HELP! I'm stumped ...

[LJC6780]

So my tank is about 2.5 months old. BC29. 1 bluefin damsel. Zoas, mushrooms and one recovering sun coral (accidentally tried to kill ... has 1 tiny head and about half of a larger one) have been there for quite some time. I recently added a Duncan, hammer and trumpet. Several snails, 2 hermits (both been there a while) and 1 peppermint shrimp that was just added.

Originally my mg was down in 900s but since switching to Reef crystals it has started coming up. My problem is that I can't get it over about 1230. I'm dosing fluval sea magnesium daily and it's dropping still. My calc is reading 480 and alk is 10. Those haven't changed in several days but the mag keeps dropping.

Anyone have any thoughts as to why my magnesium is dropping so quickly despite dosing yet my alk and calc are holding steady?

Here is my mg record. The notes are dosed after the test.

And I even dosed more than I have been yesterday and it dropped even lower today. So I dosed more.

Should I be doing something different? Dosing something different? I wouldn't worry as much but I don't think my corals are as happy as they could be. My mushroom rock does look nice and full today though ... maybe the best it has looked!

My phosphates are finally getting down to a good level too. Down to 0.095 today. Aiming for the 0.03-0.05 range.


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[DaveK]

Mg is depleted with coral growth, but at a much slower rate compared to Ca and Alk. Some salts mix to low levels of Mg. You saw this with your old salt.

I recommend you keep doing what your doing now. Don't worry about the Mg level unless it really gets down.

What ever you do, don't chase numbers. A lot of people start doing this and then use additives to try and get the water "perfect". This can be a mistake. If the corals, fish and other livestock are doing well, and reading are reasonable, leave things alone.

 

[LJC6780]

Mg is depleted with coral growth, but at a much slower rate compared to Ca and Alk. Some salts mix to low levels of Mg. You saw this with your old salt.

I recommend you keep doing what your doing now. Don't worry about the Mg level unless it really gets down.

What ever you do, don't chase numbers. A lot of people start doing this and then use additives to try and get the water "perfect". This can be a mistake. If the corals, fish and other livestock are doing well, and reading are reasonable, leave things alone.

I agree, but the corals aren't looking as happy as they should. And I was only testing weekly until my magnesium just wasn't coming up. I'm just stumped that even though I'm dosing its as if I hadn't dosed anything at all. I just wanted to get it up to a good level in ratio to the alk and calc and hope it all would then work together but it's like something is sucking the magnesium out as fast as I can put it in.


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[DaveK]

I suspect your messing with the water too much. I also suspect that your corals not looking good are more due to this being a new tank and adding a lot of items. Also, you switched salt brands. It is possible the two brands of salt are working against each other here. At this point, I would discontinue all additives and make some fairly large partial water changes. Change about 1/4 to 1/3 the water and repeat again in a week. You can measure the parameters, but resist the temptation to alter them. What your trying to do is to replace all the original salt water with water mixed from the new brand.

I know this is going to sound like a broken record but do not chase numbers and don't worry too much about Mg until you have your tank well established.

 

[lesley]

Mag is within range
Mag 1150-1300 is fine

I run mine at 1200
Everything is fine

 

[LJC6780]

I suspect your messing with the water too much. I also suspect that your corals not looking good are more due to this being a new tank and adding a lot of items. Also, you switched salt brands. It is possible the two brands of salt are working against each other here. At this point, I would discontinue all additives and make some fairly large partial water changes. Change about 1/4 to 1/3 the water and repeat again in a week. You can measure the parameters, but resist the temptation to alter them. What your trying to do is to replace all the original salt water with water mixed from the new brand.

I know this is going to sound like a broken record but do not chase numbers and don't worry too much about Mg until you have your tank well established.

I only used a bag of regular instant ocean before switching out to instant ocean reef crystals. Same company. I also have done quite a few water changes since switching. The only thing I'm dosing is magnesium. Some of the corals (along with some live rock) came with the tank as I bought it used. I've added some small frags. Only 1 medium fish (also came with tank- I rehomed 2 others). A handful of snails and 1 shrimp.

This is the tank.

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[LJC6780]

Mag is within range
Mag 1150-1300 is fine

I run mine at 1200
Everything is fine

I thought 1300-1500 was ideal range ... and mag about 3x calc, which would put it at 1440 since calc is holding steady at 480. Either way, level is dropping rapidly and I don't know why.


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[SPR]

Assuming the test kit results are correct, and they can be very sensitive with wild fluctuations if vials etc aren't clean, instructions followed etc, why don't you just 'slowly' increase the daily dose until it stabilises?

Once you know how much is drops per day that's how much you need to add.

However, If your doing water changes as well then that could make things fluctuate depending on the salt mix etc so I would probably do what DaveK says in post #4 - corals are very sensitive and don't like their water being messed with or they just roll over and wilt and die. I know!

And use a good salt brand - I use Red Sea Coral Pro but that's just my choice - if you use something like this you probably won't need to dose anything or little.

 

[LJC6780]

Assuming the test kit results are correct, and they can be very sensitive with wild fluctuations if vials etc aren't clean, instructions followed etc, why don't you just 'slowly' increase the daily dose until it stabilises?

Once you know how much is drops per day that's how much you need to add.

However, If your doing water changes as well then that could make things fluctuate depending on the salt mix etc so I would probably do what DaveK says in post #4 - corals are very sensitive and don't like their water being messed with or they just roll over and wilt and die. I know!

And use a good salt brand - I use Red Sea Coral Pro but that's just my choice - if you use something like this you probably won't need to dose anything or little.

I clean vials between every use and am meticulous in following directions for testing. I measure out with a syringe for all testing to be consistent. I'm using Instant Ocean Reef Crystals. Is this not a good salt?

I'll stop dosing I guess ... and just watch my levels fall off the chart.


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[SPR]

I clean vials between every use and am meticulous in following directions for testing. I measure out with a syringe for all testing to be consistent. I'm using Instant Ocean Reef Crystals. Is this not a good salt?

I'll stop dosing I guess ... and just watch my levels fall off the chart.


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I can't comment on ocean reef as I've only used Red Sea Coral Pro, but the 'good salts' don't just contain salt. They contain a balance of the other elements like Mg Ca Alk etc etc so in theory as I said above if you do as DaveK says with a good salt mix and basically get new salt water in, that salt water will contain all the elements you need, balanced to the correct ratios so on your tank you probably won't need to dose individual elements. The salt mix will do it for you with normal weekly water changes, with maybe a few top ups here and there.

See this:
http://www.redseafish.com/red-sea-salts/

Hope this helps and don't get disheartened- it's all part of this steep learning curve and trust me I know!

 

[Witfull]

if available in your area,look for Sera salt. when i ran full reef, it was my white powdery substance of choice.

https://www.sera.de/en/product/sera-marin-salt/