First time

[sedrostyle]

Whoa. I won a seachem Magnesium test kit and a seachem calcium test kit courtesy of BRA this weekend.
Just did my first tests with them let me know how these look.

First I did calcium and after doing it twice I came up with 430 maybe to 470.
It was hard to tell how deep of a blue you wanted. I did the reference afterward and that didn't help much so I went with my original numbers.

Then I did the ALK
I was confused so here are my numbers.
Total ALK I use .3 so I'm referencing it to 3mg
Then the borate ALK I used .12ml
I'm unsure of what the whole subtraction thing was so please fill be in on the number we are lookin for.
Is it the total ALK? Borate? Or the carbonate ALK ( which is the subtraction part ) correct?

Anyway I went on to the MAG test and made it thru the filter process and spilt it twice. Dang nerves and little vials.
I can up using 1.0 ml and referenced that to be 1250 mg.
I didn't wanna add more titrate I thought it was changed enough.

Well that's it. Let me know if those numbers are good or if something's off

Thanks on advance
Steven

 

[sedrostyle]

Btw I dosed reef fusion calcium and carbonate ALK two days ago.

Was going to add a picture of the tank but lights are out

 

[Boomer]

Steve

Total Alk (Total Alk) = True Carbonate Alk (CA) and Borate Alk (BA). There are other things that make up TA but are mostly meaningless as the are so low.

TA - BA = True CA ( Carbonate Alk.)

All test kits we use in this hobby, even if they are called Carbonate Alk kits are TA. Seachem has put out a kit so you can see all 3 Alk's., i,e., TA, BA and CA. Part of the reasoning behind this is two-fold

1. So you can test for Borate Alk
2. So you can make the adjustment for SeaChem salt, where the BA use to be 10x NSW ( Natural Sea Water). However, this is not much of an issue now with the SeaCem Salts, as they have dropped the Borate in their salts way down.




NSW, has TA ~ 2.25 TA, with a BA of ~ 6.5 % of the TA

2.25 TA , NSW x ~ 6.5 % = 0.15 meq/l BA


1 meq/l = 2.8 dKH = 50 ppm

NSW = 2.25 meq/l TA = 6.3 dKH TA = ~ 112 ppm TA.






Those values you gave are not mg, but meq/l


So, for your .3 = 3 meq/l or 8.4 dKH TA and the BA is 0.12 meq/l

3 TA - 0.12 BA = 2.28 meq/l CA

Your Alk is looking good.



Note: Past lab tests on the SeaChem kit has shown the BA value is off and not very reliable.



"1250 mg"

That is low, needs to be around 1300-1350

 

[sedrostyle]

is magnesium a big factor? I have 3 little frags of sps. one lps and the rest are zoas and softies.
thanks for the input, i remember now that it said meq/l
i wonder why it didn't give me the equation for 1 meq = 2.8 dkh
so from now on should I skip the borate tests and just do True ALK test then times that by 2.8 for my dkh, because thats the number everyone asks for right?
These seachem tests are way different than my ati drop and go
like a mini lab on my counter haha.
thanks again

 

[senji]

think of magnesium as the glue for alk and calcium and ph. its a base mineral very important. dose it up i keep mine a 1400 a lil high but i never want to be low. magnesium is 1 u can sit back and let it lower. no harm done. but it keeps calcium from precipitating out of the water column. and ph and alk from falling.

 

[Boomer]

Steve

Yes, for now skip the Borate. Very little Mg is used by corals but there is a 2 part reason for keeping it up.

1. It helps allot to keep the Calcium from leaving solution. When Mg is low Calcium can be taken out of water, where you are now needing to add extra to keep the Calcium where you want it.

2. Coralline Algae need it.


Yes, go by dKH.




Senji

It is not at all like a glue. It is more of being a substitute ion for Calcium.

 

[sedrostyle]

Perfect thank you senji and again boomer.
Any advice on a good mag supplement?

 

[Boomer]

Perfect thank you senji and again boomer.
Any advice on a good mag supplement?

SeaChem or ESV are fine.

 

[senji]

i recoment doseing all your aquarium needs with bulk reef supply 2 part and magnesium mix they have calculators everything. plug in test results and desired levels ant they tell u how much to add along with tips and warnings.

 

[sedrostyle]

Awesome will do