magnesium level around 1700

[dorian965]

guys, im no chemist, my mag. is at around 1700 and im having trouble keeping my calcium at 400. ive been dosing with argamilk about every other day and a trace element suplament once every 10-12 days. the mag. has been fine but the calcium was around 340 for a while. today i have not dosed at all and it has been a week since i added trace elements and those were my readings.
im glad that my calcium is up. i started seeing coraline on the glass 2 days ago so thats a good sighn but im wondering about the effects of high concentrations of magnesium. i have lots of rock but not too many coral. lots of shrooms and some stoneys and buttons.

no new salt mix or water sorces either.it just seemed to build up fast. any ideas or does anyone know what the ill effects would be? thanks, dorian

 

[steve-s]

Aragamilk contains magnesium so depending on the dosage amounts + the trace element additive, this is where you could be seeing the increase, not sure really. In most systems, Mg is depeleted quite slowly except where there is the possibility of heavy alk additions.

How high is the alk and can you post the chemistry numbers from a batch of new SW that has been mixing and aerated for a day?

1700 ppm Mg is not an overly large concern but still not the "norm". The most commonly affected animals will be bivalves and sometimes univalves but typically with much higher levels than this.

Cheers
Steve

 

[dorian965]

i have to get a alk. test and im going to test my water and new saltmix in the next few days. i appritiate the help. ill post them soon. i was just wanting to make sure it wasnt harmful to anything right off.
do you have any suggestions for a good calcium addative that doesnt contain mag.. i have a bottle of kent "tech - m" for magnesium if it starts to fall of but i need to get my calcium up. thanks

 

[steve-s]

My concern here would be the lack of alk testing, the Ca and Mg are not at dangerous levels at all really. Get the test kit and post back when you have those numbers. In the meantime I would discontinue the use or the Aragamilk until you have a clear picture of the tanks chemistry. Knowing the saltmix numbers will also add some insight.

As far as what to use for additives (when needed), I like two part liquids (ESV, C-Balance etal..) and kalk. Both will maintain levels in a balanced fashion with less muss and fuss if you know the rate of depletion. For "quick fix's" I prefer stand alone dry chlorides.

Cheers
Steve