you lousy water, better safe to mix it yourself!
Link to comment
Cencalfishguy56

thats what im gonna do first thing in morning, make my own salt and do a like a 30% water change on my 29 biocube

sounds good man! Let's us know how it goes
Link to comment

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recommended Discussions


×
×
  • Create New...