Testing magnesium

[Sophie"s mom]

Good morning to everyone! So I am just getting started with the idea of dosing for alkalinity and calcium. Still doing so manually, but just ordered what is needed to switch over to a doser. My question is how many of you test for magnesium? Is testing for it necessary? I do 18% WC’s every other week, and am dosing with C - Balance, which has magnesium in it.

 

[ryanjohn1]

what is your coral bio load like? I test it but don’t see it change much.

 

[Reefer Matt]

Good morning to everyone! So I am just getting started with the idea of dosing for alkalinity and calcium. Still doing so manually, but just ordered what is needed to switch over to a doser. My question is how many of you test for magnesium? Is testing for it necessary? I do 18% WC’s every other week, and am dosing with C - Balance, which has magnesium in it.

I like to keep on eye on it, but I don’t micromanage it. I like the Salifert test because the color change is drastic when the result is reached. But to me it’s a once a month, or maybe every few weeks test.

 

[Reefer Matt]

But, there’s this too. So up to you.

Thread 'Just say NO to magnesium testing: RMM is born'
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/just-say-no-to-magnesium-testing-rmm-is-born.1017528/

 

[Sophie"s mom]

what is your coral bio load like? I test it but don’t see it change much.

Coral load is not bad, but I definitely see a daily drop. Currently I have 1 small SPS frag, 2 mid size favia, 1 torch, and then a bunch of coralline algae, a robust CUC, cleaner shrimp, a ton of tube worms.

 

[Dan_P]

Good morning to everyone! So I am just getting started with the idea of dosing for alkalinity and calcium. Still doing so manually, but just ordered what is needed to switch over to a doser. My question is how many of you test for magnesium? Is testing for it necessary? I do 18% WC’s every other week, and am dosing with C - Balance, which has magnesium in it.

Randy has recently suggested to skip the testing.

 

[Reeferbadness]

My Trident tests for Magnesium 2x a day. I find it shows i can maintain around 1350ppm and holds pretty steady at about 8 - 10 % of my Calcium dosing. If testing manually, i'd just test 1x a week max and dose Magnesium if below 1300ppm. My $0.02

 

[Sophie"s mom]

Randy has recently suggested to skip the testing.

Good to know, thank you.