Mag Stupid High. What Gives?

[Zach]

So I've been noticing that some of my corals aren't doing so well recently. I've been doing this standard checking on most levels and everything looks good. My high range pH is a little high at 8.2 but ammonia, nitrate and nitrite are all at 0 ppm. calcium looks good at about 370 but my magnesium is off the charts at an estimated 3000 ppm! I've been dosing with purple up, coral Excel, a trace elements booster and a Reef carbonate. does anyone know what would have caused this? What can I do now to fix it? I'm doing a 50% water change as we speak. Will not be adding anything other than pH down.

 

[Neopimp]

the dosing. I am betting they all contain some amount of MG.


Your PH is fine. on the low end of perfect depending who you ask. I would not worry about that at all for the moment.

Do some water changes and try to get that MG down

once its back down to 4 times the value of calcium you are in the right spot.

Then I would look at changing your dosing methods.

how old is the tank? how many calcium based corals do you have?

I am betting by the time you do enough water changes you wont need to dose anything extra to the system.

If you do want to keep dosing... .Look at 2Part Dosing.

I am on the believe that high MG will melt/destroy some soft corals. ITs the only thing I could think of when all my colonies of zoas and xenia decided to just shrink to nothing.

 

[Zach]

Makes sense. Hopefully it goes down soon. I'd just like to know what caused it. Seems like it shouldn't have gotten that high since I'm not dosing mag.

 

[Neopimp]

I would re do the test making sure you got the right conversions and actually have an issue.

 

[saltyair]

First off stop dosing - do you know what your alkalinity up take is per day? And your cal uptake per week? Start there.

Calcium under 400 with lps, clam and sps is an issue.

Why are you dosing? Are you correcting an issue?
Like neopimp says dont chase ph.

please more info and we can help (we have all been there)
I found this article very helpful
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-04/rhf/feature/

 

[Zach]

I increased my calcium to get it over the 400 mark (about 420 right now) and haven't dosed anything for a week. Did a massive water change but the mag is still reading crazy high. I've done the test 4 times now because I just don't believe it. After the water change its actually reading higher. About 3200 now. I think I may know what caused the issue. The purple up I was dosing with had gone bad (didn't know that was possible). So I'm assuming that's it. Guess I'll just keep doing water changes and hope it starts going down. Can't really think of anything else to do.

To answer the questions. I don't know what alkalinity is. Don't have a test kit for it. I have a fair amount of Lps and am just getting the sps going. They've been doing well up until this week. I thought it had something to do with a baby nem dying (mine split and the new one didn't make it). Wondered of that contaminated the water. But after all the water changes I've done it just seems worse. I'm thinking I'm going to test my new mixes when I get home to see if the mag levels are high there too. Might be royally screwed if that's the case

 

[EricTMah]

Bring a water sample to your lfs for testing to be sure.

Purple up even when expired would never raise mag that high. Must be something else causing the issue or your test kit is bad.
BTW. Like salty said. Stop chasing that pH number. Get your self an alk kit especially if you're going to be starting sps soon.

Sony Xperia Z3

 

[Zach]

I have the red sea multi test kit. Anyone know a good place to get the alk refill? I bought it off soneone without alk.

 

[EricTMah]

I'd still have someone else test the mag with a different test kit to verify
Test kits go bad over time and not to mention if the reagents were exposed to air or moisture too long. Worth a double check before going through all the trouble to fix a problem that could be in the test kit itself

Sony Xperia Z3

 

[Zach]

Yea. That's a good point. I'll do that too. I'd still like to get the alk refill so I can do my own tests though

 

[Zach]

So I feel like a rookie here. I did another change and added some calc. To try and bring it above the 400 ppm mark. Now my whole tank is crazy cloudy. I'm about to loose it on this tank. Anyone have a guess? Mag still reading high but I haven't been able to get an independent tests to verify whether it's actually the water or just the test kit. Everything else is reading normal.

 

[Zach]

 

[Neopimp]

Lol stop dumping things in your tank. Water changes are all you should be doing. Your balance between ca and alk and mag are obviously screwed up. Dosing to fix, especially without test kits, is going to be interesting to say the least.


Just keep diluting the mess by adding good balanced water. New salt water.


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[Neopimp]

Think of you tank as a jar... Think of ca mg an alk as balls. You can only ever fit so much in the jar. Due to over abundance of mag, there is no room for the calcium you just added. The cloud is calcium precipitate I am betting


By the way that is almost an obscene simplification of what's happening. Read up on randy Holmes Farley take on ir

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[saltyair]

We have all been there - and if any one says different they are a lier

Stop take a breath
Ok
First check your ro water and your salt. Before putting it into the tank - something as simple as a settled bag of salt with all the mag in the bottom could be an issue
Second have some one else check your mag - or get a new test kit and pick up a alk test at the same time.
Stop dosing!!!!! The reason your chasing is due to an unbalanced system.
Second purchase is an ato it will help balance your system also.

Lots of great advise - take it


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[100gallon]

Good info here. Good luck.

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[pulpfiction1]

zooming in and out on this pic and i know its coudy but.............i dont see anything significent to dose,
8.2 ph is fine,i target 8.4,i agree with info already suggested... stop dosing anything.
what kind of salt are you using?and what size is that tank?skip the ph down crap,do your water changes
and use a decent salt,even reef crystals is decent,freaking out isnt gonna fix this but patience and
the good advice you have been given will

 

[Zach]

zooming in and out on this pic and i know its coudy but.............i dont see anything significent to dose,
8.2 ph is fine,i target 8.4,i agree with info already suggested... stop dosing anything.
what kind of salt are you using?and what size is that tank?skip the ph down crap,do your water changes
and use a decent salt,even reef crystals is decent,freaking out isnt gonna fix this but patience and
the good advice you have been given will

There actually is a decent amount in there its just there's only about 4 inches of visibility in this photo. And when I say dosing. I usually do about 1/8th the maximum dose because I've been trying to avoid these exact problems. The tanks been going for 2 years and this is the first issue I've had. It's very strange. I get everyone on the pH. Honest mistake on my part. Don't know why I was aiming for 8.1. Plain stupidity more than likely. Tank was looking much clearer this morning. So hopefully I'm on the right track now. Thanks for the advice everyone!

 

[Neopimp]

I am of the opinion if you think you must do something right now for your tank... Wait a week

 

[EricTMah]

There actually is a decent amount in there its just there's only about 4 inches of visibility in this photo. And when I say dosing. I usually do about 1/8th the maximum dose because I've been trying to avoid these exact problems. The tanks been going for 2 years and this is the first issue I've had. It's very strange. I get everyone on the pH. Honest mistake on my part. Don't know why I was aiming for 8.1. Plain stupidity more than likely. Tank was looking much clearer this morning. So hopefully I'm on the right track now. Thanks for the advice everyone!

Was there a recent changes in your system? different salt, different additives or new equipment?

Strange that the system was fine for the past two years, then all of a sudden high mag. How often were you testing before? When was the last time you checked your mag before it went through the roof?

Some great advice from the other members about not dosing anything and just keep up with water changes until the system levels out.


Sony Xperia Z3