How to lower magnesium and raise calcium

[Brandon p]

I put looking all over for the answer. For me or a water is out of the question already so if anybody knows of anything let me know please

[813aquatics]

May I ask what your magnesium levels are reading at and also what you are trying to achieve by lowering it? Are you doing saltwater tanks? From my readings you would need to do water changes to reduce magnesium.

There are lots of ways to add calcium to your tank depending on your needs. You can add cuttlebone if you just need something for snails/inverts, you can add a wondershell (coop sells em), and also add crushed coral, either in substrate or in your filter media. Those are probably the three cheapest/easiest ways of introducing calcium, just know doing those methods may (will) impact increase your hardness and ph.

Edited January 28, 2022 by 813aquatics

[Mmiller2001]

You would mineralize RO or distilled water to a Ca:Mg ratio you wanted and do water changes with that water. Over a few changes, the tank will match the mineralized water. 

The easiest way is to use CaSO4 and MgSO4. Both can be bought as dry fertilizers.

[Brandon p]

I don't know the exact levels but GH is off the charts and Ca is low. I don't remember them exactly. i would like to have softer water with some Ca for my snails. its hard to sell snails with shell defects(pitting). My discus do better with softer water, though they live with the well water that I have but the colors and growth slow a lot. I dont know of many plants that suck Mg up and not man that us a ton of Ca. But Ca does help make the cell walls stronger. I have used some distilled water to cut some water changes but it is way more than i want to spend. I would rather save for RO but due some life issues money is hard to come by. 813 the well water that i have is natural high in Mg so water changing doesn't really help. I know that i cant have every thing. I do have several tanks 14 so most tank i keep fish that do well in that water. I could be chasing my own tale.