Dosing 2-part - Are Magnesium Swings Normal?

[bhodges82]

I'm colorblind too. I need my wife or someone else around to do Mag and a couple other tests.

There are a few apps out there that help some, like Aquarium Note. But it's no help for the Mag test

Can you wear colored lenses to make the test appear a different color that you can see? Like tricking your eyes?

 

[Adam]

I actually got some glasses last summer that correct the colors for me but they're not prescription so I have to be wearing contacts to use them. But then I can't see sh!t up close. It's hell getting old.

 

[CatoJa]

I have the same issue, I dosed mainly Magnesium Sulfate but am switching to a Magnesium Sulfate/Chloride mix.

I did some research and using too much sulfate or chloride based magnesium puts your ionic balance off with your water. I've had zero growth but also zero angry corals. I'll do a big water change and hopefully it will be back to normal where I can enjoy decent growth.

Not quite sure if this solve the case of the missing magnesium but its my two cents haha.

 

[bzb]

Interesting! I don't know what's happening to it. I haven't made it to the LFS, but I'm planning on grabbing a new test kit. I really don't think both are bad, and they're within 10-15% of each other when I test... but we'll see. Perhaps I'm just a terrible chemist.

One thing to note: my Salifert dkh test matched my Hanna this morning at 7.8 - so I can at least do that one correctly. However, now I'm wondering how that drops from 8.3 to 7.8 in two days.

 

[CatoJa]

I found this, I think it will help.

Questions about sulfate testing, sulfate overdose, and cloudy kalk

So about a year ago I switched over to BRS two part. Which includes a half gallon of magnesium chloride and a half gallon of magnesium sulfate to make your own magnesium mix with a 5:3 ratio of MgCl2 to MgSO4 (by volume). So I mixed it up and used it up over the course of 6-9 months. When it...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[bzb]

I found this, I think it will help.

Questions about sulfate testing, sulfate overdose, and cloudy kalk

So about a year ago I switched over to BRS two part. Which includes a half gallon of magnesium chloride and a half gallon of magnesium sulfate to make your own magnesium mix with a 5:3 ratio of MgCl2 to MgSO4 (by volume). So I mixed it up and used it up over the course of 6-9 months. When it...

www.reef2reef.com

I am trying my best to keep up with the nerdery here (I mean, come on, I went to GaTech) but this is wooshin over my head.

I ordered a new Mg test kit today - the Aquaforest based off BRS review (best of 2019). Maybe I don’t suck at the tests as much as I thought... all the BRS guys got readings all over the place, too.

 

[bzb]

Still waiting on the Aquaforest to arrive, but I dosed Mg and Alk over the couple days and I definitely can see the numbers being manipulated by those doses... but I'm FINALLY starting to see dots of coralline growth on the pumps and the back glass!

I still have no idea where those Mg drops are coming from, but it's seemed to stablize over the last couple days.



I'm planning on a water change today, as my tank has gotten a little goopey. We'll see where the numbers are tomorrow! This is my new favorite game!

 

[bzb]

@ZapataInc when you dose the BRS Soda Ash, do you get some precipitate immediately? I'm drizzling it into my gyre and I see little salt crystals form almost immediately. Not a whole ton of it, but enough that it's making me worry that it's being blown directly onto the corals.

I started dosing potassium nitrate and monopotassium phosphate today. I'm at 1ppm nitrate and 0.4 phosphate... totally expecting algae bloom tomorrow

 

[ZapataInc]

@ZapataInc when you dose the BRS Soda Ash, do you get some precipitate immediately? I'm drizzling it into my gyre and I see little salt crystals form almost immediately. Not a whole ton of it, but enough that it's making me worry that it's being blown directly onto the corals.

I started dosing potassium nitrate and monopotassium phosphate today. I'm at 1ppm nitrate and 0.4 phosphate... totally expecting algae bloom tomorrow

Yeah that's something that happens with soda ash. But it eventually will clear up. I do a little bit at a time.

