How do I raise Mg from 990 to 1300?

[monosyth]

I've been doing a lot of testing lately and just started dosing calcium about 2 weeks ago.

 

Calcium when I started: 300

dkH when I started: 8

 

Calcium now: 380

dkH now: 9

 

Dosing with 2 part B-ionic, almost daily 20ml Part 1 Alkalinity, 30ml Part 2 Calcium.

 

My magnesium is at 990. I bought some Brightwell Aquatics Magnesion. I've added 30ml / day for the past 2 days, but have realized that I would have to dump nearly the whole bottle in to get it up 300ppm.

 

What is the best way to get my Mg from 990 to 1300?

 

Is BA's Magnesion best to just maintain?

 

I'm looking for help from those that have done this successfully. Anyone?

[monosyth]

bumpity bump

[Obi Juan kenobi]

I used Seachem Reef advantage Mag to raise mine from 1100-1350. Waring it's gonna take a lot of mag to raise it that much and you should do no more than100 ppm per day. I used the seachem dosing calculator to find out how much to use.

[monosyth]

excellent thanks. I may have to try that. Anyone else try raising their Magnesium a lot (300ppm) with BA's Liquid Magnesion?

[calvin415]

I've raised a 225 stocked with SPS and Clams from 900 to 1300 in 12 hours with just Epsom Salts (Magnesium Sulfate).

[Amphiprion1]

Any of the magnesium supplements out there work for what you are trying to do. I tend to prefer magnesium chloride over epsom salts alone, though, since the latter can lead to sulfate enrichment. It's even better if you use a mixture of the two, but if you end up using a single supplement, magnesium chloride is the way to go (like BW Magnesion, which is just anhydrous mag chloride). So for now, stick with that .

[monosyth]

Thanks! So do you suggest just dosing a max of 30ml a day with BW Magnesion?

[Degener8]

Amp is right about the sulfates but with regular water changes there is not enough build up to ever worry about.

 

Once its raised up and your only maintaining your water changes are more than enough to keep sufates in check since MOST (not all but most) synthetic salts are low on sulfate compared the NSW anyways.

[Amphiprion1]

True, but it depends on how often they are performed and whether or not the supplement is used after (or in) every water change. In that case, it has the potential to slowly build. That all assumes that the salt mix isn't deficient and Mg isn't lowered with every water change (defeating the purpose of raising it). Again, in this case, you don't want to use a sulfate-paired supplement to continually raise Mg, or you risk a slow rise in sulfates. But it is true that under normal circumstances, water changes should keep them under control. If it means anything, you'll use comparatively less MgCl2 compared to MgSO4, though--especially the anhydrous kind. One more potential reason to use it over epsom salts. Still expect to use a very good bit, though.

 

Edit: I'd shoot for around 50 ppm additions per day, personally.

[monosyth]

Just an FYI, I use red sea pro coral salt, which is supposedly good... While I don't get to water changes as much as I should, they are done every 2 weeks... generally.

 

The bottle of Brightwell Aquatics Magnesion says to dose at a max of 10ml per 20 US gals. So a max for me would be 15ml (30gals - taking in consideration for rock/etc displacement.)

 

The bottle says:

Each ml of Magnesion will increase the concentration of magnesium in 1 US-gal of water by 26 ppm.

 

So if I add 30ml to 30 US gals (my tank) every 24 hrs it should raise it 26 ppm. (of course not taking in account uptake by corals).

 

However, the bottle also says not to add more than (a calculated amount of) 15ml in 24 hrs..

 

"add this product at the maximum rate of 10 ml per 20 US-gallons daily until the desired concentration is attained, then dose daily or weekly as needed."

 

Do I have something wrong? or does this all sound right? (wondering about my math)

 

oh and thank you for input! greatly appreciated!

[Amphiprion1]

You should still be able to safely add 60ml as long as you test. I would split that in half and dose twice per day. At one point, I was dosing 100 ppm per day to raise mine, but 50ppm is a bit less risky in terms of precipitation. Testing is absolutely crucial during this time, as well. Look into Salifert or Elos magnesium kits.

 

Sounds like a lot, but you're going to need something like 9-10 oz worth of that supplement to get it as high as you need it.

[monosyth]

OK sounds good. I have the Salifert test - got it last week.

[jiriki76]

I'd go with epsom salts with regular water changes.

 

Or .. get some mag chloride in bulk from bulk reef supply and mix the two according to version 2 of dr randy holmes farley's 2 part recipe.

 

It's dirt cheap and will last you forever.

[disaster999]

i use BW powder magnesium basically raised my mg levels. dont worry too much about dosing the recommended amount each day. it will take a month or even longer to raise it up, not to mention the daily uptake of mg in the tank.

 

ive raised my mg lvl in my 100gal tank from 900ppm to 1200ppm just overnight with no ill effect.