Bringing Ca, Mg, KH levels up?

[Trike]

I wanted to see if I'm doing this right and not do any potential harm to the tank. I'm dosing Ca and Mg every other day, and KH on the off days.

I measured my water last saturday. I found Ca, KH, Mg to be low.
Ca:350
KH:8dkh
Mg:950

on Sunday, I dosed:
Seachem Reef Advantage Calcium: 2tsp
Seachem Reef Advantage Magnesium: 5tsp

Yesterday I tested again and dosed:
KH:7dkh
Ca:400
Mg:950
Seachem Reef Builder: 2tsp

Looks like KH has dropped, Mg stayed the same and Ca rose a bit.
I find it a little odd that Magnesium didn't rise at all. Considering that the calcium supplement has magnesium in it as well.

Once I get the levels up to spec in the DT, hat about water changes? Do I dose the replacement water as well? Say If I fill my brute container up ~32g, Can I just mix in the salt, and add the necessary supplements to bring the levels up to spec?

Thanks!

 

[taichimaster]

All Three components are very important in keeping each other balanced. If it was me, I would try to get my AlK stable first. Figure out how much you need to dose daily in order to keep your Alk stable, then work on Calcium and Magnesium. You should look into 2-part dosing. It is cheaper and the regiment is easier.

 

[TotalVapor]

I would be dosing daily to get your levels up.

This should help you on where you need to be

Calcium 420-450 ppm Can go higher if you like to kick growth off
Alkalinity 2.5-4 meq/L7-11 dKH
pH 7.8-8.5 OK 8.1-8.3 is better
Magnesium 1260-1350 ppm (3 times the amount of Calcium)
Phosphate < 0.03 ppm 0.005 ppm
Ammonia <0.1 ppm Variable (typically <0.1 ppm)
Temperature 76-83° F


HTH

 

[jrgilles]

The levels are all a bit linked by what the water can hold. I'd dose one a day and try to get it in check, then move onto the next, and get it up. Then test them all again.

I've found I can keep my stuff in balance by adding stuff with each of my 7-10 day water changes.

I have a trash can full of DI water, add KH supplement, let it mix overnight. Next day add Mg, let it mix overnight. Then I add salt and let it mix overnight, then add it to the tank.

I have a kalkwasser drip going, and that seems to keep the calcium in check.

 

[FreakinReefin]

I wanted to see if I'm doing this right and not do any potential harm to the tank. I'm dosing Ca and Mg every other day, and KH on the off days.

I measured my water last saturday. I found Ca, KH, Mg to be low.
Ca:350
KH:8dkh
Mg:950

on Sunday, I dosed:
Seachem Reef Advantage Calcium: 2tsp
Seachem Reef Advantage Magnesium: 5tsp

Yesterday I tested again and dosed:
KH:7dkh
Ca:400
Mg:950
Seachem Reef Builder: 2tsp

Looks like KH has dropped, Mg stayed the same and Ca rose a bit.
I find it a little odd that Magnesium didn't rise at all. Considering that the calcium supplement has magnesium in it as well.

Once I get the levels up to spec in the DT, hat about water changes? Do I dose the replacement water as well? Say If I fill my brute container up ~32g, Can I just mix in the salt, and add the necessary supplements to bring the levels up to spec?

Thanks!

Make sure you are doing your math right too. I don't know what your system volume is, but, given a 50g volume, if you wanted to raise your magnesium from 950 to the target 1350 it would take 190 teaspoons or 950 grams. Gotta dose big big. Same volume with calcium would be, from 350 to 420 target, 6.7 teaspoons or 33.2 grams.

 

[saltwaterfishes]

How big is your tank? I have a 65g, currently dosing Seachem products. My levels have been that low.....I bring up Alk first dosing it everyday for 3 days. I keep a calendar of what I dose daily, usually Alk every other day, Ca 3-4 times a week, Mg 1-2 times a week. My water change is anywhere 2-6 weeks.
I looked into 2-part dosing, it's a lot simplier than I thought....I watched the video on how to mix and dose:lol:

 

[FreakinReefin]

How big is your tank? I have a 65g, currently dosing Seachem products. My levels have been that low.....I bring up Alk first dosing it everyday for 3 days. I keep a calendar of what I dose daily, usually Alk every other day, Ca 3-4 times a week, Mg 1-2 times a week. My water change is anywhere 2-6 weeks.
I looked into 2-part dosing, it's a lot simplier than I thought....I watched the video on how to mix and dose:lol:

What video?

 

[saltwaterfishes]

What video?

