Mag levels

[icecool2]

I finally bought a magnesium test kit today. I did a quick test and it never turned the color it was supposed to after adding all of the reagent. It got close, but never quite there. Could my levels be that low?? I just did a water change yesterday.

[reefman225gal]

I finally bought a magnesium test kit today. I did a quick test and it never turned the color it was supposed to after adding all of the reagent. It got close, but never quite there. Could my levels be that low?? I just did a water change yesterday.

What type tst kit? Whats the PPM reading if it would of changed all the way to that color ?

[SmittyCoco]

^^ Yeah test kit brand would help. Did you try it again?

[kgehrke]

What type of salt do you use?

[icecool2]

What type tst kit? Whats the PPM reading if it would of changed all the way to that color ?

 

Red Sea test kit (see attachment). According to the test I did 0. I guess.

 

 

^^ Yeah test kit brand would help. Did you try it again?

 

Nope just the once. It took a while and I had other things to do.

 

What type of salt do you use?

 

Oceanic Natural Sea Salt

 

[bdare]

Red Sea kits are junk. I wouldn't trust those results. Also check out this link for levels you can expect from different salts. I'm also not a big fan of Oceanic.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthre...hreadid=1287118

[icecool2]

Red Sea kits are junk. I wouldn't trust those results. Also check out this link for levels you can expect from different salts. I'm also not a big fan of Oceanic.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthre...hreadid=1287118

 

That's the only Mg kit my LFS sells. Too late to return it now....

 

I really like the Oceanic salt not sure why you don't. If I remember correctly it came out on the top of the survey from everyone here not too long ago.

[bdare]

That's the only Mg kit my LFS sells. Too late to return it now....

 

I really like the Oceanic salt not sure why you don't. If I remember correctly it came out on the top of the survey from everyone here not too long ago.

I'd get a new kit online. Red Sea are notoriously bad. Elos, API, or Salifert are a couple of good ones.

 

The reason I personally don't like Oceanic is because of the HIGH Ca and Mg. Strays a bit too far from NSW for my liking.

[viinse]

I finally bought a magnesium test kit today. I did a quick test and it never turned the color it was supposed to after adding all of the reagent. It got close, but never quite there. Could my levels be that low?? I just did a water change yesterday.

 

Are you sure you are doing the test correctly?

Im not familiar with the Red Sea test but the way the Salifert works is using more reagent indicates a higher Mg level.

[disaster999]

most likely its the test kits thats bad and not the procedure. red sea mag test sucks.

 

elos or salifert is the only 2 i trust. i prefer salifert because you dont have to count 30 or so drops of reagent, just read off how much reagent is left in the syringe.

[icecool2]

Well I did the test again today. Never got to the color it was supposed to. Starting turning purple, but never blue. According to this test, my Mg would be over 2400ppm. Is that possible??

[bdare]

RED SEA KITS ARE JUNK!

[icecool2]

RED SEA KITS ARE JUNK!

 

So I'm gathering.

[ddr_phish]

It sounds like your doing something wrong to get such drastic changes in the Magnesium measurements. I use Red Sea Magnesium test kits and they always work fine for me. But for all other tests I use API.

[Needreefunds]

Hey Bud.

 

Rather than say this sux or that sux........

 

When you say it "got close" were you referring to the provided color match point ( think that's what they call it right?)

 

What I look for is when it makes that drastic change towards that color. In other words you should see a very definite change from ( pink was it? lol, been awhile ) to purple . When you even think it might have been there, make a note of the amount used. Then if you continue to add more, and see no further change that amount is what I go by.

 

PITA? absolutely.

Dead on balls accurate? probably not.

Good enough? I think ( read -hope ) so.

 

HTH some.

[icecool2]

Hey Bud.

 

Rather than say this sux or that sux........

 

When you say it "got close" were you referring to the provided color match point ( think that's what they call it right?)

