How to Raise MG in a 550 gallons of water.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I wasn't aware that it is also used for constipation. I will check my pharmacy and also amazon.
Thanks for your help.

It will likely say USP (United States Pharmacopeia), not necessarily food grade, but that is good material.

Note, however, that using Epsom salt alone will raise sulfate and deplete chloride over time. I discuss that issue here:

Do-It-Yourself Magnesium Supplements for the Reef Aquarium by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

 

[Rst]

It will likely say USP (United States Pharmacopeia), not necessarily food grade, but that is good material.

Note, however, that using Epsom salt alone will raise sulfate and deplete chloride over time. I discuss that issue here:

Do-It-Yourself Magnesium Supplements for the Reef Aquarium by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

Thanks Randy for the diy mag reference. I found a site that sells MAG® and comes in 50lb bags. I am told that it is used on roads to melt ice. Do you think this is safe to use this as the magnesium part for mixing with the Epsom salts? The chemical specs listed are:

MgCl2	%	47.3	43.4 – 51.2
Potassium (K)	%	0.05	0.0 – 0.14
Sodium (Na)	%	0.48	0.0 – 1.23
Sulfate (SO4)	%	0.64	0.0 – 2.45
Calcium (Ca)	%	0.22	0.0 – 0.68
H2O	%	51.3	44.3 – 56.6
As	mg/kg	–	3.5 max
Cd	mg/kg	–	0.1 max
Pb	mg/kg	–	1.0 max

 

[Ashish Patel]

You should find the reason why salinity drops. That is not normal especially in such a big system. If it is not test error, not skimmer constantly overflowing or WC /AWC then it could be salt creeping in somewhere, presumably in hidden areas (sump etc.) which is potentially dangerous (rust, short circuits etc.)

I think its the salt creeps around the eurobrace and around the basement where water splashes in the mechanical filter. I testing salinity yesterday after calibration and it was 33PPT. Now I will just test it at least weekly and monitor exactly how much skimmate I am losing then I can rule out saltcreeps.

 

[Ashish Patel]

My salinity was low at 33PPT. Def need to look into how it can drop so fast or just pay more attention to it. I almost feel like my large basement sump could be losing saltwater in the air from splashing and just becoming unknown. Past 3 months I have actually gone through almost a full 160 gallon bucket of RC just to top of saltwater.

 

[Ashish Patel]

You should find the reason why salinity drops. That is not normal especially in such a big system. If it is not test error, not skimmer constantly overflowing or WC /AWC then it could be salt creeping in somewhere, presumably in hidden areas (sump etc.) which is potentially dangerous (rust, short circuits etc.)

Also, I can say with certainty that I have probably removed 60-100 gallon of skimmate in the past 4 months. I mean I take away 4gallon buckets twice a week at peak. I thought I could deal with PO that way but it doesnt really help, just adds to instability.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Also, I can say with certainty that I have probably removed 60-100 gallon of skimmate in the past 4 months. I mean I take away 4gallon buckets twice a week at peak. I thought I could deal with PO that way but it doesnt really help, just adds to instability.

Is that the reason for the low salinity? Do you intentionally replace it with seawater?

 

[Ashish Patel]

Is that the reason for the low salinity? Do you intentionally replace it with seawater?

Yeah its for sure the reason, I don't intend to skim this much but last year when I went on a vacation to deal with the skimmer I floated a 5 gallon container in my sump and drained the skmmate cup into this container. Now I just use it ongoing bc its so much easier. Problem is I am more likely to keep my skimmate line higher and sometimes it just skims alot more. For some reason this skimmer does not tune the way other skimmers have! For example, Once i clean it it will skim 2-3 gallons in few days and then not produce barely anything the remainder of the week. Once I turn it off and give it a good clean it goes back up.

Here is the skimmer emptying into the container, I guess I feel my skimmer is too small so I figured let it skim a little more wont hurt since it forces me to do some smaller waterchanges between the big ones(that rarely occur).

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Yeah its for sure the reason, I don't intend to skim this much but last year when I went on a vacation to deal with the skimmer I floated a 5 gallon container in my sump and drained the skmmate cup into this container. Now I just use it ongoing bc its so much easier. Problem is I am more likely to keep my skimmate line higher and sometimes it just skims alot more. For some reason this skimmer does not tune the way other skimmers have! For example, Once i clean it it will skim 2-3 gallons in few days and then not produce barely anything the remainder of the week. Once I turn it off and give it a good clean it goes back up.

Here is the skimmer emptying into the container, I guess I feel my skimmer is too small so I figured let it skim a little more wont hurt since it forces me to do some smaller waterchanges between the big ones(that rarely occur).

OK, got it.

 

[Rst]

It will likely say USP (United States Pharmacopeia), not necessarily food grade, but that is good material.

Note, however, that using Epsom salt alone will raise sulfate and deplete chloride over time. I discuss that issue here:

Do-It-Yourself Magnesium Supplements for the Reef Aquarium by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

Hi Randy,

In your DYI Mag article, I want to follow your 3rd recipe. I am not clear on how properly I mix the 2 components if MAG Flakes & Epsom Salts together with the 1 gallon of RO water. Your advise is to fully dissolve the MAG & Epsom salts separately before adding them both together. What I don't understand is if I am aiming for the final mixed dosing quantity to be 1 gallon, what initial quantity of RO water do I first add alone with the 7-1/4 cups to make sure that it is fully dissolved and what quantity of RO water do I add with the 3/4 cups of Epson salt to make sure that it is also fully dissolved? Do I just use 1/2 gallon of RO water to fully dissolve each component before mixing them together?
End of dumb question

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Hi Randy,

In your DYI Mag article, I want to follow your 3rd recipe. I am not clear on how properly I mix the 2 components if MAG Flakes & Epsom Salts together with the 1 gallon of RO water. Your advise is to fully dissolve the MAG & Epsom salts separately before adding them both together. What I don't understand is if I am aiming for the final mixed dosing quantity to be 1 gallon, what initial quantity of RO water do I first add alone with the 7-1/4 cups to make sure that it is fully dissolved and what quantity of RO water do I add with the 3/4 cups of Epson salt to make sure that it is also fully dissolved? Do I just use 1/2 gallon of RO water to fully dissolve each component before mixing them together?
End of dumb question

The rationale for dissolving them separately is to know that they fully dissolved. It's not a critical step, but when mixed there may be some precipitate (calcum sulfate) which isn't present in either one alone. That is fine. If you just try to dissolve them together, you may have precipitate and you won't know whether it is that calcium sulfate, or possibly something else, which possibly might not be so benign.

