Which Magnesium recipe should I use whilst already dosing All-For-Reef?

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Hi all,

I am wondering which Magnesium recipe is best to use if I am already dosing All-For-Reef? I just need a little boost to get it where I want it.

Would any of the recipes react with anything in All-For-Reef that could cause it not to work properly?

The one I am using now suggests that 20ml per 100L will raise Magnesium by 10ppm. My Magnesium is not going up though.
 

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Hi all,

I am wondering which Magnesium recipe is best to use if I am already dosing All-For-Reef? I just need a little boost to get it where I want it.

Would any of the recipes react with anything in All-For-Reef that could cause it not to work properly?

The one I am using now suggests that 20ml per 100L will raise Magnesium by 10ppm. My Magnesium is not going up though.
1. maybe your corals are sucking up the magnesium 10ppm/day, so try dosing it 20ppm/day
2. or try add your magnesium after an hour or more after you add your all for reef, because it may be precipitating.

I could be wrong hehe
 
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1. maybe your corals are sucking up the magnesium 10ppm/day, so try dosing it 20ppm/day
2. or try add your magnesium after an hour or more after you add your all for reef, because it may be precipitating.

I could be wrong hehe

Yeh I doubt my corals are using 10ppm a day. All-For-Reef should keep it pretty close in line with calcium and alkalinity. I didn't bump Mag up before I started All-For-Reef as it was around 1300. It's got down to about 1260 somehow so want to bump it up 100ppm
 

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What test are you using for your magnesium levels? It could be inaccurate to the point your trying to chase a number that isn't even real?

Your magnesium might actually be where you want it now but your test is not reflecting it?
 
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What test are you using for your magnesium levels? It could be inaccurate to the point your trying to chase a number that isn't even real?

Your magnesium might actually be where you want it now but your test is not reflecting it?

I'm using Salifert for Mag. Multiple tests have came back pretty close to the same level. How far out could Salifert be? I'm trying to up it to around 1350-1380. Not really chasing an exact number just don't want it to get much lower than it is now so was going to slowly bring it up a bit
 

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I'm using Salifert for Mag. Multiple tests have came back pretty close to the same level. How far out could Salifert be? I'm trying to up it to around 1350-1380. Not really chasing an exact number just don't want it to get much lower than it is now so was going to slowly bring it up a bit
I've not used the salifert test in the last 15 years, but every magnesium test I have done has never been exactly repeatable and just tells me that it is not something that can be accurately tested for at home. I don't think I actually care about my magnesium levels except when trying to get more coraline algae growth as appropriate levels are generally maintained by ballanced dosing.

What product are you using at the moment that you have dosed but not been able to register on your test?
 
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I've not used the salifert test in the last 15 years, but every magnesium test I have done has never been exactly repeatable and just tells me that it is not something that can be accurately tested for at home. I don't think I actually care about my magnesium levels except when trying to get more coraline algae growth as appropriate levels are generally maintained by ballanced dosing.

What product are you using at the moment that you have dosed but not been able to register on your test?

It's one of Randy's Recipes but I'm not sure which one, I'm guessing it's the one to go with 2 part but I'll have to ask. My LFS makes them, I got it from them. I've used the Alk and Cal before and they dosed accurately as described.
 

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Hi all,

I am wondering which Magnesium recipe is best to use if I am already dosing All-For-Reef? I just need a little boost to get it where I want it.

Would any of the recipes react with anything in All-For-Reef that could cause it not to work properly?

The one I am using now suggests that 20ml per 100L will raise Magnesium by 10ppm. My Magnesium is not going up though.

Assuming you are performing regular water changes and using AFR to maintain Alkalinity there should be no need to supplement Magnesium.

It is most likely that you are seeing a test error and that yourMg level is perfectly fine.

If you wish to really check, you should send away an ICP test before making any adjustments.

If your level is truly low, simply use food grade Magnesium Chloride to increase the level.
 
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Assuming you are performing regular water changes and using AFR to maintain Alkalinity there should be no need to supplement Magnesium.

It is most likely that you are seeing a test error and that yourMg level is perfectly fine.

If you wish to really check, you should send away an ICP test before making any adjustments.

If your level is truly low, simply use food grade Magnesium Chloride to increase the level.

Cheers for the advice. It's strange that multiple tests are around the same level, unless I'm doing every test wrong maybe.

I am maintaining Alk with All-For-Reef and doing water changes. I also dosed Calcium up a bit before I started All-For-Reef, and it has also dropped a bit but not a lot so haven't worried about dosing it.
 

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Cheers for the advice. It's strange that multiple tests are around the same level, unless I'm doing every test wrong maybe.

I am maintaining Alk with All-For-Reef and doing water changes. I also dosed Calcium up a bit before I started All-For-Reef, and it has also dropped a bit but not a lot so haven't worried about dosing it.

The thing is, hobby grade Magnesium tests are hopelessly unreliable.

You may want to read the start of this thread below.

 
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The thing is, hobby grade Magnesium tests are hopelessly unreliable.

You may want to read the start of this thread below.


Very interesting, glad I read that.

Do you think dosing calcium without dosing magnesium could have lowered it?

I'm not too stressed about it, and I'm probably due to do an ICP test soon so I'll see how that goes.
 

gbroadbridge

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Do you think dosing calcium without dosing magnesium could have lowered it?

No, the reason you add 5-10% Mg when you add Ca is simply because that is the same ratio it is used by organisms in the tank. i.e. If Ca has dropped by 20ppm then Mg will have normally dropped by 1-2ppm.

I'm not too stressed about it, and I'm probably due to do an ICP test soon so I'll see how that goes.

I honestly wouldn't worry too much about it unless you're doing an ICP for some other reason.

Enjoy!
 
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I see you said calcium seems to have dropped? AFR is a little heavy on the calcium so if anything it should be higher than when you started using AFR. I would guess test error as this is also a hard test to get right.

It's minimal, like 10-15ppm so possibly
 

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As mentioned AFR provides bit more Calcium so long term is should trend up.

If both Mg and Ca appear to trend downward, I would check salinity. If salinity goes down all ions in the water go down.

I found this to be the easiest to measure salinity:
1738669868975.jpeg


I always check salinity before doing any other measurements or any changes.

Good luck,
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

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in general, if using AFR for calcium and alk, additional magnesium using a diy recipe is best done using this recipe, although it likely doesn’t matter a lot if you use a different recipe since the amounts used will not be large.

Do-It-Yourself Magnesium Supplements for the Reef Aquarium by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

Using both Epsom salts and MAG flake, dissolve 7¼ cups MAG flake and ¾ cup Epsom salts in one gallon of water, and use that to supplement magnesium in amounts determined using this linked online calculator, with the entry "Randy's Recipes 1 and 2 Versions A and B," and ignore for this purpose what those designations mean. This recipe is preferred, but its advantage over recipe #2 is minimal in most cases.
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

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Very very slowly (almost negligible) in my case as shown above.

Yes, it is slow. How slow depends on how much of the alk demand is from coralline. More corralline equals faster calcium accumulation because it uses less calcium per alk than do most hard corals because it incorporates more magnesium. :)

In my tank, using kalk with the same ratio of alk to calcium as AFR, using about 1% daily water changes with normal IO, calcium stabilized around 472 ppm, well above the salt mix used, but not any concern. :)
 

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