 

What I look for is when it makes that drastic change towards that color. In other words you should see a very definite change from ( pink was it? lol, been awhile ) to purple . When you even think it might have been there, make a note of the amount used. Then if you continue to add more, and see no further change that amount is what I go by.

 

PITA? absolutely.

Dead on balls accurate? probably not.

Good enough? I think ( read -hope ) so.

 

HTH some.

 

Well if I go by that, it would be a much more realistic reading. It goes from pink to purplish after around .6mL goes in. That would mean I'm somewhere around 1200ppm.

[masterbuilder]

For KH and CA, get yourself the API kits

For MG get Salifert.

 

Tried several and these are what works best for me.

[mrnugget]

Well if I go by that, it would be a much more realistic reading. It goes from pink to purplish after around .6mL goes in. That would mean I'm somewhere around 1200ppm.

 

+1

 

Exactly how I've been using the Red Sea Mg test, and came up with 1100 for my start point. Dosing Kent Tech-M to battle Bryopsis, and brought it up to 1800. Did a water change (5 gal) recently, so had to dose WC water to bring it up to the 1800. Started at 1200 per Red Sea test (.6ml part C solution), dosed based on reef chemistry calculator ( http://reef.diesyst.com/flashcalc/flashcalc.html ), and redid test where it came out to 1800 (.9ml part C solution).

 

I was equally confused at first regarding the 'ending' color.... the card is blue, but the true end point is purple. As was said, look for the dramatic change, and that's the end point.

 

In the future, I'll likely invest in a better test, but for now this seems to work.

[icecool2]

+1

 

Exactly how I've been using the Red Sea Mg test, and came up with 1100 for my start point. Dosing Kent Tech-M to battle Bryopsis, and brought it up to 1800. Did a water change (5 gal) recently, so had to dose WC water to bring it up to the 1800. Started at 1200 per Red Sea test (.6ml part C solution), dosed based on reef chemistry calculator ( http://reef.diesyst.com/flashcalc/flashcalc.html ), and redid test where it came out to 1800 (.9ml part C solution).

 

I was equally confused at first regarding the 'ending' color.... the card is blue, but the true end point is purple. As was said, look for the dramatic change, and that's the end point.

 

In the future, I'll likely invest in a better test, but for now this seems to work.

 

OK Cool. Must be a Jersey thing!

[apophis924]

Good way to test to see if your kit is good or not is to make up a solution of epsom salts and distilled water. Epsom salt is Mg SO4. I cant remember the the ratios to make a calibration solution I am sure you can google it. I used to used 1 tsp of epsom salt once a week to keep my mg at 1300 once a week or so when i raqn an SPS tank. The test kit i was using was Salifrat, a very good kit, a bit pricey But well worth it.

[SmittyCoco]

I use the red sea kit and it works fine for me. You can definetly tell the color change. It is a deep blue. I'll take some pics so you can get an idea of the color you should be getting. Ok here you go.

 

Test kit

 

 

2 ml of water

 

 

1 drop of A per 15 seconds mixing 5 Drops total

 

 

5 Drops of B mix and let stand for 1 minute

 

 

Begining color. Fill droper with 1 ml of C and drop in one drop at a time while mixing until color change

 

 

End color. Blue. With 2.5 ml left in my droper. 1500 Mag . Perfect.

 

 

Close up

 

 

 

If you still don't get this color of blue after using all of C fill it up again with C and drop again. Make sure you keep track of how much. If you use it all up then you are too low Imo. Not high. Good luck ! Keep us posted.

[SmittyCoco]

So did you try it again?

[icecool2]

Thanks for the step by step smitty. The final color you got looks like mine. Definitely not as dark as the blue on the card though. If I just go by when it turns purple, I'm at 1200.

[MitchReef]

I had hat same test kit and NEVER got to end point with up to 2 full syringes...I got a Salifert kit and was at right around 1300!!

 

Salifert is the choice for Mg, KH and Ca in my book