# Water report, do I have enough calcium and magnesium?



## Ady34 (10 Jan 2019)

Hi,
could someone with superior knowledge and understanding take a look at my local water report and tell me if I need to add and extra calcium and magnesium for the health of my plants please?
I’m dosing a comprehensive fertiliser but with my soft water wondered if the stated quantities are sufficient or need supplementing?
Many thanks in advance.
Ady.


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## dw1305 (10 Jan 2019)

Hi all, 
That is good water. You probably need to add some magnesium, there should be enough calcium for most plants but I'd add some for if you want to keep Cherry Shrimps (or hard water fish).

cheers Darrel


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## Ady34 (10 Jan 2019)

dw1305 said:


> Hi all,
> That is good water. You probably need to add some magnesium, there should be enough calcium for most plants but I'd add some for if you want to keep Cherry Shrimps (or hard water fish).
> 
> cheers Darrel


Thanks Darrel, I’d like to add a little calcium along with magnesium, is there a simple way of doing this like adding some salts to a fertiliser mix or just a seperate set of salts? Which ones are the best to use?
Apologies for sounding naive but I want to ensure I add the correct ‘ingredients’  
I already have a few cherry shrimp but will be sticking with soft water fish so I don’t want to go overboard. I do have a lot of Seiryu stone however will perform large weekly water changes. I also have some nerite snails which I’m sure would benefit from calcium too. Can they draw any benefit directly from calciferous stone?

Thanks
Ady


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## Kalum (10 Jan 2019)

Calcium has a pretty poor solubility so easiest way I've found is to just mix up some CaSO4 in a glass and add direct to aquarium at water changes

Then just dose your macro which contains magnesium to save you adding it separate or making another mix for no reason


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## Konsa (10 Jan 2019)

Hi
If U have soft water fish.Try feeding Ca rich diet like Hikari crab cuisine or similar.
I used to add Calcium Chloride Dihydrate when had the delusion that I had Ca deficiencies in the tank few years back.
Regards Konsa


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## dw1305 (11 Jan 2019)

Hi all,





Ady34 said:


> I also have some nerite snails which I’m sure would benefit from calcium too. Can they draw any benefit directly from calciferous stone?


Yes, they certainly can. Snails form new shell at the mantle, and as they graze the rocks they will ingest calcium which will be re-cycled as shell. The problem comes further back on the shell spire, where new shell can't be produced to <"repair shell attrition">.  





Ady34 said:


> some salts to a fertiliser mix or just a seperate set of salts? Which ones are the best to use?


It doesn't matter which way you do it, once they are in solution all ions are the same.

You could add a softer limestone (CaCO3), <"Cuttle bone"> is an option, or either of @Konsa  or @Kalum's suggestions. If everything looks fine you probably have enough hardness coming from the Seiryu stone.

cheers Darrel


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## Ady34 (11 Jan 2019)

Kalum said:


> Calcium has a pretty poor solubility so easiest way I've found is to just mix up some CaSO4 in a glass and add direct to aquarium at water changes
> 
> Then just dose your macro which contains magnesium to save you adding it separate or making another mix for no reason





dw1305 said:


> You could add a softer limestone (CaCO3), <"Cuttle bone"> is an option, or either of @Konsa  or @Kalum's suggestions. If everything looks fine you probably have enough hardness coming from the Seiryu stone.
> 
> cheers Darrel



Thanks, so I’m guessing if I utilise an EI fertiliser mix with Magnesium Sulphate (MgSO4) this adds magnesium, but should I add extra in my fertiliser mix to compensate the soft water? I appreciate ei is meant to offer an excess but with very little in my water supply I’d like to make sure I will be supplying enough.
As for the calcium, I may see how I go with the Seiryu and water changes, once down to one wc per week I’m guessing there may be more dissolved calcium from the rock left in the tank water, with a little being replaced with water changes also from my supply.

Thanks again and good to hear the snails can uptake directly also.


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## Kalum (11 Jan 2019)

From my understanding (which may be wrong so I'll watch this closely as we're in a similar position here but I'm just on a smaller scale and adding calcium to get to your starting point) adding extra magnesium shouldn't be needed if dosing EI as it doesn't take into account your starting point and EI alone provides excess of everything even if starting with 0 (calcium aside)


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## ian_m (11 Jan 2019)

Kalum said:


> From my understanding (which may be wrong so I'll watch this closely as we're in a similar position here but I'm just on a smaller scale and adding calcium to get to your starting point) adding extra magnesium shouldn't be needed if dosing EI as it doesn't take into account your starting point and EI alone provides excess of everything even if starting with 0 (calcium aside)


Yup you are wrong, magnesium should be added. Nowhere does the water report state Mg content explicitly. There are only a few areas in the UK that have Mg in their water. Darrel is the expert on maps of Mg in water for UK.

So ignore water report, as one should always do, as this is for the water boards sampling point on a certain day and not your tap today and just dose full EI. MgSO4 is the cheapest ingredient from EI salts, no plant or fish issues with excess dosing (beyond EI) if you have a "wasted worry" about salts, so absolutely no reason to not dose it.

Of course adding Ca via limestone, rocks, cuttle bone, coral sand etc could be useful if you suspect/think/might have used a test kit/accepted you water board report that your water is soft.


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## Kalum (11 Jan 2019)

ian_m said:


> Yup you are wrong, magnesium should be added. Nowhere does the water report state Mg content explicitly. There are only a few areas in the UK that have Mg in their water. Darrel is the expert on maps of Mg in water for UK.
> 
> So ignore water report, as one should always do, as this is for the water boards sampling point on a certain day and not your tap today and just dose full EI. MgSO4 is the cheapest ingredient from EI salts, no plant or fish issues with excess dosing (beyond EI) if you have a "wasted worry" about salts, so absolutely no reason to not dose it.
> 
> Of course adding Ca via limestone, rocks, cuttle bone, coral sand etc could be useful if you suspect/think/might have used a test kit/accepted you water board report that your water is soft.



my point was to not dose extra magnesium over and above EI, not to remove it from the EI dose


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## HiNtZ (5 Feb 2019)

Better that water you have with the ability to add individual elements (like Mg) than have ultra hard water that you can't take anything out of.

Water reports are pretty bogus anyway - they are few and far between and water can change dramatically out the tap over the course of a short time.


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