Mg testing

[aja19919]

Hi ,

I bought a new Mg test kit from F&S : Salifert. The expiration date on the box is 7-2016. I did the test and used an entire syringe of solvent and had zero color change. Went to the store, spoke the more experienced guy there and he said there was no way I would have zero Mg in my tank and the test is either bad or the person doing the test was 'bad'. So he didn't want me to dose w/ Mg because it could kill coral in my tank and I went back and did it again. Same results. The solution is a grape juice color with abosoluetly no change to gray/blue per the instructions.

So does this mean I have 1500 ppm of Mg in my tank sinc ethe reading was 0.00 of solution left in the syringe?


This is my first Mg test. I test every week and am usually spot on . I change H20 every 2 weeks and last week was my water change.


Thank you for feedback.

 

[DTECH07]

When i switched to the Salifert test kits (which are great IMHO) I also had a reading the same as yours (used the entire syringe) so i refilled the syringe and continued to drop two drops till the color change and did the math adding one full syringe plus the additional 1 point after refilling the syringe and it showed that my Mag was 1540 when i added the two togther. i did a partial water change and the test read 1500 so i left it (heavy sps) knowing it would decrease quickly but didn't add Mag any more.
This gave me a accurate reading when testing, just refill and continue to drip then add the two together.

 

[user 26995]

There is nothing wrong with your test, or how you are doing it. Your magnesium is higher than 1500 then. What you want to do, is once you have added an entire syringe of mg-3 reagent, refill the syringe and continue adding drop by drop while swirling the vial. when you do get a color change, see what the ml reading is. for instance if it is .70, you will add the ppm which is 450 to 1500 = 1950. Hopefully its not that high, but it could be.

 

[DTECH07]

Wow we are saying the same thing. That's so funny

 

[Eileen60]

That's interesting.

 

[aja19919]

Thank you. I am thinking my CA and Mg are high because I am adding Essential Elements and Coral Vite to my tank too often, thinking I am doing my coral a favor. Both of those have CA an Mg in the top list of ingredients. NO3, KH, Ph and PO are all in good working order. I also tried the links in this forum for the Beginer Water Chemistry parts 1- 4 ( I think that was what it's called, they're sticky notes) but the links no longer work.

 

[user 26995]

I'll look into seeing if we can find those articles and fix the links. I lived by those when I started and still would like to be able to refer back to them.

 

[Boomer]

Those links work fine, try them again, it may have been a RC issue for a period of time.

 

[aja19919]

Thanks Boomer, they've (links) started to work again.

I did another Mg test and sure enough I had to go to a second syringe of solution to get the color change. I just did a water change and hadn't supplemented my tank all week. My Mg was above 1500 and CA was about 540 so that is just about right, a little high but okay from what I understand. I also got an Iodine/Iodide test kit as well because I was told leathers need it but to be careful and not over supplement w/ that as well. I was low on the iodine/iodide and supplemented to bump it a little. Hopefully I can have better luck w/ leathers and my current group will start doing better. My acans are happy, so I am happy.

 

[DTECH07]

Good to hear. Your Mg will go down slowly especially as your doing water changes same for your Ca. I've found when my reading were high I got good growth but when my reading were closer to natural sea water except the ALK I had outstanding growth. Glad that everything is working out and post some pictures would love to see the tank.

 

[Boomer]

Good to hear Aja.