any cheap alternatives for magnesium supplements?

[apollothesun]

looking for cheap alternatives for magnesium sulfate and magnesium chloride. ive been ordering them through tbaquatics and i go threw there stuff pretty quickly. any suggestions and where to buy?

 

[Herefishyfishy]

Nigari can be purchased cheaply from international markets. It is Sea of Japan derived and food grade. Used overseas to coagulate soy into tofu.

http://www.oakcanopy.com/nat-mnf.html

 

[apollothesun]

do you think yajimaya has the 5lb bag?

 

[apollothesun]

okay, been reading through the chemistry forum. epsom salt i believe is magnesium sulfate. where do you buy this?

 

[apollothesun]

goggle epsom salt and i guess you can get this at riteaid. anybody know where to get like 5 to 10 lbs of this stuff cheaply?

 

[roscoe]

goggle epsom salt and i guess you can get this at riteaid. anybody know where to get like 5 to 10 lbs of this stuff cheaply?

I think I saw big bags of them at costco.

 

[apollothesun]

I think I saw big bags of them at costco.

thanks, i'll give them a try

 

[trido]

Safeway and Albertsons regularly have boxes of epsom salt on sale........

 

[tri_pod_rod]

go to your local dollar store

 

[Myteemouse]

rite aid Walgreen. most stores

 

[NC2WA]

what are you using it for? i did try epsom salt to remove HA, and it flat out did not work for me.

 

[apollothesun]

what are you using it for? i did try epsom salt to remove HA, and it flat out did not work for me.

combining both of the magnesium sulfate and the magnesium chloride helps me maintain good high alkalinity and high calcium numbers. i dose with a litermeter 3 remote module. i had spots of hair algae and since ive been dosing for almost a week they are gone. plus my coraline algae is just slammin. i notice too the sps get a deeper pop color. just gotto watch the salinity. anyways i skim wet and change water every end of the week.

 

[apollothesun]

what are you using it for? i did try epsom salt to remove HA, and it flat out did not work for me.

combining both of the magnesium sulfate and the magnesium chloride helps me maintain good stable high alkalinity and high calcium numbers. i dose with a litermeter 3 remote module. i had spots of hair algae and since ive been dosing for almost a week they are gone. plus my coraline algae is just slammin. i notice too the sps get a deeper darker pop color. just gotto watch the salinity. anyways i skim wet, dose more kalk and change water every end of the week to offset the salinity. some have claimed that when you dose kalk it lowers your magnesium.

 

[NC2WA]

glad this worked for you..it didnt for me...i guees I had too much HA..the only thing that worked was Kent Tech M, that and some other things that I have been addressed..my tank walls are free of algae for almost 2 months..

 

[aquariumdebacle]

You should only need to add magnesium sparingley. Unlike calcium, magnesium is used very little on the coral reefs. What you need magnesium for is part of the "total dissolved salts" it should not require "pounds of addition" over short periods of time except in the largest of home systems. It is used to balance calcium and alkalinity so you do not have to add so much calcium.
Look elswhere to fix or problem, I suspect phosphorous. Adding too much magnesium (especially sulfate) will throw your chemical balance out of whack. The sulfate is poison and while small quantities can be delt with the anaerobic bacteria in your system must process it to a less dangerous form (sulfide=rotten egg gas)
Look at the chemistry and not the results, they may be fleeting and irreversable.
Keep all of your parameters at the levels your organisms encounter in the oceans they come from. Out of parameter levels cause stress.

 

[DonW]

I agree with Dan. The epsom is I guess ok for a little dose but if you need to boost it up as in when you use IO salt with low mg epsom is not suitable. Nigari, tech m and BRS are cheapest balanced additives. It takes pounds of epsom to make any significant change so water changes are a better alternative when big jumps are needed.

Don

 

[Boomer]

Yes, pounds, as it has crap loads of water in it.

246.47 g/mol total MW, MgSO4·7H2O (Epsom)

2H + 16O = 18, 18 x 7 = 126

So, that is 126 g / mol (H2O) from 246.47 = 120.47 MgSO g /mol

126 / 246.47 = 51 % water and 49 % MgSO4