A little help please?!

[Spectorman]

I have been using API test kits for some time. I tried RED SEA and they ran out. That said. I just bought salifert mag,calc,and Alk.
I noticed my tank not doing so well. I have been using Kalkwasser for over a year. Honestly,I let magnesium go a bit. So, figuring it was my magnesium causing the problem,I ordered mag Chloride and sulfate. I made the mixture which is settling right now. I did my tests. Salifert says my mag is too low to register with one ML. Calcium is around 275ppm, and Alk was around 6.5Dkh.
Am I right to assume it's purely a magnesium issue? If I can get my mag up? The rest will rise to normal as it will not be able to precipitate? Should I increase my ML of kalk per day or dose 2 part Alk and Calc. To bump up those levels until the kalk and mag can maintain?
Thanks y'all!

[mcgyvr]

Add mag and find out.. Its likely that you will need to increase the kalk too or even switch to 2 part as everything is low..
But all your levels are just low.. Get them back up and see what happens and adapt/adjust as needed

[bertoni]

If you added all of the first syringe, the magnesium level is very high, over 1500 ppm, if the kit is similar to the older one that I have. The more titrant that is added, the more magnesium is in the water.

Did you mean 275 ppm calcium or is that a typo? 275 ppm is very low, and might cause problems. The alkalinity level is a bit lower than we recommend keeping it. I'd try to make sure that the daily low is at least 7 dKH.

[Spectorman]

I added the entire 1ML syringe. Are you sure? It would make sense to me if I hardly added any for the mag to be high. Since the tube would change color fast indicating I had too much. Yes...I am totally aware 275ppm is low.LOL!! I also know 6.5Dkh is low as well. At least they are balanced. My question is should I dose more kalk per day? Or is this simply a low mag issue and once I add mag will my existing kalk dose go back up? Or? Is that a pipe dream and I should dose my 2 part solution and get the gifts where they need to be and let the kalk maintain those numbers. I definitely appreciate it. I've never dosed kalk in my 20 years of reefing. I have been building my house for quite some time. While my tank by most people's standards looks amazing? I know it doesn't. That's what alarmed me. And not having better test kits like salifert I've API. Thanks so much again!!

[bertoni]

For raising the levels, I would use a calcium chloride product and some baking soda (or a commercial alkalinity supplement with little or no borate).

I'm sure about how the Salifert magnesium kit works. Lots of people with high magnesium use two syringes to get actual readings. You could try that. The owner of Salifert has confirmed that it should work.

[Spectorman]

Dude!!!!! I am effing stupid. I'm reading the syringe like you do with RedSea! I get it now. Wow!!!! Thank goodness I didn't go dumping huge amounts of solutions into my tank. Thanks for making me second guess myself. First time with the salifert kit!

[Spectorman]

I have BRS calcium chloride and BRS soda ash.

[bertoni]

You're welcome!

The BRS products are fine for raising the alkalinity and the calcium levels. I would target maybe 0.5 dKH and 50 ppm calcium for the first dose, and measure maybe 10 minutes after dosing, to see how accurate the dose was. After that, 100 ppm per day is okay, but I might keep the dKH doses slow and spread them over the day, since the soda ash will raise the pH. 1 dKH at a time likely is fine, though.

[Spectorman]

On it. We're cool now.

[Spectorman]

I retested. My mag is around 1400. That's about normal for me. I dose it very rarely.Alk was 6 now it's at 8. Calcium was 360. I brought it to 400. RedSea has you look at the syringe. If the number is 3ml left? That means you used 7. Which would give me an incredibly low number for the salifert kit.

[bertoni]

Okay, those numbers all are fine.