For the coating of magnesium alloys, especially those that should be used in medical technologies, fluoride coatings are tested and used. These coatings should enable a predictable degradation behavior for future implant materials. Presently the pre‐ and post‐treatment processes vary, so an optimum to achieve defined thicknesses of the fluoride layers is still not established. The present investigations are based on the process parameters known from the literature, they are discussed and compared. Different pre‐treating times of the base material (pure magnesium and a magnesium‐aluminum‐calcium alloy as a comparison) in 200 g/l sodium hydroxide combined with 96 hours of immersion in 40 % fluoride acid are examined.