Water change or not.

[TannerManno]

My alk is at 12.0
Calcium and 540
Magnesium so high it dosnt register on my Red Sea test kit. So maybe 1700 ish.
Should I do a water change to bring my calcium and mag down or should I let it come down on it’s own? All fish and coral are acting fine. Everything is opened up.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

What salt mix?

What salinity?

The magnesium is likely a test error.

 

[TannerManno]

What salt mix?

What salinity?

The magnesium is likely a test error.

Salinity .025 fritz red salt mix I think the name is

 

[TannerManno]

What salt mix?

What salinity?

The magnesium is likely a test error.

The reason the mag is so high. Is because I’m new to testing with the Red Sea testers so I read it wrong and dosed my tank with mag last night. When I really didn’t need to, now that have I have researched it better.

 

[Oldreefer44]

If it were me, yes I would do a water change if you are sure your readings are correct. I think you could probably ride it out if your tests show a significant daily improvement. Of course the main concern would be how it got there in the first place and correcting that.

 

[TannerManno]

If it were me, yes I would do a water change if you are sure your readings are correct. I think you could probably ride it out if your tests show a significant daily improvement. Of course the main concern would be how it got there in the first place and correcting that.

Yeah I read my test wrong in the beginning and dosed my tank with mag.

 

[GillMeister]

My alk is at 12.0
Calcium and 540
Magnesium so high it dosnt register on my Red Sea test kit. So maybe 1700 ish.
Should I do a water change to bring my calcium and mag down or should I let it come down on it’s own? All fish and coral are acting fine. Everything is opened up.

Those are all high. Don't trust your Mg results with that test kit. Mine gives me the same results. I'd take a sample of your water in for testing at your LFS to make sure. DO NOT do a water change without knowing what your baseline is. You could stress your tank if the new water is different.

I made a similar mistake early on so I'm speaking from experience.

 

[TannerManno]

Those are all high. Don't trust your Mg results with that test kit. Mine gives me the same results. I'd take a sample of your water in for testing at your LFS to make sure. DO NOT do a water change without knowing what your baseline is. You could stress your tank if the new water is different.

I made a similar mistake early on so I'm speaking from experience.

I have read that 12.0 alk is on the high side of being ok. I was going to let that drop down to 9 and keep it there.

 

[GillMeister]

I have read that 12.0 alk is on the high side of being ok. I was going to let that drop down to 9 and keep it there.

That's what I did as well. But do it slowly if you have any coral in the tank. Mine was at 14 due to a bad test kit so I feel your pain. Your Red Sea Pro kit is very good for alk testing. Trust that result.

 

[TannerManno]

That's what I did as well. But do it slowly if you have any coral in the tank. Mine was at 14 due to a bad test kit so I feel your pain. Your Red Sea Pro kit is very good for alk testing. Trust that result.

My alk should slowly drop day by day I would think right?

 

[GillMeister]

My alk should slowly drop day by day I would think right?

If you don't have a lot of coral or coralline it will take a long time for it to drop without water changes. If you do many small water changes over time you can get it down over a matter of months. I dropped mine from 14 to 11 with one water change and lost my two fastest growing corals.

 

[TannerManno]

If you don't have a lot of coral or coralline it will take a long time for it to drop without water changes. If you do many small water changes over time you can get it down over a matter of months. I dropped mine from 14 to 11 with one water change and lost my two fastest growing corals.

Wow I didn’t know it would take that long. I’ll just let it drop on its own slowly I have a decent amount of corals. Most are small tho. Is there any particular coral I could get that maybe draws more than others that would help it drop?

 

[GillMeister]

After I did my first big drop i just let the alk decline over the next two months. I did one water change in there where I dosed soda ash to match the alk levels. Other than the two corals I lost everything else rebounded nicely.

 

[Dburr1014]

Anything that calcifies will drop it. Personally I wouldn't add anything until it drops a little. Why stress out new corals.

I didn't mean to be snarkie in the other thread. It's I didn't want the other op to get derailed/confused with other questions. Sorry if it sounded offending.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

The reason the mag is so high. Is because I’m new to testing with the Red Sea testers so I read it wrong and dosed my tank with mag last night. When I really didn’t need to, now that have I have researched it better.

You sure?

The amount needed to boost magnesium from something like 1400 ppm to 1700 ppm is staggeringly high.

In 100 gallons, it would take 2 pounds of a typical solid dry magnesium additive!

So as folks said, unless you added bottles and bottles of additives, don't believe the result. Magnesium test error is common.

 

[TannerManno]

Anything that calcifies will drop it. Personally I wouldn't add anything until it drops a little. Why stress out new corals.

I didn't mean to be snarkie in the other thread. It's I didn't want the other op to get derailed/confused with other questions. Sorry if it sounded offending.

It’s ok. I understand where you were coming from. My tank is 150g I could do small water changes over the next few weeks to drop it slowly. I can add soda ash to put alk in the new water I put in. So it dosnt drop it so fast to be a shock.

 

[TannerManno]

You sure?

The amount needed to boost magnesium from something like 1400 ppm to 1700 ppm is staggeringly high.

In 100 gallons, it would take 2 pounds of a typical solid dry magnesium additive!

So as folks said, unless you added bottles and bottles of additives, don't believe the result. Magnesium test error is common.

I have the brs pharma additives in the 1 gallon jugs. When I used the calculator on there website. It said I needed to add like 1800ml of there additive to heft my mag to where I wanted. I thought that was crazy so I added like 200ml of there mag additive. This was before I knew what o was doing with the Red Sea test kit. I read it wrong. I didn’t really need to dose anything now that I know how to use the test. Everything in the tank is looking and acting fine. So I’m guessing the test is just false.

 

[Dburr1014]

If it were my tank... 1 or 2 Small 10% water changes, test. I feel like your alk and calcium are close in relationship but the mag is the question. I wouldn't try to chase numbers until your closer to the sweet spot where you want them.
I thought raising mag would also elevate calcium to a degree. Randy knows better than I would.

 

[TannerManno]

If it were my tank... 1 or 2 Small 10% water changes, test. I feel like your alk and calcium are close in relationship but the mag is the question. I wouldn't try to chase numbers until your closer to the sweet spot where you want them.
I thought raising mag would also elevate calcium to a degree. Randy knows better than I would.

I’ll do a water change later today. Then another one on Saturday. Then test later in the day on Saturday. And update you guys about it.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

So I’m guessing the test is just false.

Yes, that would be my conclusion as well.