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Kevin 
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 Topic: Magnesium Supplements
Posted: March 22 2004 at 4:49pm |
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Not too long ago some corals in my tank didn't look so hot and I didn't know what to do. So I started dosing more calcium and alkalinity to get them into a higher range. At the same time a LFS recommended that I dose Magnesium because mine was in the 800 range and they said this was because I had a lot of macroalgea in my tank and that macroalgea uses alot of magnesium. The magnesium was fairly cheep so I bought some and started dosing. Now, less than a month later, I am out of the magnesium and I am already seeing it drop. In the end I only got it up to about 1070 and I am told that 1200-1300 is optimal. Duing this past month of increasing the dosage on everything my corals look much better but I don't know if magnesium was a large part of that. I would like to keep my magnesium levels up to make sure my corals stay looking good but at the rate my tank depletes it I don't want to pay 7 bucks a month for a new bottle of the stuff. Is there any alternatives to buying the stuff from the fish store?
The type I was using was the SeaChem magnezium.
http://cheapcorals.com/product_info.php/products_id/77
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jfinch
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Posted: March 22 2004 at 6:25pm |
How big's your tank? The easiest (and possibly the best) way is to do a couple big water changes.
Epsom salts, from the drug store, can be used as a magnesium additive. You'll need to add a lot of salt though. Epsom is about 10% Mg, 40% SO4 (sulfate), and 50% H2O (water). Excessive use of Epsom salts could lead to elevated SO4 levels in your tank water. Is that a problem? I don't know... If you could find a cheap source of magnesium chloride (MgCl2) then you could really make a good magnesium additive.
Also, I don't think macros consume much magnesium. The LFS might have meant coralline algae, which can consume more magnesium (per calcium equivalent) then corals. But I've never had to add magnesium to my tank, apparently there is enough Mg in the food I feed to offset the tank consumption or the tank consumption is very low and water changes are keeping up.
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John Fletcher
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Posted: March 23 2004 at 10:30am |
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Kevin, I stopped by yesterday and the corals are looking better. The colors are coming out. How often do you do a water change. I do a water change every two weeks. On the week in between, I add Mag. I think with instant ocean, Mag. is added, so my levels don't drop to much. What salt are you using? Check to see if there is mag. added.
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John Fletcher
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(Tank of the Month for May 2003)Taking a little break...
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Kevin
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Posted: March 23 2004 at 11:42am |
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Currently I have been trying to to a 5 gallon water change every two weeks but ends up being every 3 weeks. I am currenly using the crystal seas salt and I am planning on mixing up a batch tonight and testing it for its magnezium content. If its magnezium levels are high(and calcium and alkalinity) then I am planning on doing a 20 gallon water change this week and maybe next week and see if that affects things. I have been wanting to do the big water change anyway just to see if it will make a difference with my montipora digitita.
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John Fletcher
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Posted: March 23 2004 at 11:50am |
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You don't want to do to big of a water change. That will stress everything out. I would stick with the smaller changes. Test the mixed water and see what the levels are at. I think it could be the salt mix, low mag. level.
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John Fletcher
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(Tank of the Month for May 2003)Taking a little break...
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Kevin
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Posted: March 23 2004 at 11:55am |
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John, would you reccommend a series of small changes(4 5 gal. changes over 2 weeks) or would you just reccommend keeping on my same water change schedule and possibly consider changing my salt (depending of if its levels are optimal or not?)
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John Fletcher
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Posted: March 23 2004 at 12:39pm |
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Keep the same schedule and change the salt mix, depending if its levels are optimal or not. I would think the leavles are low.
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John Fletcher
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Carl
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Posted: March 23 2004 at 12:53pm |
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I did a water change once. I think it was about 3-4 months ago... That was fun!
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In Syracuse
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John Fletcher
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Posted: March 23 2004 at 1:16pm |
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If your tank isn't having problems, then keep with that schedule. If problems arise then do a water change, that sometimes is the cure all. My tank and I are use to a two week water change, have been for years.
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John Fletcher
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Travis
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Posted: March 23 2004 at 2:12pm |
What salt do you use? Seems IO is light on the mag content... I use the SeaChem http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idproduct=SC1519 . It's always done good for me... along with 5g a week water change.
