Magnesium dosing

[arthurk0722]

So I've had a recent problem with bryopsis and I was told to get the Kent M Magnesium supplement to dose into my tank and to raise Mg levels to kill of the bryopsis. I bought the 16 fl. oz. bottle of Kent M. I've been dosing at night about 40 ml a night. I've been dosing for about a week and have seen 0 change when I check my Mg levels. It's constantly at the 1200 mark (using a salifert test kit). My calcium level is 400 and alk is 8dkh. I have a 29 biocube with about 20-23 gallons water. Any idea why the Mg level isn't increasing? When is Mg supposed to be dosed? at night? during day? morning? I don't have a doser, i manually measure it and pour it in.

Any idea?

 

[BioMan]

I've heard that the latest batches of Kent Tech M does not contain the mystery snake oil that was battling bryopsis.
Also, when I had a bryopsis problem way back when, I simply dumped the whole bottle in because I never heard of anything bad happening from a Mag spike. Find the calculator here to tell you how much you need to raise those levels up to 1700

 

[Boomer]

As I said earlier it does not work for everybody and we don't know why. In regards to Bio's remark there could have been a change in it, don't know.

 

[Lenny718]

Brightwell makes a new magnisium product specificity for raising mg to high levels to battle the algae, it's supposed to be super concentrated so you dose far less to get high levels. I've never used it personally, I use there regular mag but it is on the pop corals website.

 

[greg 45]

Lenny never hear of concentrated mag solution . I have switched all my additive over to MECorals by Marc Esque****. He can prove the products are pure and mix up clear. Look at his web sight .

 

[Lenny718]

Yea I've never tried it personally but this is the product I was talking about http://www.popcorals.com/shop/produ...ium-salt-sol-n-for-marine-aquaria-500-ml.html again I've never used it so can't comment on the results.

 

[salpet]

in order to kill off the bryopsis you must raise the level to 1600 to 1800 i use to dose mine in the morning but i think it doesn't matter when you dose it.but i could be wrong on when to dose good luck, its pain in the a-- to get rid of it

 

[arnaldolex]

hey buddy, I have never had to buy store products to raise mag cal or alk heres what I use. question mark showed me this prob ten years ago and ive been doing it and showing people and they love it. for
cal I use pedalow
alk baking soda
mag Epsom salt
go on google and type reef calculator go onto the first option then you will c 4 tabs on the bottom top left is traditional type in how many gallons you have and then to to mag cal or alk put where your levels r where u wanna be and then choose what product you wanna use this will save you hundreds a year.

 

[Boomer]

I see allot of marketing hype claimed here, as usual, in this hobby.


Ingredients: Pharmaceutical grade USP Calcium Chloride Dihydrate Powder

That is not the highest grade, ACS is and above that is Ultra-Pure.

High concentration claims by anyone. Almost all are using a hydrated Calcium chloride. By volume or by weight Anhydrous is the most concentrated as it is unhydrated. Meaning, the crystal lattice has no water locked up in it. Hydrated forms mix up clearer has they have water, which dilutes them and the highest hydrated form is less exothermic allowing more clear mix.

MgCl2- No water Anhydrous
MgCl2-2H2O, about 1/3 water by weight Dihydrated, meaning 2 water
MglC2-6H20 about 1/2 water by weight. Hexahydrate, meaning 6 water

Any of these can be more or less concentrated, it depends on how much they put of any in the bottle of solution. Powered forms will be more concentrated as they are not in a solution. And the smaller grain size of any grade are more concentrated by vol. of dry material. When dealing with dry material by weight they are the same. Highly concentrated forms need to be added slower and a slightly lower water mixing temp is better, to reduce clouding, which is precipitation. Purity is only a claim unless you have a assay data sheet. Some salts, like Mag- Chloride are ALL the same grade, such as ACS or Ultra- Pure, as it is economical cheaper to make it that way, rather than to purify it in different chemical purity steps. What changes the grade often is just a test for a grade and often the handling and packaging. And usually they are not going to tell you their processing, whether it is all ACS or actually done in purification steps.

 

[Boomer]

Go to my main home chemistry page here. There is a Sticky to all the calculators you could or couldn't imagine. Jose Reef Chemistry Calculator is close to the bottom of the thread.

 

[Boomer]

Here

http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/chemistry/

 

[greg 45]

Boomer are you stating there are no impurities in mag flake / pedlo / products. I am not a chemist by any means

 

[arthurk0722]

Go to my main home chemistry page here. There is a Sticky to all the calculators you could or couldn't imagine. Jose Reef Chemistry Calculator is nest the bottom of the thread.

Thanks i will take a look. However my question wasn't really about how much to dose. I dosed an entire 16 fl oz bottle and the Mg level didnt even increase. Is there a reason why that could've happened? At what time of day is dosing Mg recommended or does it not make a difference?

 

[Boomer]

No, I am not Greg. I was looking for some mag for a public aquarium that was going to make their own seawater salt mix. This was like 5 years ago, don't remember the name of the company. I was talking to the sales rep about grades, he didn't sound to bright. So, I asked to talk to the head chemist, who was a girl. She said pay no attention to the rep, which really surprised me. She even offer me a free behind the scenes tour of the plant. It was her that told me that is what they do, one grade only. Goes like this:

Hopper holds say enough for 100 " bags"

Take sample and test for ACS Grade, it passes test, fill 20 bags
Take sample and test USP Grade, it passes test, fill 20 bags.
Take sample and test Technical Grade, it passes, fill 20 bags.
No test required. Call it " Street Grade " , fill 20 bags

All of it came from the same hopper.


I will assume if this plant does it others must also but have no clue who does and who doesn't. This Plant was out East, my head says something like North Carolina or Kentucky

And being I like to be honest, so, it may have been a Magnesium sulfate plant. I was looking at a lot of places for the major components of seawater mixes. But whether it was a mag- chloride plant or mag- sulfate plant shouldn't make any difference I would think. I will add I mentioned this to Randy Holmes Farely and and Craig Bingman and both said interesting and makes sense.

 

[Boomer]

Arthur yes. As there is so much water in most of thes mag sups you need to use lots to get up the magnesium and many look at it wrong and think why so much, doesn't happen with calcium. Well, you are usually raising the Mg++ up allot more than you are Ca++ usually.

Dosing makes no difference for these, what ever suits you. I would do it in the late evening, when lights out, that way in the morning they will be use to the increase. Anything time that pisses them off the least.

And if you added it to fast it will leave solution as Mg (OH)2, that cloud in the water. Did you check your Alk to see if it dropped

 

[Boomer]

How much was that bottle suppose to raise the Mg++ and how fast did you add it and exactly where did you add it?