Hi all, I recently started trying to make my own salt water mix and trying to nail down the chemistry..
My tanks a 25 gallon mixed reef with parameters currently at: 9.0 dkh, 380 Calcium (trying to get this back up to 440 still..), 1250 Magnesium, 0 nitrates (haven’t really cared about this one), 0.4 phosphates.
I have automatic water changes that happen every day doing 1.5% (0.4 gallons) and I am currently only dosing 4ml All For Reef daily (2ml when lights come on and another 2ml roughly half way through the light schedule).
Now I know I could just buy a salt that matches my parameters, and I also know the water change percent is too small to make a significant difference. But…
A. I plan to mix up 30 gallons at a time (which would last 2.5 months so needs to stay good for that long) hence TM Pro Reef
B. I always like to prepare for the worst and in the events something goes wrong and I need to do a larger water change, ideally I want my salt water mix to already be close to my parameters (to avoid any further stress to the livestock)
So now here’s what I’ve been thinking:
Using Tropic Marin Pro Reef and making 30 gallons at a time. I noticed it mixes to around 6.9 dkh, 435ppm calcium and 1250 magnesium. I would like to use carbo-calcium and bio magnesium to safely increase the parameters to whatever amounts are balanced at 9dkh. I read both those additives are “ionicly balanced” which is why I picked them because I want to ensure the mixture remains “balanced” so to avoid perception during mixing and so it keeps well for long term storage (2.5 months).
What do you think? Any suggestions on order of dosing / timing / temp etc? Or is this an unrealistic ask and recommend some other approach?
Thank you all in advance!!
My tanks a 25 gallon mixed reef with parameters currently at: 9.0 dkh, 380 Calcium (trying to get this back up to 440 still..), 1250 Magnesium, 0 nitrates (haven’t really cared about this one), 0.4 phosphates.
I have automatic water changes that happen every day doing 1.5% (0.4 gallons) and I am currently only dosing 4ml All For Reef daily (2ml when lights come on and another 2ml roughly half way through the light schedule).
Now I know I could just buy a salt that matches my parameters, and I also know the water change percent is too small to make a significant difference. But…
A. I plan to mix up 30 gallons at a time (which would last 2.5 months so needs to stay good for that long) hence TM Pro Reef
B. I always like to prepare for the worst and in the events something goes wrong and I need to do a larger water change, ideally I want my salt water mix to already be close to my parameters (to avoid any further stress to the livestock)
So now here’s what I’ve been thinking:
Using Tropic Marin Pro Reef and making 30 gallons at a time. I noticed it mixes to around 6.9 dkh, 435ppm calcium and 1250 magnesium. I would like to use carbo-calcium and bio magnesium to safely increase the parameters to whatever amounts are balanced at 9dkh. I read both those additives are “ionicly balanced” which is why I picked them because I want to ensure the mixture remains “balanced” so to avoid perception during mixing and so it keeps well for long term storage (2.5 months).
What do you think? Any suggestions on order of dosing / timing / temp etc? Or is this an unrealistic ask and recommend some other approach?
Thank you all in advance!!
