Red Sea Blue bucket and magnesium

[rueric]

Hi all,

I've been using red sea blue bucket for a few months now, and am wanting to bring the magnesium levels of my tank up.
The 35ppt mixed salt produces a magnesium level of ~1280 but I want a magnesium level of about 1350-1400.

My thinking is I should bring up my display tank's mag (<100 per day) to get it to the ideal levels..

Few questions I have on my mind..
For other folks using Blue Bucket, what do you do about this?
Once my tank is up to my preferred range, should I just add the magnesium directly to my mixed batch of salt water before doing my water changes? or just dose it back up after my water change?
What is everyone's preferred mag supplement now? Based on the BRS video that I saw, either the BRS Pharma grade ones are good or the Brightwell one is good.
For the cost, I'm leaning towards the BRS Pharma ones, but there are two options, the General Adjustments or the 2-Part Maintenance, which one should I pick up?

Thanks!

-E

 

[elcapitan1993]

I slowly raised magnesium and now when mixing fresh saltwater I add in x/ml of ESV magnesium to bring the water up to desired levels so my tank dosent drop from the low magnesium, I find that this way is very easy and the liquid magnesium mixes faster than the powder, don’t use the brightwell I had a tainted batch and it killed my corals

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

1280 ppm Mg matches 35 ppt seawater and is perfectly fine, IMO. There's no reason one needs to raise it.

But if you want to, the reason to spread out dosing (IMO) is more for impurities in the products used, rather than magnesium itself. I'd boost it 25-50 ppm Mg per day, if you choose to.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

For the cost, I'm leaning towards the BRS Pharma ones, but there are two options, the General Adjustments or the 2-Part Maintenance, which one should I pick up?

General adjustments. I designed it for the purpose you are encountering. The other is high in sulfate to offset the chloride in calcium chloride when using a two part.

 

[rueric]

Thank you!!

 

[ajtomase]

Hi all,

I've been using red sea blue bucket for a few months now, and am wanting to bring the magnesium levels of my tank up.
The 35ppt mixed salt produces a magnesium level of ~1280 but I want a magnesium level of about 1350-1400.

My thinking is I should bring up my display tank's mag (<100 per day) to get it to the ideal levels..

Few questions I have on my mind..
For other folks using Blue Bucket, what do you do about this?
Once my tank is up to my preferred range, should I just add the magnesium directly to my mixed batch of salt water before doing my water changes? or just dose it back up after my water change?
What is everyone's preferred mag supplement now? Based on the BRS video that I saw, either the BRS Pharma grade ones are good or the Brightwell one is good.
For the cost, I'm leaning towards the BRS Pharma ones, but there are two options, the General Adjustments or the 2-Part Maintenance, which one should I pick up?

Thanks!

-E

How are you liking Red Sea blue bucket? I'm thinking of switching to it. Do you mix to 1.025 or 1.026? How much salt do you add per gallon (is it 1/2 cup per gallon, or more)? How long do you mix it for (the 2 hours the recommend, or do you mix it longer)?

 

[cybrook1421]

@ajtomase Not the OP but found this thread because I had the same question. I like the blue bucket. Tried to do a 50/50 with the black bucket, but had too much brown crud in my mixing bin to be worth it. I mix to 1.025 and use really close to 1 cup per 2 gallons of water. I store my salt so it mixes however long it is in there for. I have a powerhead and a heater in there.

@Randy Holmes-Farley I am in the same situation as the OP, but also dose BRS Soda Ash to get the dKH to about 9.2 and Calcium Chloride to get the calc level to about 425. I dose all of the mag, alk and calc liquids into my brute storage bin that I use for manual and auto water changes. In this scenario, is the general adjustment mag mix still preferable since I am not dosing daily?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

You mix all your additives into new salt water for water changes? That plan has high high potential to precipitate calcium carbonate in the Brute.

 

[cybrook1421]

You mix all your additives into new salt water for water changes? That plan has high high potential to precipitate calcium carbonate in the Brute.

Yes, this was my plan. Only been doing it for one "fill" of the brute. I let the saltwater mix overnight, made sure of the salinity, then tested and dosed magnesium. Let that mix for about an hour. Tested calc, dosed and let mix for 30 mins. Then tested all, dosed and let mix for another 30. Won't use the water until tomorrow and for autowater change system I am calibrating this week.

Should I change my course of action. My thinking was that red sea blue matches closest to the parameters I want and I was just going to dose a little to get it to where I want to be. My DT isn't stocked enough to require dosing more than water changes right now.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Yes, this was my plan. Only been doing it for one "fill" of the brute. I let the saltwater mix overnight, made sure of the salinity, then tested and dosed magnesium. Let that mix for about an hour. Tested calc, dosed and let mix for 30 mins. Then tested all, dosed and let mix for another 30. Won't use the water until tomorrow and for autowater change system I am calibrating this week.

Should I change my course of action. My thinking was that red sea blue matches closest to the parameters I want and I was just going to dose a little to get it to where I want to be. My DT isn't stocked enough to require dosing more than water changes right now.

I would proceed to watch for precipitate on the bottom of the mixing barrel, and calculate how high the alk is getting in the new salt water. High alk mixes often have substantial precipitate, and you may be way higher than any salt mix.