Help, Mag dosing?

[Mantid]

I have a bucket of Magnesium Chloride and a bucket of Magnesium Sulphate from Bulk Reef Supply. How are these to be used in conjunction with each other? 50/50? The dosing instructions on BRS website are vague. On their little dosing calculator is says not to exceed 100ppm/day which I understand. I was using Kent Tech M Magnesium previously but cant afford to keep using it, especually when I have this other stuff sitting around. I noticed in the Kent brand that it had both the mag sulphate and chloride in it.

Let me brake this down.

I'm sitting at a low level of 1170ppm at the moment. To raise in 100ppm today, the calculator says I need 746.8 gm or 26.3 oz. It does not specify if it's fluid oz. or weight in oz. (my tank is approx 200gal case anyone was wondering)

Would it be smart to only use one of the two (mag chloride or mag sulphate) to raise it to its appropriate amount, then dose both? And when I do dose both, how much of each do I use in proportion to each other?

[Mantid]

New question.

So I looked to see how much Tech M Magnesium 64 fl oz treats. here is what it says online:

Tech M is very concentrated, containing over 70,000 ppm of cationic magnesium, and is nitrate, phosphate and gluconate free. Treats up to 7,600 gallons of water.

That being said, I have already used the whole bottle on my 200 gal tank and my ppm is still not high enough. Hopefully I'm using the test kits right! which I believe I am. Maybe when it says it treats 7,600 gallons, that means if the level are already good and that is how much it will treat to maintain those levels, and that might be assuming the bio load of corals is very low and not using very much mag?

When I talked to the owner of Aqua Imports where I got the Kent mag, he said that this one bottle should be enough to raise it to where I need, which im shooting for 1500ppm to get rid of Briopsis. It did raise my levels but not nearly enough.

I might be looking at it wrong but if the bottle contains 70,000ppm of mag and I put it all in to a 200 gallon tank, that works out to raising it 350ppm. According my calculations I would need a whole other bottle. I assume because all tanks are different that all this is subjective.

The more I look into all this stuff the more Im getting confused. Or maybe Im right on track and need some reassurance from you vetrans.

[hoodrat]

isnt there a calculator on their site that you can put in what your mag level is right now, what you want it to be and it will figure it out for you?

[hoodrat]

maybe this will help after looking at it I believe that is weight in dry form that you will then dissolve.
http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/store/reef-calculator

[68sting]

5 cups of chloride and 3 cups of sulfate to make 1 gallon of solution. The BRS calculator weren't accurate for me. I had to add a lottttt of mag solution to get my mag up.

[amonchak]

Try this link for the recipe #1 or 2 part 3 depending on your tank's pH (read the article and it will make sense) http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/rhf/index.php#15.

The calculator is found in the first link but if you missed it here it is, as the calculator calls out be careful how much you add at one time. http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chem_calc3.html or the old skool link http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chemcalc.html.

[jonthefb]

Magnesium sulfate is not nearly as concentrated as magnesium chloride, however magnesium chloride, as a by-product of the mining process, is bound with ammonia, which is toxic to livestock.

The mag sulfate would be safer to use if you are going to be raising your levels significantly, however you could also do as lance suggested and make a mix of the two to help increase the potency, while not relying solely on the mag chloride and the introduction of toxic ammonia into your system.

Cheers~!
Jon

[Mantid]

Originally Posted by hoodrat

maybe this will help after looking at it I believe that is weight in dry form that you will then dissolve.
http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/store/reef-calculator

Thats what I was saying was vague and not sure it it was talking oz in volume or oz in weight. And it does tell how to combine the two mag.

[Mantid]

Originally Posted by jonthefb

Magnesium sulfate is not nearly as concentrated as magnesium chloride, however magnesium chloride, as a by-product of the mining process, is bound with ammonia, which is toxic to livestock.

The mag sulfate would be safer to use if you are going to be raising your levels significantly, however you could also do as lance suggested and make a mix of the two to help increase the potency, while not relying solely on the mag chloride and the introduction of toxic ammonia into your system.

Cheers~!
Jon

So really is magnesium sulfate important at all? Why would anyone use it if its bound with ammonia?

[Mantid]

Originally Posted by 68sting

5 cups of chloride and 3 cups of sulfate to make 1 gallon of solution. The BRS calculator weren't accurate for me. I had to add a lottttt of mag solution to get my mag up.

Cool, then roughly how much ppm would that 1gal mixture raise my 200 gal? How much should I add in a single dosing/day?