Anyway, its not critical, but an fraction of the water that you can dissolve them in is fine.

 

[Rst]

I was able to fully dissolve the MAG flakes in only 1 litre of RO water which totally surprised me. I didn't expect what seemed like a large amount of MAG to dissolve in such a small amount of water. Similarly 3/4 cup of Epsom salts also was fully dissolved in only 1 litre of RO water. Although it does seem that the Epsom salts are dissolved more slowly and are perhaps are some what less soluble than the MAG flakes which dissolved a lot quicker.

So now I am going to join the 2 solutions together making only 2 litres in total. This suites me fine since I would like the combined mag+Epsom solution to be as concentrated as possible.

Thank you Randy

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I was able to fully dissolve the MAG flakes in only 1 litre of RO water which totally surprised me. I didn't expect what seemed like a large amount of MAG to dissolve in such a small amount of water. Similarly 3/4 cup of Epsom salts also was fully dissolved in only 1 litre of RO water. Although it does seem that the Epsom salts are dissolved more slowly and are perhaps are some what less soluble than the MAG flakes which dissolved a lot quicker.

So now I am going to join the 2 solutions together making only 2 litres in total. This suites me fine since I would like the combined mag+Epsom solution to be as concentrated as possible.

Thank you Randy

That sounds fine.

 

[Rst]

Thanks!

That sounds fine.

After mixing the 2 together, it has resulted in a strong milky solution with a substantial coating of a creamy precipitate as you did already explain.
I can easily pour (into the sump) the top dissolved liquid part and leave a lot of the solids remain on the bottom of the container. Do you think it’s better to pour it this way or just ignore the precipitate and pour it in the sump all together with the solids?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Thanks!

After mixing the 2 together, it has resulted in a strong milky solution with a substantial coating of a creamy precipitate as you did already explain.
I can easily pour (into the sump) the top dissolved liquid part and leave a lot of the solids remain on the bottom of the container. Do you think it’s better to pour it this way or just ignore the precipitate and pour it in the sump all together with the solids?

I don't think it matters. If you can add the preciptiate without undissolved particles landing on delicate organisms, that may be a tiny bit better.

 

[Rst]

I don't think it matters. If you can add the preciptiate without undissolved particles landing on delicate organisms, that may be a tiny bit better.

Ok thanks. For the benefit of anyone else who wants to try this method, it appears that my approximate 3 litre 3”x8”x8”high container now has a substantial 1.5” thick creamy sledge of solids on the bottom. Again I had no idea this much precipitation would occur. I thick I am going to pour the clear liquid only into the sump.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Ok thanks. For the benefit of anyone else who wants to try this method, it appears that my approximate 3 litre 3”x8”x8”high container now has a substantial 1.5” thick creamy sledge of solids on the bottom. Again I had no idea this much precipitation would occur. I thick I am going to pour the clear liquid only into the sump.

I'm surprised it is that much. The calcium impurity in the magnesium chloride may have been unusually high in yours, or maybe you added calcium chloride by mistake. lol

 

[vandanner]

Hi Randy, quick question on your recipe.
Let’s say I need to add 1gallon of calcium (just for example purposes) as an adjustment to increase levels. Does this mean I’ll have to add 610ml of magnesium

or do adjustments not count towards the magnesium point. Thanks for all your threads!

@Randy Holmes-Farley

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Hi Randy, quick question on your recipe.
Let’s say I need to add 1gallon of calcium (just for example purposes) as an adjustment to increase levels. Does this mean I’ll have to add 610ml of magnesium

or do adjustments not count towards the magnesium point. Thanks for all your threads!

@Randy Holmes-Farley

If you are measuring magnesium and it is OK, but are making a calcium correction, I would not add the corresponding amount of magnesium.

if you are not measuring magnesium, so do not know if it is OK, I'd add the proportional amount of magnesium (610 mL for each gallon of tth calcium part used).

 

[Rst]

I'm surprised it is that much. The calcium impurity in the magnesium chloride may have been unusually high in yours, or maybe you added calcium chloride by mistake. lol

I am just as surprised. I have no idea where calcium chloride would come from. The container definitely only had 7-1/4 cups of MAG(R trade mark) completely dissolved in 1 litre of distilled water, then in a separate container took 3/4 cup of USP epsom salt completely dissolved in 1 litre of distilled water, then poured each into the final separate container. All containers were thoroughly cleaned before hand.
Maybe someone else using this recipe can chime in here?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I am just as surprised. I have no idea where calcium chloride would come from. The container definitely only had 7-1/4 cups of MAG(R trade mark) completely dissolved in 1 litre of distilled water, then in a separate container took 3/4 cup of USP epsom salt completely dissolved in 1 litre of distilled water, then poured each into the final separate container. All containers were thoroughly cleaned before hand.
Maybe someone else using this recipe can chime in here?

Many people have used the recipe, with a bit of precipitation. I've not seen anyone report a large amount.