All for reef and extra mag?

[cupi]

Hi I'm currently dosing 10ml a day of all for reef advised by my lfs since I added a bunch of coral and my alk and calcium dropped to 6.2dKH and 460ppm. My magnesium is currently 1337 and I wanted to push it up to 1500+ since I heard that number was best for goni's/torches which my tank mostly is focused around. I'm currently dosing this https://ndaquaculture.ca/products/hydroshock-magnesium-part-3?_pos=1&_psq=mag&_psid=890875989&_ss=e for magnesium and I was wondering if overtime the additional iodide/potassium sulfate is anything to worry about? I'm currently dosing 15ml of this

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I don’t recommend pushing magnesium that high, but if you choose to, I do not recommend that product for a
Large magnesium boost because it has too much potassium and way, way too much iodine for that large boost.

Pick a normal magnesium supplement. :)

 

[cupi]

I don’t recommend pushing magnesium that high, but if you choose to, I do not recommend that product for a
Large magnesium boost because it has too much potassium and way, way too much iodine for that large boost.

Pick a normal magnesium supplement. :)

I see, I already bought the bottle... Do you think it would be ok if I cut back the dosage? And if so what do you think would be good/not harmful potassium/iodine wise, i was thinking some potassium would be useful since apparently AFR doesn't contain any

 

[Evil1]

I wouldn’t worry about magnesium besides you’re in the zone. I’d bump your daily dose of AFR another 5ml. Wait a week and test all again. I have been using AFR for years and for me it keeps my parameters right where I need them. FYI my mag hovers around 1250 and my mixed reef has a large number of hammers and torches that thrive.

 

[unchainedcoot]

I personally wouldn’t go this route. AFR is supposed to contain everything you need in the correct proportions. The product you linked appears to be part of a 3 part system which your AFR is covering all 3 of anyway. I’d buy dry magnesium chloride and make your own Mg stock if you are just looking to boost your Mg.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I see, I already bought the bottle... Do you think it would be ok if I cut back the dosage? And if so what do you think would be good/not harmful potassium/iodine wise, i was thinking some potassium would be useful since apparently AFR doesn't contain any

That product is designed for very slow dosing, like 1 ppm of magnesium per day. I would not use it at rates higher than that.

Potassium is only useful if you need it. Not all tanks need any. There is no reason to assume it depletes in all tanks. In mine it never did.

 

[cupi]

Gotcha thank you all, I'll stop dosing the 3 part then and just focus with All for reef and focus on not reaching 1500 mg for now

 

[cupi]

I wouldn’t worry about magnesium besides you’re in the zone. I’d bump your daily dose of AFR another 5ml. Wait a week and test all again. I have been using AFR for years and for me it keeps my parameters right where I need them. FYI my mag hovers around 1250 and my mixed reef has a large number of hammers and torches that thrive.

my tank is already only 20 gallons and i just pushed it up from 3ml to 10ml so my plan was to have it at 10ml per day for 4 days and then go retest

 

[Ruben's Reef]

I do use AFR and every week I do a water test with Hanna Alk to see any variation and make the correction need it but what I dose extra is manganese 1ml and 4 drop of Iodine daily. I do an ICP-MS test to check the values and always little low but not zero.

 

[exnisstech]

I only test alk and dose AFR based on that. I target 8-8.5 dkH. TBH I have never tested magnesium in the 10+ years I've been in the hobby but I'm a bit of a simpleton.

 

[Evil1]

my tank is already only 20 gallons and i just pushed it up from 3ml to 10ml so my plan was to have it at 10ml per day for 4 days and then go retest

Sounds like a good plan!

 

[Peter Houde]

I don’t recommend pushing magnesium that high, but if you choose to, I do not recommend that product for a
Large magnesium boost because it has too much potassium and way, way too much iodine for that large boost.

Pick a normal magnesium supplement. :)

Hey Randy, I just checked my Ca and Mg for the first time in a long time. They were >500 and >1500, resp. I'm wondering where all that came from. I add 50 ml AFR, 6 ml of purple-up aragonite, as well as sodium bicarbonate as necessary to maintain dKH at 10.0, daily to my 120g aquarium. I do 30% water changes every 10-14 days with RC (SG 1.025, temp 77.0 F).

I know your thoughts on the reliability of Mg testing, and that Ca as high as 550 is OK. But, do you think maybe I should cut back on AFR?

I realize dKH 10.0 is high. I also think you may have dismissed the value of aragonite. If so, no need to repeat. Call me obstinate. It keeps my coralline algae in overdrive.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

The mag did not come from AFR. Might be test error (so common I do not recommend home testing) or from high salinity.

AFR will slowly raise calcium if you maintain alk with it, but the effect is slow and water changes often prevent it. Since you do a lot of water changes I would not assume it is accurate, unless salinity is high.
How are you measuring salinity?
When it?
Try the calcium kit on some new salt water at the same salinity.

 

[Peter Houde]

The mag did not come from AFR. Might be test error (so common I do not recommend home testing) or from high salinity.

AFR will slowly raise calcium if you maintain alk with it, but the effect is slow and water changes often prevent it. Since you do a lot of water changes I would not assume it is accurate, unless salinity is high.
How are you measuring salinity?
When it?
Try the calcium kit on some new salt water at the same salinity.

I just use a simple specific gravity float to check salinity, but I also have a refractometer and Hanna salinity tester and they've always been in close agreement. I only check salinity immediately before and after water changes. Topping off with fresh water daily to account for evaporation, the salinity is stable.