[ben]

i was just adding some mag to my tank, and wonder what the affect would be if i added too much, and then i wondered what would happen if i added too much of the other buffers,i.e kh and calcium ect?

how would the corals react if they had a dose which was far more than the RDA?

[Tony B]

ben, on Jun 2 2008, 04:33 PM, said:

i was just adding some mag to my tank, and wonder what the affect would be if i added too much, and then i wondered what would happen if i added too much of the other buffers,i.e kh and calcium ect?

how would the corals react if they had a dose which was far more than the RDA?

Any changes should in an ideal world be done slowly. Mix it up in a litre of water, get a small cup (shot glass is perfect) and add a cup every hour until the litre of 'mix' has been added to the tank. Better still, use a dosing pump.

Mag you'll be safe to raise each day by 100pm.

Calcium, no more than 50ppm per day.

Alk, no more than one Dkh per day. If using sodium bicarb, add slowly as it can effect PH.

If you add too much of the above in one go and change the chemistry too quickly, you will risk stressing all your inverts, not just the corals. The corals show stress in many ways, loss of colour or in extreme cases polyp bail out and or death.

If you add too much of any chemical component (mineral/metal eliment or vitamin) you will start a precipitation event where the water becomes saturated and can't 'hold' any more minerals/eliments.

Hope this answers your questions.

Regards,

Tony

[ben]

thanks tony, i realise it should be done slowly, but i wondered what visual or physical effects it actually had on the corals if a large dose was given?

[Tony B]

ben, on Jun 2 2008, 05:02 PM, said:

but i wondered what visual or physical effects it actually had on the corals if a large dose was given?

If a large dose of chemical adjustment is given to the tank, it will stress the coral.

As above, various corals cope, 'show' and react with stress in differing ways - you might not 'see' anything or you could see death, or perhaps the corals colour may become drained or brown out. I don't think you will find much if any data on what exactly happens per coral species and, at what levels you will 'see' signs of stress, so only one way to find out: If you want to conduct an experiment, take some frags of a few types of corals, let them form a base onto small bits of rock and allow a month or so for them to become well settled.

You can then subject the frags to various environmental stress, ranging from your chemical queries above to heat and any other things you choose to inflict.

Regards,

Tony.

[ben]

thanks tony, i wish i had the space to conduct experiments,lol. i guess its another question with a million answers.

cheers
ben