Dosing Mg everyday!!! More than Alk or Ca

[Kamper]

Ok
Tested with 2 different test kits Salifert
1- expires 8/2021 the other 2/2024
Both tested 1290
After adding 90ml of ESV B-Ionic Mg
Both Test kits read 1290 after 1 hour of Mg was dosed so no change at all
Total water volume 150 gal
It’s a Waterbox 180. I’m taking 30 gallons off for rock and sand
Will see how much the tank uses up by tomorrow and retest.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Ok
Tested with 2 different test kits Salifert
1- expires 8/2021 the other 2/2024
Both tested 1290
After adding 90ml of ESV B-Ionic Mg
Both Test kits read 1290 after 1 hour of Mg was dosed so no change at all
Total water volume 150 gal
It’s a Waterbox 180. I’m taking 30 gallons off for rock and sand
Will see how much the tank uses up by tomorrow and retest.

You should not (IMO) expect to be able to detect the 5 ppm magnesium rise that you would expect from this dosing. Nor will you be able to detect a 24 h drop in magnesium in any aquarium. Anything detected is noise or a salinity change.

 

[Michael Adam]

Assuming that you are using normal ESV-B-ionic and not ESV Bicarbonate two part, then your demand is VERY LOW for calcium and alk. Only 0.22 dKH per day and 1.8 ppm calcium per day. if you are using the bicarbonate version, it is even lower, at half that amount. This also assumes you diluted them properly if you bought the concentrate form.

Note that the calcium part of B-ionic contains magnesium, and generally you should not need any more, at least in the short term.

Assuming the ESV magnesium product was not messed up somehow, then on top of the magnesium added with the calcium part, you are adding an additional 2 ppm of magnesium per day.

That is really not much magnesium (although much more than is being consumed), and it would take a long time to accurately detect that addition with a kit. Certainly, in a week you will still be within the error of any hobby kits.

As a final comment, even a tiny change in salinity will cause the magnesium to change much more than you are adding in a day. 35 ppt seawater, 1280 ppm magnesium, at a sg of 1.0264 changing to a sg of 1.0262 will have dropped magneisum by 10 ppm.

So my belief is that you are adding so little of any of these additives that you cannot accurately measure the changes in calcium and magnesium, and minor changes in salinity will swamp out the mag additions for anything except long term measurements.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Did you mean to post something to this thread? :)

 

[Michael Adam]

No. I was distracted and somehow posted that without meaning to. Lol.

 

[gbroadbridge]

Did you mean to post something to this thread? :)

It would be really handy if these forums had a warning popup if posting to thread that has been dormant for more than a year.

Many other forums have that kind of warning set up, with the option to proceed if you re really sure you want to raise a zombie thread.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I’ll suggest it as a possibility. :)

 

[Garf]

No. I was distracted and somehow posted that without meaning to. Lol.

Lol. My smart watch dials random folk sometimes.