Magnesium issues

[zackish]

My 29g has been up and running for about 1.5 months now. A month ago I was testing Magnesium and it was unusually high (around 1600)
On a few other forums I am on I was told to just do regular water changes and it should bring it down. I have been doing regular water changes and I haven't been dosing or even testing Mg for the past month.
Today after my water change I decided to test Mg again and it is still at the same level.
Any ideas on how I can reduce this.

[Dave66]

How is the life in your tank doing? Any stress showing on the animals? Most salt mixes have levels of the 11 major ions in much higher levels than natural sea water, the thought being between changes the life within the tank would use the excess, and mineral levels wouldn't be depleted below safe levels.
I strongly suspect it's in your salt mix; that level of Magnesium. Have you also checked Calcium and Strontium? You might find them higher than normal as well, depending on what you have in the tank.

Dave

[zackish]

I use intant ocean salt mix and I have tested that and that is rather high as well.
The life in my tank is doing excellent. That is why I kind of just forgot about the Mg levels and didn't really care.
My calcium is fine and I dose daily with alkalinity.
My calcium is kept at 420-440 and alk. at 10 dKh.
My pH is also constant at 8.2 and I know that Magnesium has to do with pH but apparently it isn't effecting the pH.

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

Magnesium is partly linked to pH in that it is linked to Alkalinity. It is an extremely deep and technical study which I am definitely not qualified to discuss, however if you look in the archives of Reef Keeping magazine (an online magazine) you will find and excellent article in there on the relationship of Alkalinity and Calcium and in that article there is mention of Mg and it's role in the process. Like Dave said, the salt mix would seem to be the cause of the levels, it's hard to imagine anything else being the blame.

[zackish]

Here's one of the articles:
[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

And here's the reef magazine one:
[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]
The reef magazine one you are talking about may be different then this one but I have about 25 of them marked in my favorites and can't seem to find the particular one haha. It is title exactly as you said: "relationship between alkalinity and calcium"

Either way, my question is should I do anything to try to bring the levels down or just not worry about it? Perhaps a different salt mix?

By the way goldbarb.....do you post at reef central?

[Dave66]

Zack,
As long as the life in the tank is showing no sign of stress or odd behavior, I wouldn't worry about the Magnesium level. That your Calcium is almost NSW level indicates that the Magnesium isn't being used as much by the life.
Like I said, everything fine, don't worry about the little stuff.

Dave

[zackish]

Sweet.....thanks for the help guys.
Just for the hell of it next time I have to buy salt I may buy some tropic marin or reef crystals as I have heard they Mg levels are more on point. Other than that I have 100+ gallons left of regular salt so it may be a while haha