sewingalot

Should I still be adding the Mg? I already have hard water without the addition, it is 10dh, when I add the Mg, it increases to almost 16dh. Should I still be adding the Mg, or leave it out of my new batch. If I do leave it out, will there be any side effects from removing the additional Mg? Thanks.

Zapins

It depends how often you do water changes. If they are very infrequent (1-2 months) then you might need to add Mg.

Otherwise, regular water changes will replace it before it ever becomes depleted.

Mg just needs to be present. It doesn't have to be present in huge quantities. Usually plants do best when there is a 4:1 or 3:1 ratio between calcium and magnesium. So if you keep adding magnesium and the plants aren't using it at the same rate you are adding it then you will get stunting and nutrient blocking problems. Its probably best to just rely on water changes for Mg since groundwater is usually full of both in the correct ratios.

sewingalot

Thanks, Zapins. I am going to eliminate the Mg and see what happens.

Muirner

did you have problems when you left those chemicals in the solution? I believe i have harder water up here in VT, and i'm about to make the solution so i dont want to screw myself over.

sewingalot

My rotala and downoi completely melted when I added Mg.

sewingalot

I just wanted to update this thread to share one important lesson I learned. My test kit was totally wrong. I have since learned how to calibrate Kh and Gh test kits and both were off by more than 50%. So based on that, I am not longer sure I should have quit dosing Mg. My Kh and Gh are actually 6, and 7 degrees.