Magnesium up and down?

[Tank2379]

Can Magnesium level rise and fall? I been doing 2 part and notice my mag was high 1500. Two days ago I tested it was at 1440 then the day before that it was at 1380? Any idea why it's going up instead of down? I am dosing Alk and Cal only....

Let me know

Thanks
Frankie

 

[melosu58]

I`ll have to wait for sure from the Guru Larry (CCCapt) but I think that as your calcium goes up so does your magnesium. There`s somekind of ratio thing going on. I think.

 

[ccCapt]

I would have to say it's a testing error. As calcification occurs (corals growing hard skeletons, coralline algae growing ,etc) mag is used in a ratio of aprox 2 ppm mag to 18 ppm calcium and 2.8 dKH alk. It can't rise on it's own without it being dosed.
So if it truly was 1550 went down to 1380 (170 ppm), you calcium would have dropped 1530 ppm(9x more ca is used than mag)...which is pretty much impossible....especially when the normal range for ca is 380-450 ppm.

 

[melosu58]

Thanks for the info Larry.

 

[neilanh]

Man I'm glad Larry hangs around here...

Those Mag tests are like doing a science experiment. At least the Salifert one is. 4 drops of this, a scoop of this dry stuff, more drops of that. haha. I've screwed it up several times for sure.

 

[Tank2379]

Just wondering now if my Test kit went bad. I just bought it and I get a different mag reading everytime. Thanks Larry you been a big help....