KH is low and Calcium High -- how to balance?

[reefer gladness]

Interesting, I hadn't noticed the difference in concentrations among brands before. It looks like the B-ionic is less concentrated than the Kent Tech M I've been using.

The instructions on the B-ionic say 1ml/gallon will raise mag by 10ppm. ESV B-ionic contains 36,000ppm of cationic magnesium.
The instructions on the Kent Tech M say 1 ml/gallon will raise mag by 18.4ppm. Kent Tech M contains 70,000ppm of cationic magnesium.

My tank sucks up the Tech M like crazy, 5ml per day in a 58 gallon tank is normal for me depending on the salt mix I use. The salt mix is definitely a factor, some salts have 2x the mag as others.

That said, your math is correct - 345ml per day for a 230g tank.

 

[Bearjohnson]

Like I said earlier, magnesium takes a while to elevate and it will take time to get there.

Personally, I'd never add the amounts that were listed on the bottles.

With a tank of that size, it will take some time to bring the levels up. Also remember that slow and steady wins the race and whatever is going on currently in the tank will not be reversed over night. An elevated magnesium level up to 1550 will do no harm unless you bring it there in a hurry. With that being said, I'm more of a conservative under these type of situations and others may suggest a more aggressive approach than myself so here is my recommendation on where I'd start.

1 ounce = 29.57 milliliters

I'd start with 50 mls a day...25mls in the morning and 25mls in the evening.

You can test as often as you'd like however, I wouldn't expect you to see any significant change in mag levels for several days.

 

[Jetbkk]

Very interesting feedback.. thanks. I actually did an initial dose this morning of 50ml (2 cups) before reading your replies so I think I did the same as what Bear suggested, only all at once instead of morning/night.

However, if the label is saying I should be adding 345ml it will be interesting to see what affect the lower dose has. I will try to go slow and steady instead of dumping in 11 ounces in one shot!

This has been a fantastic learning experience, I must say.

 

[Bearjohnson]

You'll still get to where you need to be, it will just take you longer. It took me 3 weeks to bring my levels up in my 125 but they eventually got there. I was dosing 20mls a day and I also thought that something was wrong because like most of us, I wasn't seeing it do a thing for a while until after the first week. Keep in mind that as your dosing, corals are consuming so, you may need to increase your dose from time to time depending on the tank.

Test after a week and see how much the levels have changed.
I can say that going slower rather than faster certainly can't "hurt" the situation

 

[Jetbkk]

I'm on my second day dosing Mag and I'm seeing some big changes in my levels. I'm concerned about the KH in particular.

PH has stood steady at 8
KH went from 8.5 to 7 (!)
Mag went from 1130 to 1140
Calcium went from 495 to 400 (!)

Salinity is a tad high at 1.027. Nitrates are 0.

Brown algae has also returned to the sand since I started dosing Mag.

So the negative things I'm seeing are: 1/drop in KH 2/ drop in Calc 3/ brown algae returned

Yesterday I dosed Mag 50ml in the morning and 25ml at night (far under the recommended dose). For the B-Ionic I dosed one cup of Alk but no Calcuim yesterday. That seems like a bad idea in retrospect. I think i should have dosed equal parts of Calc and Alk.

Appreciate any thoughts on the above. I'm still very nervous about things as the levels are not stable at all.

 

[Jetbkk]

Short update: I'm dosing 100ml of mag daily and the level is up to 1200 and KH up a bit to 7.5. After the initial drop, with brown algae appearing, now the tank is crystal clear and the algae is gone. I did have a couple stags STN as a result of the lowered Mag/Alk I think, but the other corals are now starting to look better, not worse.

I will keep going with the 100ml a day of mag plus my usual Bi-Ionic A+B dosing until optimum levels are reached. I seem to be heading the right direction now.

 

[Mike Johnson]

Well, it seems that the mag is making a huge difference. Maybe you're on the right track.

 

[Bearjohnson]

That's good news, hopefully is all good from here!

 

[jimv]

I'm in the same boat, my KH is low but my Calcium is high. I also am using B-Ionic 2 part. I ordered a Magnesium test kit last night and a SeaChem Reef Advantage Magnesium. I wanted to stick with B-Ionic but the place I was ordering from did not carry it.