Edited by Travis
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: March 23 2004 at 9:13pm |
 Kevin wrote:
...a LFS recommended that I dose Magnesium because mine was in the 800 range and they said this was because I had a lot of macroalgea in my tank and that macroalgea uses alot of magnesium.
...Duing this past month of increasing the dosage on everything my corals look much better but I don't know if magnesium was a large part of that. I would like to keep my magnesium levels up to make sure my corals stay looking good |
This thread started going off on Mg and water changes without asking some other important questions.
Maybe we ought to question whether it's really Mg that is lacking for Kevin's coral?
If some general and specific information about the tank can be given, we may find ourselves going in a different direction of recomendations. It appears that John Fletcher has seen the tank. What other ideas can John or the rest of us come up with besides Mg and water changes. Did I miss reading it or do we know what size of tank Kevin has, it's age, lighting, other inhabitants, recent changes, etc.?
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Jared Wood
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Posted: March 24 2004 at 7:32am |
John wrote:
do a water change, that sometimes is the cure all |
Wait a minute! You all mean to tell me that I have been laboring under the delusion that Live Rock is the cure all when it is really sometimes water changes!
And I was really beginning to trust in the definative answers I get on this forum.
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In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth ... then He let it cycle. Have you read my dinosaur theory yet?
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Kevin
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Posted: March 24 2004 at 8:02am |
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Here is a link to the last thread where we discussed my coral problems.
http://www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1464&PN=2
Things are looking better in my tank ever since I started dosing my tank more heavily with calcium and alkalinity but my digitita corals still don't come out. Very likely it is my blenny but I don't have the time or even the desire to get him out at the moment. My main question was whether or not to keep trying to dose with magnezium to keep my levels up? My worry is that if I don't things will go back to the way they were, ie. corals don't look as good as they should. What I am planning on doing is prepareing 5 gallons of waterchange water and testing it for calcium, alkalinity, and magnezium levels. If they are low then I might just go buy a new brand of salt and try that instead. My current brand of salt is crystal seas and my local LFS apparnetly doesn't have high opinions of it so I will do the tests and if needed make the change. Thanks for everyones help.
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Adam Blundell
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Posted: March 24 2004 at 9:14am |
Jared,
Yes water changes are the cure all. However, sometimes a water change using new salt water isn't the best.
Adam
(here comes Carl to ask me what is the best...)
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jfinch
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Posted: March 24 2004 at 9:19am |
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Kevin, regardless of why or how you got low magnesium levels you're doing the right thing by bringing them back up to normal seawater levels, imo. I just think water changes are probably the safest/easiest route to take. I would be very surprised to find Crystal Seas salt to be deficient in magnesium. What is your salinity? A salinity lower then NSW (35-36 ppt) will result in low magnesium (and everything else for that matter).
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: March 24 2004 at 6:11pm |
Crystal Seas salt is not as good as some of the other more common brands. I definitely suggest changing brands (cough cough )
No really, that salt gave poor results in some peoples tanks when they changed over to it. We did a bulk order last year, perhaps that's where your came from. 
I've noticed a slight difference in my 180 using it. But since I'm using Kold-Steril for water my Mg levels are not hampered so much by poor salt.
I'll bet your tank will improve and I'll buy your leftover Crystal Seas salt, if you want to sell it to me.
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Carl
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Posted: March 24 2004 at 7:33pm |
Adam Blundell wrote:
(here comes Carl to ask me what is the best...)
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Passing on this one... 
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In Syracuse
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KeoDog
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Posted: March 25 2004 at 6:55am |
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Magnesium is the stabilizer needed to keep your calcium and alkalinity in balance. If you levels get to low you could experience difficulty maintaining cal and alk at even levels. I think it is a very good idea to raise your mag level to about 1300. I maintain mine by using epson salts like Jon said. to maintain my 72g I add about 2 tablespoons every 2 weeks and about 3-4 times that for my 300g.
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Kevin Kunz (Sandy, UT)
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Travis
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Posted: March 25 2004 at 8:08am |
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Yep, yep, yep, I went through a mag deficiency and was having a very hard time getting my calcium above 400ppm. Ever sense I have kept the mag at 1300 to 1350 and haven't had anymore problems.
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Kevin
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Posted: March 25 2004 at 11:45am |
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Quick question for John Finch, how much magnesium chloride whould I need to make a good suplement and what would be a good price when compared with the magnezium supplements I can buy from the pet store? Would it just be better to keep using the seachem magnezium?
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