 

[Adam]

Hey bzb, your test results except the big Mag drops all look to be in the margins of error for the tests. I haven't seen your testing methods l so I don't know if there are any issues there or not. That is just the usual place to point first because it's the one area with the most opportunity for error and inconsistencies. I found this series of threads on R2R that may help everyone. I know it has changed the way I look at the procedures I will use in the future.

GETTING IT RIGHT! ---MAKE TESTING COUNT BY USING A QUALITY SYSTEM APPROACH

GETTING IT RIGHT! ---MAKE TESTING COUNT BY USING A QUALITY SYSTEM APPROACH INTRODUCTION All of us want healthy and thriving Reef Tanks. This necessarily means excellent water quality. So I ask myself. How do I know the quality of my water? The answer of course is I need to test and measure...

www.reef2reef.com

PART 2 -GETTING IT RIGHT--MAKE TESTING COUNT BY USING A QUALITY SYSTEM APPROACH---COLORIMETRIC...

PART 2-----COLORIMETRIC VISUAL TESTING METHODS (The Chemistry) As we covered in Part 1 in the “Understanding Errors” section, the visual testing method consists of essentially two steps, Evaluation and Assessment. Evaluation is the test procedure (The Chemistry) and Assessment is the...

www.reef2reef.com

PART 3 -----GETTING IT RIGHT---COLORIMETRIC VISUAL TESTING METHODS (What We See)

PART 3 -----COLORIMETRIC VISUAL TESTING METHODS (What We See) SOURCES OF ERROR IN THE ASSESSMENT PROCEDURE Next we turn to the second component of our testing protocols and that is the ASSESSMENT…What do we see and how do we interpret the results of our testing procedure. Visual colorimetric...

www.reef2reef.com

PART 4 "GETTING IT RIGHT" COLORIMETRIC INSTRUMENTAL TESTING METHODS (DIGITAL)

PART 4 "GETTING IT RIGHT" COLORIMETRIC INSTRUMENTAL TESTING METHODS (DIGITAL) We have covered a lot of ground up to this point in Parts 1, 2 & 3. In this last part we turn our attention to the use of digital testers (Colorimeters) such as the HANNA CHECKER, most of the same elements necessary...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[ZapataInc]

Hey Zap, your test results except the big Mag drops all look to be in the margins of error for the tests. I haven't seen your testing methods l so I don't know if there are any issues there or not. That is just the usual place to point first because it's the one area with the most opportunity for error and inconsistencies. I found this series of threads on R2R that may help everyone. I know it has changed the way I look at the procedures I will use in the future.

GETTING IT RIGHT! ---MAKE TESTING COUNT BY USING A QUALITY SYSTEM APPROACH

GETTING IT RIGHT! ---MAKE TESTING COUNT BY USING A QUALITY SYSTEM APPROACH INTRODUCTION All of us want healthy and thriving Reef Tanks. This necessarily means excellent water quality. So I ask myself. How do I know the quality of my water? The answer of course is I need to test and measure...

www.reef2reef.com

PART 2 -GETTING IT RIGHT--MAKE TESTING COUNT BY USING A QUALITY SYSTEM APPROACH---COLORIMETRIC...

PART 2-----COLORIMETRIC VISUAL TESTING METHODS (The Chemistry) As we covered in Part 1 in the “Understanding Errors” section, the visual testing method consists of essentially two steps, Evaluation and Assessment. Evaluation is the test procedure (The Chemistry) and Assessment is the...

www.reef2reef.com

PART 3 -----GETTING IT RIGHT---COLORIMETRIC VISUAL TESTING METHODS (What We See)

PART 3 -----COLORIMETRIC VISUAL TESTING METHODS (What We See) SOURCES OF ERROR IN THE ASSESSMENT PROCEDURE Next we turn to the second component of our testing protocols and that is the ASSESSMENT…What do we see and how do we interpret the results of our testing procedure. Visual colorimetric...

