High mg, would you introduce new corals?

Embl

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Hello my tank is currently
mg 1700
ca ~350
ph 8
kh 7,8
salinity 1.023-4
Po4 0,1

and I keep soft corals right now that are healthy and growing.
would you think I can introduce a montipora?

I'm using slow water changes to slowly take down the mg, in the beginning, it was 2200...
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

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Did you measure that level with the Red Sea kit? Folks often have issues with it.

have you used that kit on new salt water? What brand kit and salt?

Magnesium that high is often test error, but could come from massive overdose of magnesium.
 

gonzo620

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Piggybacking!
My Mag is 1600+.(1640 I think) been like this for a long time. Using Regular IO. Using Red Sea Pro Test. New reagents too. Also performing biweekly WC. I'm Keeping Montis and other corals no problem.
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

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Piggybacking!
My Mag is 1600+.(1640 I think) been like this for a long time. Using Regular IO. Using Red Sea Pro Test. New reagents too. Also performing biweekly WC. I'm Keeping Montis and other corals no problem.

My expectation is that it is not as high as you think, and the result is test error. I'd try a different kit, or just ignore magnesium.
 
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Embl

Embl

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My expectation is that it is not as high as you think, and the result is test error. I'd try a different kit, or just ignore magnesium.
I use aquaforests test kit for mg and red sea blue bucket. I think the reason was a bad salt in the beginning....
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

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If you think the magnesium is really that high, and the salinity is not high, the only way to lower it is water changes with a normal magnesium mix.

FWIW, snails often become lethargic at 1600+ ppm magnesium. I'm not sure corals have any demonstrated problem with magnesium at these sorts of levels.
 

blasterman

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That level shouldn't bother montipora. It will slowly come down on it's own as calcium gets depleted, but if your calcium doesn't move neither will mag. Instant Ocean mixes at ~1250 mag.

German Blue Digitata or greens are your best bet. Pretty tough and will tolerate moderate nutrient swings. You want your phosphate to be around .03 (as long as it's detectable or not super high is fine) and nitrate 5-15. Forrest Fires and Caps tend to be a tad fussier than the blues and greens.
 

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