Red Sea Reef Foundation / 2-Part Question

[jabell]

I have been doing 5% weekly water changes as instructed by the Red Sea reef mature pro kit.

 

[esolo16]

Revitalizing an old thread here. I figured I'd throw Red Sea Foundation C (Magnesium) into the mix. I understand there is roughly a 2.8:1 ratio for Alk and Calc, but I would like to know if anyone knows the rough ratio between Mag and the other two. Is it 1:1 with alkalinity or something different? I just started using Red Sea foundation the other day so am not sure what my measurements are yet for magnesium.

 

[Rob Lion]

sadly there isn't, the only way is to test for Mg and dose accordingly. Your system will use very little Mg, so don't dose if you can't test for it, or you will very quickly have too much Mg in your system.

 

[dbl]

sadly there isn't, the only way is to test for Mg and dose accordingly. Your system will use very little Mg, so don't dose if you can't test for it, or you will very quickly have too much Mg in your system.

+1. What I found is when I was doing regular weekly water changes, I didn't have to dose the Mg part at all. Obviously will depend on your salt preference (I was using RS Coral Pro).

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

If you use a three part and add the magnesium in the specified amount, it will not raise magnesium levels, but keep them where they are, and prevent other sorts of imbalances, such as the sulfate to chloride ratio. No need to measure magnesium, IMO.

Folks using two parts such as B-ionic are adding the same amount of magnesium, and just do not see it so obviously. :)