www.reef2reef.com

PART 4 "GETTING IT RIGHT" COLORIMETRIC INSTRUMENTAL TESTING METHODS (DIGITAL)

PART 4 "GETTING IT RIGHT" COLORIMETRIC INSTRUMENTAL TESTING METHODS (DIGITAL) We have covered a lot of ground up to this point in Parts 1, 2 & 3. In this last part we turn our attention to the use of digital testers (Colorimeters) such as the HANNA CHECKER, most of the same elements necessary...

www.reef2reef.com

I think this is for @bzb but I will definitely use this information as well.

 

[bzb]

TL;DR - I suck at testing procedures.

 

[ichthyoid]

You might try magnesium citrate. It won’t change the ionic balance and the citrate will provide a source of organic carbon (for carbon dosing). It‘s ok for humans and ok in your reef too, just adjust the dosage accordingly.

Robot or human?

www.walmart.com

 

[bzb]

I *think* I have it under control finally. I really, really still want to know what happened to all that Magnesium I dumped in the tank... but I guess I'm over it.

Also, I now own three Magnesium tests, and curiously, the newest one I have recommends testing Calcium first and then adjusting the number of drops of one of the reagents. All three are testing around 1250-1350, run multiple times.

Alk appears to be consumed faster than the Calcium. On the good news side, coralline is definitely growing everywhere (mostly on plastics that I don't want, like the powerhead and the overflow, but whatever) and I am noticing significant growth from the softies. The GSP has taken off and xenia is multiplying like weeds, so likely getting rid of some of it on the Free Forum soon!



Interesting to note how quickly the nitrates and phosphates dropped by half. I really don't want to be dosing those...

I think I'm going to set the pump to dose 10mL of soda ash and 10mL of Ca daily and see where I'm at after a few days.

 

[bzb]

Just realized it's been over a month into this whole dosing thing. Ooh, scary.

Magnesium swings have certainly stabilized. Water changes apparently do drop my numbers, but it seems only by about 50-100 ppm (which could simply be margin of error). A ~40mL dose of Mag seems to get me back to 1300-1400 range.

Alk has been increased to dosing at 10mL per day, but I've backed off on Calcium considerably (20mL weekly seems to get me back to 440). 10mL/day keeps me around the 8.5 mark on the Hanna Alk checker. I'm seeing encrusting activity from my montis and the digi and stylos are certainly growing. The softies are starting to explode, so I don't think anything is wrong... it just seems a bit excessive to me on the consumption rate of Alk.

The tank is absolutely destroying nitrates and phosphates. I dosed nitrates up to a full 5ppm, phos to 0.6ppm and both are down to zero at the end of week. Things are coloring up though, so I don't think I'll stop dosing just yet.

 

[bzb]

New update!

I've now got the dosing pumps doing ~15mL daily of both Alk and Ca. I do the Calcium 7 minutes at a time at 10AM and 4PM. Alk is dosed for 7 mins at 1AM and 6AM.

I am not consistent at all with dosing nitrates nor phosphates, but I certainly am overfeeding this tank. I toss a baseball sized chaeto chunk every other week, and the skimmer cup is about half full weekly. I'm still struggling to keep nitrates high enough, but coral colors are far better than they were before the new year - it's especially noticeable in the red monti cap (which is finally almost red instead of pale pink) and the plate corals having blues and dark greens (instead of pale aqua).

Coral growth appears to be increasing exponentially. Montis are encrusting the rocks on all sides of the frags. Sticks have good polyp extension and are throwing out new branches weekly. Xenia is all over the place, pulsing frag has split off into 7 new stalks. GSP is about 5 times the size as when I got it.

Zoas are the only struggle I have at this point - not noticing much change in reproduction even though they're getting spot fed with Reef Roids weekly. Not sure what I want to try here, whether it's getting a better dosing schedule or moving them to different areas of the tank to see how they respond.