Dosing magnesium and baking soda...

[Tonyscoots84]

hey guys... im going to start dosing magnesium with epsom salt. my magnesium and alk was ok when i got it tested at the lfs... i want to raise it a little higher so what im going to do is use the epsom salt to raise the magnesium a little bit and use arm and hammer pure baking soda for the alk... here are the pics of both i just want to make sure there ok to use...

and by the way that sodium chloride flake is not available anywhere.... for calcium...

 

[jackson6745]

Tony don't make me beat you

Buy testkits (salifert are great) and test your cal, alk, and mag YOURSELF, before you dose anything. Most LFS's use cheap testkits that aren't very accurate and besides, these levels fluctuate rapidly.

 

[DevIouS]

Should of asked this yesterday.......Mr. Chatterbox!
:lol:

I have no idea on the Epsom salt & baking soda crap, but I would defintley invest on some quality test kits.

 

[Tonyscoots84]

yea i nooooo... rich im to poor after the swap.. lmao.. u gotta see my tank its got sps everywhere...... lmao.. i still want a couple of more frags... but yea i will buy the good expensive test kits but is this good enough to use...

 

[Tonyscoots84]

my calcium(tested myself) is at 500 so i wouldnt need the calcium chloride at the moment.. alk (tested myself) is at 7 i think 11 is were i want it to be... and magnesium i forget wat he said but it was ok..

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

Epsom salt is used as a laxative LOL don't think you should just throw that in your tank w/o testing with a very good test kit. If you do your tank could be full of cr@p. Literally. :joke:

 

[Tonyscoots84]

chief wat do u think they use when they dose the 2 part with magnesium....

epsom salt is magnesium..... i never dose in abundance... just a little at a time but i will wait till i get the test kit...

 

[aaron23]

If you dont have test kits or anything you shouldnt be doing anything but BUYING TEST KITS............................... I myself would use magflakes or mag pellets, there was something about epsom salts that i read before its long term use i dont remember i'll check up on it again soon.

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

Sorry forgot to put the LOL's in there and the :joke: I just woke up you gotta gimme time to warm up and finish my coffee. Editing right now......................

 

[Tonyscoots84]

aaron thanks bud... i kinda heard that from like 5 people already... but i guess u gotta get ur posts up somehow.... lmaooo.. aarons new nickname= zoojuiceineyeboy.... :backtotopic

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

I wonder if a mod could change that for him and make it his new screen name? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm :lol_large:sgrin::biggrin:

 

[Deanos]

The funniest thing about this thread is that it's posted in the Advanced Reefs' forum. The 2nd funniest is Tony accusing Aaron of getting his "posts up", while Tony is the one with an old post count under his username.

But back to topic, Tony, if you're Mag and Alk tested ok, why are you intent on dosing additionally?! And like Rich, Phil, Brendan and Aaron mentioned, you need to get test kits.

 

[regal]

Epsom salt is food grade magnesium sulfate. That's what some people use. Easy to find and cheap. I got mine from rite-aid. The only concern is the extra sulfate that you are adding to the tank which can cause problems in the long run. Therefore, a lot of the commercial magnesium supplement is made of magnesium chloride, but more expensive.

 

[aaron23]

better safe than sorry. magflakes in my book #1

 

[aaron23]

but then again i remember about them talking about the weekly waterchanges to remove the sulfate so I guess no worries.

 

[masterswimmer]

Hey Tony, all the guys said it already. NEVER dose ANYTHING that you can't or don't test first and continually. If you're going to use the epsom and A & H, first invest in the test kits. You won't know to thank us at that point because your tank will NOT have crashed. But it might if you dose without checking your levels first.

R

 

[Sean]

Maybe it's me but I think if your spending thousands on your tank, then getting cheap cause you don't want to spend the extra 5-10 dollars a month on magnesium seems a little foolish to me. Buy a test kit and get some real magnesium like from ESV or something. This thread seem foolish to me.

 

[jackson6745]

Maybe it's me but I think if your spending thousands on your tank, then getting cheap cause you don't want to spend the extra 5-10 dollars a month on magnesium seems a little foolish to me. Buy a test kit and get some real magnesium like from ESV or something. This thread seem foolish to me.

Sean, if you're dosing 3-part Mag flakes (mag), dow flakes(CA), and baking soda(KH), it is basically EVS products only like 100x cheaper. On a stocked system, using these home products will save you big $$ and you will see no differences between the home mixture and ESV.

Check Randy's 2 part on reefcentral.

 

[spykes]

sodium bicarbonate to sodium carbonate at 300 degrees
there is a test on the purity of dowflakes, i dont think there is another chemical company bigger then dow. Yes i think kents and other companies dont manufacturer their own chemicals. Just simply something like MGCL + MG So4 is good enough as a additive. Seriously i been using this crap for over 3 months and i have two other people using this stuff at the same time, it's great. ESV is not big enough to mine thier own source of CaCL. All they do is dilute stuff.

 

[Astoria]

Tony, if you need some Mag Flakes

I have a 50 pound bag.:shhh:
Just tell me how many pounds do you want?:grouphug:
Thanks
Gary