Source For Mag Flakes?

[FishinAround]

I was just pulling together all the ingredients for Randy's two part calcium and Alkalinity supplement and was actually looking at part 3 (magnesium). I was thinking part 3a woul be the best as it won't have a tendency to increase salinity but haven't been able to find the Mag Flakes referenced in the recipe. I've checked my local Lowes and Home Depot with no luck. Is there a source for the Magnesium Chloride Hexahydrate anywhere in Denver? Also, what does everyone use for the calcium part of part 1?

[loudog]

I have a bag hlaf full you could have.
8561 S. Estes st.
littleton CO 80128

Lewis
720-329-3523

[freddie40]

For the Mag part I use Epson Salts. The way I figure it I will be adding 1.25 cups for every gallon of CA I add. At the current raste this would be 1 gallon of MG every 2 months. I figure this really won't impact my salinity as my Skimmer is taking more out than that.

As for the CA part you can get Dow Flake at the Ace Hardware in Conifer ($15.99 for 50 lbs). I have never tried looking anywhere else.

Dave

[ZenMan]

Costco just got their snow melt products in. They have Safe Step brand Magnesium Chloride Hexahydrate for $12 for 50# bag. The Mag Chloride is better to use than the Epsom Salts as you won't have any Sulfate issues.

[Peterock]

i have tried using mag flake and epson salt and find epson salt is the best. (cheap, easy to use and easy to find)

i am about to make all 3 again tonight or tomorrow will be done in about 3 hrs start to finish.......

[herefishyfishy2]

I'd use the Costco product zenman talks about hands down. Epsom salt has too much sulfate in it to use it all by itself. I believe Randy's Mag recepie has mostly Mag Chloride and just a small portion of Mag Sulfate (Epsom Salt).

[Hop]

Don't you guys worry about raising the sulphate levels drastically by using epsom salts alone? After reading Randy's article, I only use about 1/10 epsom and mag flake from HD the rest of the time...

[freddie40]

The way I figure it is this. I am adding 3 cups of the Epson salt recipe each month. I do 20-25% water changes monthly. I am not going to worry about the sulfate with this routine.

Dave

[Hop]

Hmmm. I guess maybe I'm reading this wrong... But I thought that sulfate is 4 times higher than mag in the epsom salts. So adding 4X each water change, but only taking out 25% of the sulfate on each water change. Means the sulfate still builds over time... I'm not sure what the negative effects of elevated sulfate are, but I guess a big water change without adding epsom would solve any issue:)

It's also possible to determine the effect on sulfate from one-time boosts to magnesium using Epsom salts. Epsom salts actually contain about four times as much sulfate as magnesium, so boosting magnesium gives an even larger boost to sulfate. Table 5 shows the effect on sulfate of several different increases in the magnesium level. From that table, it is clear that boosting magnesium by 100 ppm or more using Epsom salts has a substantial effect on the sulfate level. I therefore do not recommend using this method to boost magnesium by more than about 50-100 ppm. Every subsequent addition will compound the effect, although water changes will serve to reduce it over time.