Magnesium dosing

[Jarrett]

So i have been trying to get my magnesium up to 1300 and i am having a hard time. i figured out this is the problem with my reef tank since all my levels are relatively in check. my problem now is i just cant get my mag to go past 1190. i started out light and dosed 30 ml a day for a couple days. and now i am dosing 80 ml a day 40 in the morning and 40 at night. and i still havent seen a rise. brandy has been helping me out alot but i figured id try and get some feed back from everyone as well. do you guys think i should up my dosage. the recommended dosage is about 105 ml since i have a 75 gallon tank with 20 gallon sump. so i did it by 70 gallons. i feel like thats so much to dose in one day. will i harm anything by dosing that much? sorry for the long post guys.

 

[MatthewScars]

Id try another test kit.

 

[Jarrett]

the test kit is brand new jsut bought it a week ago. expires a year from now as well

 

[Jim]

Id try another test kit.

+1 I was over dosing my mag because my test kit was wrong

 

[Awibrandy]

Jarrett, did you test with both test kits(new one you just purchased & the old one)just for comparison sake. Just to prove that it is not the test kit. Which I don't think it is. You did bring the mag up from 920 to it's current 1190. How many days has it been that you started dosing? You have raised the mag by 270 ppm so far, and remember slowly is way better for your animals then an over night jump.

 

[Jarrett]

nope i havent double checked that. i will do that when i got home. i forgot i had that test kit haha. and yea that is true i forgot my first reading was 920 on the older test kit. i dosed 80 ml today so when i get home i should deff get an increased reading when i test right? if i dont somethings up. or would 80 ml not raise my mag enough to where it would show up on my test kit tonight.

 

[prattreef]

It takes a surprising amount of Mg. additive to raise levels significantly, but I'd double check the kit to be sure.

 

[Jarrett]

ok but dont you think after dosing 80 ml i would see atleast some what of an increase from 1190? and i am going to test with both my kits when i get home.

 

[NewfiDog]

I would double check it. I had a bad calcium kit not to long ago when i got a new one i had overdosed the calcium. Sounds like alot of mag i have to dose very little mag its the alk that gets used up like mad by me.

 

[Awibrandy]

OK guys, he is now using a new test kit after using a kit that another reefer gave him. When test were compared side by side he got the same # from both kits. I don't think it's his kit..
Jarrett's mag was extremely low "920", and he has been working on raising it to 1330. I told him to do this slowly. He has been dosing mag supplement since 1/22 or 23/2012. So about 4 or 5 days. The mag level has been risen from 920 to their current 1190. Correct me if I am wrong but I consider this to be going in the right direction.

I told him to bring the mag up slowly as to not shock any of his animals. I don't like doing anything to fast especially where reefs are concerned.

 

[skene]

Yeah that's a whole lot of fast way too quickly.

 

[Jarrett]

you think 80 ml a day. where i am at now from starting at 30 ml is to fast skene?

 

[skene]

If you aren't doing constant water changes and just over a span of 5 days.. Where you are at now you should be slowly dosing the tank and it should be done over weeks. Not try to get to an end result in less than a weeks time.
I hope you are also watching Ca and Kh.

 

[Widdy]

Try not to raise Mg more the 100ppm/day.

 

[CoralMeister]

Does anyone dose Tech-M Magnesium made by Kent? I actually used that to overcome my green hair algae problem a long time ago. Besides that, anyone seen results in regards to coral growth and/or color?

 

[MatthewScars]

Why is it so low though? Ive always had stable mag, so im not an expert (OMG WHAT?).

What salt are you using? I could suggest maybe making a higher salinity like 1.028 for the added boost in MAG. Assuming you are running 1.025-6 and the 30g WC wont up it that much.

Just throwing out ideas. I had the opposite issue of having my mag at 1800 with Reef Crystals.

CM: Nah, I use the powder MAG from a ESV salt kit.

 

[rambler67]

most mag supplement take alot to raise it. Witch one are you using? what does the bottle say? you said recommended dosage was 105ml but it should say how much it should go up from that. i used the esv it said recommended dosage was 120ml and it raised it like 20ppm.