Calcium vs Mag?!

[CrAzY cOrAlS]

Ok so the last week or so i have been trying to get my mag up and have not been able to do so. I have been using ions to raise mag , but again have not been able to, i went to a lfs today and they said its due to my calcium being so high its about in the 500 to 550 range he said to lower my calcium in order for me to raise my mag. makes sense? any help would be great thanks everyone!

 

[AlohaTropics]

Absolutely. Its all about Ionic Balance. The water cannot ionically handle Magnesium at high levels as well as Calcium. There is a saturation point of ions. This is why you get precipitation of ions when things aren't ionically balanced.

Here is the bible to understanding the relationship between Ca, Mg, Alk & pH

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-06/rhf/index.php

 

[naples]

whats your water volume

 

[CrAzY cOrAlS]

285 gallons

 

[CrAzY cOrAlS]

so should i drop my calcium?

 

[AlohaTropics]

Yes. If you keep your Calcium at 400-450 you should have no problems getting your Mg levels over 1300ppm given your pH stays around 8.0 - 8.2. What is your pH and dkh levels at? I'm guessing your pH is on the lower side or else it would be very difficult to maintain Ca so high.


Sent from my iPhone using Reefs

 

[Chris Jury]

What are you using to raise Mg concentration and how much have you added? Is 285 gallons the total system volume? What is the current Mg concentration?

While it can be difficult to maintain high calcium when the Mg is low (because the Ca precipitates out abiotically as CaCO3, and probably mostly as calcite) the reverse isn't necessarily so. In other words, high or low calcium concentration doesn't particularly impact magnesium concentration, especially at near seawater concentrations. It takes a lot of Mg supplement to raise concentrations much though--my guess is that you just need to add a lot more than you have, hence the questions above. As a side note, calcium in the range of 500-550 ppm is on the high side, and it might not be a bad idea to let it drop by ~50-100 ppm for other reasons.

Chris

 

[naples]

what salt are you using?

it has been one month with dosing and no water change
i use oceanic salt and calium is 500 my kh is 9 ph is 8.5 and my mag is about 1500 also the salinity 1.025 i dont dose and everything looks great.

 

[House of Laughter]

Is this a newly established tank or established over 6 months?

House

285 gallons