Bulk Reef Supply has a video instructions, 9th one of 11, here it is...
http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/store/brs-tv/new-videos

After watching instructions how to mix, made me decide to change my dosing. I also looked at their reef calculator.

 

[mcoomer]

Once I get the levels up to spec in the DT, hat about water changes? Do I dose the replacement water as well? Say If I fill my brute container up ~32g, Can I just mix in the salt, and add the necessary supplements to bring the levels up to spec?

Thanks!

You can help yourself by doing regular water changes with a quality salt mixed to 1.026 SG. Doing that will augment the minerals that are in your tank and help to stabilize any parameters that are fluctuating. You should be able to meet most of your needs with fresh saltwater, dosing to make up for any shortcomings you see when you test. Also, as you've noticed, you have to dose a lot of Mg to see changes in the level. Another reason to try to bring your levels up with frequent water changes. It's generally cheaper than dosing large amounts of supplements.

Mike

 

[Trike]

Thanks everyone!

I have a 60g cube w/ sump. I'd have to guess roughly about 60g system volume. Maybe a little more. I'm using regular Instant ocean buckets.

The saltwater is a fresh mix, meaning it's a little over week old (new tank). Mixed to 1.026. I haven't measured the salt yet, but it's possible the salt is low in mg. Is it possible for a new tank to suck up that much magnesium? All I have is a few small frags (2 head acan, couple small acro's, 3-4 head zoa, and some xenia's)

Anyone know where I can buy mag flakes and epsom salt in the seattle area? I'd like to try out Randy's recipe http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-07/rhf/index.php#14

I'll measure KH again tonight to see how much it raised from yesterday's dosing. I'll focus on getting Mg up first. since that's the lowest. I'll mix up a fresh batch of saltwater and see what the levels are like in it.

 

[NWDiver]

Hi Trike,
My experience with IO salt was very low Mg.
Test the fresh mix to see what the Mg is...
I had to dose a ton to bring it back in line. Use the calculator at Bulk Reef to figure out how much to supplement.
Only raise the Mg 100 or so per day until you get where you want to be.
Once my Mg was in line Ca 450 was much eaiser to reach.
I changed salt and have had no further issues.
Mike has the right of it, frequent water changes will keep you close to where you want to be.

 

[Trike]

I tested a fresh mix last night,
KH: 9.5
Ca: 350
Mg: 1000

It looks like i'll need to raise Mg and Ca a bit with new water changes.

 

[NWDiver]

Yep that is pretty close to what my IO tested.
Since I wanted Ca=450 and Mg=1350 it was cheaper for me to change salt and reduce (not eliminate) my need to dose.

-Todd

 

[Trike]

NWDiver, what salt are you using? I have about 2 1/2 buckets left to use up. Once I use them up, I'll probably switch salt.

 

[NWDiver]

I went to salinity, but I'm sure that most any of the "reef" salts would be fine.
I sold my extra bucket of IO to a friend that had a fish only tank
Like Saltwaterfishes, I also use the BRS two part with Mag. Easy to do, mixes well, and great price over the long haul.

-Todd

 

[Trike]

Thanks!

I'm debating on going two part or kalk. I noticed that BRS has a kalk starter kit that comes with 1 gallon containers of Ca, Alk, Mg, and Kalk.

I'm still not sure which way is more effective and potentially less maintenance.

It seems like my Alk is being consumed fast. I measured again last night, and it was at 7. The night before, I had dosed enough to bring it up 1dkh. last night I dosed again to bring it up 1.5dkh. I measured this morning and it was at 8dkh. I've been trying to bring Alk up this whole week, and not really getting anywhere.

 

[jrgilles]

Thanks!

I'm debating on going two part or kalk. I noticed that BRS has a kalk starter kit that comes with 1 gallon containers of Ca, Alk, Mg, and Kalk.

I'm still not sure which way is more effective and potentially less maintenance.

It seems like my Alk is being consumed fast. I measured again last night, and it was at 7. The night before, I had dosed enough to bring it up 1dkh. last night I dosed again to bring it up 1.5dkh. I measured this morning and it was at 8dkh. I've been trying to bring Alk up this whole week, and not really getting anywhere.

How many lbs. LR per gallon do you have? Putting in more liverock might help keep the levels more stable..

 

[Trike]

I have about 50-60lb of LR in the tank + sump. So about 1Lb/gallon. The DT could use more LR, but I wanted to keep it fairly open for flow. I have the MP40 at 100% right now. I'm surprised I'm not getting any sand storms from it.