Raising magnesium

[bosscrab]

How do I raise my mag levels? What is a good product?
Maybe a homemade recipe?

Trying to kill off a little stubborn algae.

[Hop]

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-07/rhf/index.php

[tdwyatt]

Water changes will retore Mg without skewing the proportionality of your conservative elements, go for a few 50% changes.

[Hop]

I'm guessing Tom that he wants to raise mag to 1500-1600ppm in order to work on a bryopsis issue. There have been several reports that raising the mag levels inhibits the uptake of nutrients within the algae and subsequently kills it off. I know I was successful doing this to rid my bryopsis issue in my fuge. Which may or may not have led to my hair algae issue I was happier with bryopsis in the fuge rather than HA in the display!

[aquawolf]

You may want to check out Bulk Reef Supply as they sell everything for the DIY kits as well as magnesium supplementation.

Good luck with it.

I am thinking about trying the same thing, but I need to get a magnesium test kit first.

[bosscrab]

Thanks for the links guys. that was what I was looking for
I am trying to kill of some bryopsis.

How slow should I bring it up and how long should it stay there?

[Hop]

No more than 100ppm per day is what I did and I kept it there for a couple waterchanges and then let it drop on its own. Can't say that was the right way, but it worked for me

[tdwyatt]

Originally Posted by Hop

I'm guessing Tom that he wants to raise mag to 1500-1600ppm in order to work on a bryopsis issue. There have been several reports that raising the mag levels inhibits the uptake of nutrients within the algae and subsequently kills it off. I know I was successful doing this to rid my bryopsis issue in my fuge. Which may or may not have led to my hair algae issue I was happier with bryopsis in the fuge rather than HA in the display!

It comes down to deciding which is the lesser of two evils, the Mg dosing appears to work in some systems, not in others for Byropsis, so the use in this system will be a gamble, and needs to be balanced against the potential issues that highter levels of Mg precipitate. Keep in mind that EXCESSIVE DOSING OF Mg WILL BE LIKE DOSING A SMOOTH MUSCLE RELAXANT TO THE FISHES AND BIVALVES, AND IN HIGHER DOSES, Mg IS USED AS A SHUCKING AID FOR THE CLAM FOOD INDUSTRY... :EEK:... The corals will do much better via the water change method of improving Mg back to around 1300 PPM if that is the goal; if the goal for the system is to be dosed up to 1600 PPM, then just use Espom salts, then once the issue is resolved, the system will need to be "fixed" anyway with several large water changes to bring everything back into proportion, so a temporary increase in sulfate is much less an issue than a temp change of Mg levels, might as well just fix it all after the byopsis is gone. MgSO4 (Espom salts) is cheap, and easy to dose, so might as well just go to the drug store and get some of this for a buck or two, then fix the entire issue with big water changes to restore proportionality.

Good luck if you're getting rid of bryopsis.


HTH

[bosscrab]

Originally Posted by tdwyatt

then just use Espom salts, then once the issue is resolved, the system will need to be "fixed" anyway with several large water changes to bring everything back into proportion, so a temporary increase in sulfate is much less an issue than a temp change of Mg levels, might as well just fix it all after the byopsis is gone. MgSO4 (Espom salts) is cheap, and easy to dose, so might as well just go to the drug store and get some of this for a buck or two, then fix the entire issue with big water changes to restore proportionality.

Good luck if you're getting rid of bryopsis.


HTH

The sulfate isn't gonna effect anything? Can sulfate be measured?

Yes its...bryopsis

[DarthOcellaris]

You can dose Epson salts to raise mag levels too.

[tdwyatt]

I am not aware of a hybbyist level kit, but yes, sulfate can be determined with lab testing. At the levels we are talking about, sulfate will not be an issue any more so than increasing chloride when adding calcium chloride or sodium when adding sodium bicarbonate. The ultimate goal is to have a blanced mix of ions and catiions that are proportionately mixed just s seawater is. By doing this, we can maintain high levels of calcium and alkalinity; and the seawater will act as seawater is supposed to, NOT LIKE A SIMPLE BRINE.

Fix your problem, then fix your seawater, for the time that you're doing this, it should not be n isue so laong as you adjust for total SG in the system, but fix it AS SOON AS THE PROBLEM IS RESOLVED.