Magnesium Test kit

[saltyseaman]

After adding some Mg suppliment to my tank in quantities that should have brought me up to 1300ppm, I am still testing low. When I tested my Coralife salt with two different Salifert test kits it tested at 900ppm. In another thread somebody told me that they tested their Coralife at 1380 ppm. I am now wondering if my test kits are to old.

Does someone in town have a kit I can compare results with?

Thanks :thumbsup:

[seachel71]

I have been looking for a Mg Salifert kit. Everyone seems to be sold out. I have a different brand kit... if you want to bring water with you tonight you are welcome to borrow mine to check your water tonight.

Michelle

[Benny Z]

salifert tests (including magnesium) are in stock here in bloomington. saw them all sitting on the shelf last night. you're right - it's next to impossible to buy salifert anywhere right now. from what i understand, old man salifert is nearly on his death bed and this has halted production at the tiny company. i think there are only 3 or 4 people who actually make up the salifert company, including the very sick older gentleman.

[medic29]

Zak, if you want to swing by today...this morning if possible, I can test it.

[saltyseaman]

Thanks for the offers, but somebody else offered through a PM and I took them up on it.

Thanks, though :thumbsup:

[tcottle]

So how did it come out?

[saltyseaman]

It was close. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but it was close. I have some sort of Magnesium sink in my aquarium. My guess is either the Phosban or the Polyfilter. I'll pull those on my next water change and see if it cures the problem.

[soim34]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10146851#post10146851 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Benny Z
from what i understand, old man salifert is nearly on his death bed and this has halted production at the tiny company. i think there are only 3 or 4 people who actually make up the salifert company, including the very sick older gentleman.

Interesting... had not heard that. I hope that isn't the case. I've had the chance to meet Habib on several occasions and he was an absolute pleasure to be around. But he hasn't logged into RC for 3 weeks, which is definately out of the ordinary. But would 3 weeks of illness cause low supply of his products?

[Horace]

If this indeed is true (as horrible as it is :() that may help explain the lack of quality of some of the latest shipments from Salifert. There are several folks out there that are VERY upset with some of the Alk kits accuracy. Some have suggested thier kits are up to 2dkh off when compared to another Salifert kit they had. I sure hope he gets healthy and starts turning out a quality product again, if they havent already fixed whatever the problem was.

Unfortunatly I am not willing to take the risk... I switched to Lamotte test kits. Pretty happy w/ it so far, and there is a refill kit avail for it.

[saltyseaman]

Even after adding enough Mg suppliment to raise my level to 1300ppm, it continued to decline down to 930ppm 3 days ago. After pulling my Phosban and Polyfilter and running an extension cord to a properly grounded outlet (Something I was unaware of untill I suddenly started getting zapped), I've been able to get my Mg where it should be. I think all of what I listed above are likely culprits of the problem I was (hopefully was) having, but I changed too many variables at once to pinpoint the problem.

[ChemE]

For what its worth I run both Phosban in a reactor and a Polyfilter and never have any problems keeping my Mg >1350 ppm. You gotta love this hobby huh?

When I first started testing and adding Mg I had a devil of a time getting it up to appropriate levels though. I added way more than should have been required. Once your levels stabilize, try adding the Phosban and the Polyfilter back in. I bet your Mg won't flinch.

[saltyseaman]

I'll give it a shot, though I'm out of Phosban. When I pulled the Phosban it had gone from brown grains to big brown and white chunks. Half of the reactor was so clogged I had to use a descent amount of force break it up before it would even budge.

Here's what I was thinking of when I thought of the current in the aquarium may be the culprit.
http://www.globalcoral.org/Electric%20Reefs.htm

Maybe it was the combination of the current and the Phosban, the iron in the phosban acting as the conductor. I'm not sure what the polyfilter consists of.

[brad23]

How long did it take to drop back down to 930ppm?

[saltyseaman]

I never actually got it to 1300ppm, I just added the quantity required to raise it to 1300ppm. I should have been more clear. Every time I added it I would test the next day and my Mg either tested the same as before I added the suppliment or lower. After I changed the aforementioned variables this stopped occuring.