I have been mixing my own Alkalinity, Calcium & Magnesium for many years following the formula given by Esox on Ultimate Reef. His formula for the magnesium mix is slightly different from yours: 130g Magnesium Sulphate Heptahydrate with 92g Magnesium Chloride Hexahydrate to 1 litre of RODI. The other two elements are much easier with just one item per litre. The only other thing that I do differently now is to use a small power head or pump to continuously agitate the water, I’ve found it’s more stable when transferred to the dosing bottles.
Yip I buy from the same place Alex , also I mix my own calcium and Alkalinity saves you alot of money. Trace elements from tropic marin 1. 2. 3. Easy. All in a 5 ltr containers. Alkalinity 500g sodium carbonate 25ml trace 3. Calcium 2000g 25ml trace 1 25ml trace 2. Magnesium 2000g
Well said, sir. It's amazing how cheaply you can dose a tank. I use Arm and Hammer washing soda (sodium carbonate) for alkalinity dosing. You get about 3.5 lbs for $4 here in the US. Been using it for years with clean ICP tests. It mixes slightly cloudy, but it's around 20% of the cost of BRS "pharmaceutical" grade sodium carbonate. Too many folks drinking the proverbial KoolAid. As long as there's no serious toxins/metals in your additives, everything is good to go.
There's probably a point you don't want to go below - the Intra labs stuff is fine but if that's not available where you are, ask on a local Facebook group what people buy in your country
Any 2 part dosing system will increase your salinity but it should be very minimal. But all sorts of stuff does too so regular testing and adjusting is the way.
Afaik this is only the case when you use 2 compounds together where one has sodium and the other one has chloride in it. For example sodium carbonate and calcium chloride. When you use those two together your corals will use up the carbonate (alk) and calcium ions and what's left is sodium and chloride = NaCl = Salt
This will slightly lower the sulfate concentration in the tank. Some magnesium additives are a mix of magnesium chloride and magnesium sulfate for that reason.
Yep! 2kgs of calcium chloride with 3 litres of rodi water then top up to 5 litres with rodi. You can also add 25ml each of Fauna Marin trace parts 1 and 2
You need 2kgs of magnesium chloride to make 5 litres of magnesium mix!
So 2kg mag flake+ 5kg (Ltr.) water , right ?
@@EIY_Kumar add 2kgs of mag flakes to 3L of water then top up the container to 5L. It'll probably be 4L ish of water.
Great video Alex between you and Ryan you're both spoiling us all the last few weeks with the extra videos ( I'm not complaining lol) 😂
I have been mixing my own Alkalinity, Calcium & Magnesium for many years following the formula given by Esox on Ultimate Reef.
His formula for the magnesium mix is slightly different from yours:
130g Magnesium Sulphate Heptahydrate with 92g Magnesium Chloride Hexahydrate to 1 litre of RODI.
The other two elements are much easier with just one item per litre.
The only other thing that I do differently now is to use a small power head or pump to continuously agitate the water, I’ve found it’s more stable when transferred to the dosing bottles.
Yip I buy from the same place Alex , also I mix my own calcium and Alkalinity saves you alot of money. Trace elements from tropic marin 1. 2. 3. Easy. All in a 5 ltr containers.
Alkalinity 500g sodium carbonate 25ml trace 3.
Calcium 2000g 25ml trace 1 25ml trace 2.
Magnesium 2000g
What a great little tip for saving money. Thank you for sharing 👍
Well said, sir. It's amazing how cheaply you can dose a tank. I use Arm and Hammer washing soda (sodium carbonate) for alkalinity dosing. You get about 3.5 lbs for $4 here in the US. Been using it for years with clean ICP tests. It mixes slightly cloudy, but it's around 20% of the cost of BRS "pharmaceutical" grade sodium carbonate. Too many folks drinking the proverbial KoolAid. As long as there's no serious toxins/metals in your additives, everything is good to go.
Is there a special grade of magnesium that you need to look for?
Or is every grade/brand of magnesium safe for my tank?
There's probably a point you don't want to go below - the Intra labs stuff is fine but if that's not available where you are, ask on a local Facebook group what people buy in your country
Ooh that’s a great saving on Red Sea Mag! How much mag did you use? Was it 500g? You mentioned £6 but a kilo is £9.99 and your link shows a 1kg bag.
Ah, forgot to say! It's 2kgs to make 5L. I bought 2x 2kg packs which gets you a discount.
@@ReefDorkXtra Thanks bud.
How do you know how much to put in your tank ? What are the figures of how much to add to how much it will raise mag over 100L?
Never tested the potency, I just dose, test, increase repeat...
Is it the same procedure for calcium and alkalinity? Do you need to add trace trace elements to each solution?
Similar procedure but yeah you need to add trace. Aqua Forest 1, 2 and 3 work well - might do another video on those later...
when I dose the magnesium it changes my salinity, any idea how to counter that or do that in a proper way ?
Any 2 part dosing system will increase your salinity but it should be very minimal. But all sorts of stuff does too so regular testing and adjusting is the way.
Good Sir, Would this Magnesium salt raise salinity in an established tank?
Nope
Afaik this is only the case when you use 2 compounds together where one has sodium and the other one has chloride in it. For example sodium carbonate and calcium chloride. When you use those two together your corals will use up the carbonate (alk) and calcium ions and what's left is sodium and chloride = NaCl = Salt
This will slightly lower the sulfate concentration in the tank. Some magnesium additives are a mix of magnesium chloride and magnesium sulfate for that reason.
I thought there were two different magnesium products you need to mix to use it.
Yeah I think he uses magnesium sulphate too
I dont suppose you've got another hack for calcium.....asking for a freind
Yep! 2kgs of calcium chloride with 3 litres of rodi water then top up to 5 litres with rodi. You can also add 25ml each of Fauna Marin trace parts 1 and 2
@@ReefDorkXtra brilliant!!! Thank you 👌🏻
Is this the Prestige Reef method 😂
🤓