Magnesium

[Davesreef’s]

Hey all my parameters look solid besides my magnesium it just came back at 1050…
Alk 8.2
Nitrate: 5.2
Phosphate: .08
Currently dosing 3ml ammonium bicarbonate per day to maintain nitrate as well as 4ml of ALL FOR REEF every 3 days. Any recommendations for my magnesium?

 

[rishma]

Hey all my parameters look solid besides my magnesium it just came back at 1050…
Alk 8.2
Nitrate: 5.2
Phosphate: .08
Currently dosing 3ml ammonium bicarbonate per day to maintain nitrate as well as 4ml of ALL FOR REEF every 3 days. Any recommendations for my magnesium?

At home test? If so, it’s likely test error. You should double check salinity too.

AFR provides magnesium. It’s possible that your tank consumes more magnesium than AFR provides, but it will be a small difference and would not get that low. Most people do not need to supplement magnesium while using AFR if they are also doing water changes with a decent salt.

Magnesium test error is so common many of us do not test at home.

 

[Uncle99]

Hey all my parameters look solid besides my magnesium it just came back at 1050…
Alk 8.2
Nitrate: 5.2
Phosphate: .08
Currently dosing 3ml ammonium bicarbonate per day to maintain nitrate as well as 4ml of ALL FOR REEF every 3 days. Any recommendations for my magnesium?

Naw, the test is simply wrong.
What kit? A few are simply useless as the variations are wide.

But it’s ok to boost MG anyways, it likely in the ballpark of 1/5 to 1/6th of your CA consumption.

 

[kevgib67]

Mine was running low and I was worried it was a testing error so I checked my box of Fritz RPM and it said it mixes to 1350. So I mixed up a fresh batch of saltwater and tested it and sure enough it was 1350. So I did start dosing but it’s needed less often.

 

[Davesreef’s]

Hey all my parameters look solid besides my magnesium it just came back at 1050…
Alk 8.2
Nitrate: 5.2
Phosphate: .08
Currently dosing 3ml ammonium bicarbonate per day to maintain nitrate as well as 4ml of ALL FOR REEF every 3 days. Any recommendations for my magnesium?

Naw, the test is simply wrong.
What kit? A few are simply useless as the variations are wide.

But it’s ok to boost MG anyways, it likely in the ballpark of 1/5 to 1/6th of your CA consumption.

Hanna checker…it’s been coming back around 1250 and then just gave me 1050 and I’ve been confused since

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Hanna checker…it’s been coming back around 1250 and then just gave me 1050 and I’ve been confused since

Unless you suddenly dropped salinity a lot, magnesium cannot suddenly drop 200 ppm. Real consumption is more like 1 ppm per day, and is never more than about 1/10th of the calcium consumption rate.

 

[Uncle99]

Hanna checker…it’s been coming back around 1250 and then just gave me 1050 and I’ve been confused since

That checker did the same on me, very unreliable with wide fluxes in results. Now mine sits on the self.

The standard Salifert or Aquaforest give better results. It’s easy to see the colour change from pink to blue, so the Hanna checker has not much value anyways.

For me, MG is simply 1/6th of CA to maintain 1365 to 1440ppm, but that’s just my mix.