Re: Magnesium additions

To: Aquatic-Plants at actwin_com
Subject: Re: Magnesium additions
From: krombhol at felix_teclink.net (Paul Krombholz)
Date: Sat, 9 Nov 1996 18:09:03 -0500

I would recommend one to two millileters of 1 molar MgSO4 per gallon, and I
wouldn't recommend going over four ml per gallon.  If you want to add more
than that for your plants, I recommend changing some of your water and
adding the MgSO4 to the new water.  MgSO4 usually comes as MgSO4.7H20,
which has a molecular weight of 246.5.  Therefore, you would add 246.5
grams per liter to make a one molar solution.  That would work out to
adding 931.8 grams to make a gallon of one molar MgSO4, which ought to last
you for a long time.

The bag of MgSO4 I got as a garden fertilizer recommends adding 2
tablespoons of MgSO4 per gallon to make a solution for watering plants.  I
will work out over the weekend what molarity this solution would be and how
much of it you should add to your aquarium water and get back to you Monday
or Tuesday.  (My mail server is going to be down on Sunday.)

Karen, you mentioned some damage caused by adding epsom salts.  If you have
the package, does it say that MgSO4 is the only ingredient?  How much did
you add per gallon?

Paul Krombholz                  Tougaloo College, Tougaloo, MS  39174
In cool Mississippi, where they got our heat working, I thought.  Maybe it
is programmed to be cold in the building on Saturdays.  Brrr!