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Pet Forum / Aquaria / Marine Reef / April 2007ideal water paraeiters
what are the ideal water parameters for keeping marine fish, starfish and corals thanks If you don't already have a book on basic marine reef keeping, then get one. Then after you read it, get another one. Wayne Sallee Wayne's Pets Wayne@WaynesPets.com SCAFFMAN wrote on 3/12/2007 8:23 AM: > what are the ideal water parameters for keeping marine fish, starfish and > corals > > thanks > what are the ideal water parameters for keeping marine fish, starfish and > corals There seems to be good consensus that ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, phosphates, and silicates should all be near-zero, but then things seem to diverge from there. There are hobbyist that just rely on frequent water changes using a decent salt mix. This keeps the alkalinity from moving out of acceptable parameters, and provides an export for nitrates and toxic orgnanics/metals. And then there are chemistry buffs that examine the water parameters in minute detail and tend to do water changes much less frequently. (I'm in the 1x/month club). For example, specific gravity on aquariums can range from 22 to 26 (or higher) and most fish and inverts will adjust to these. However, what is "best" is highly subjective depends on the species your keeping and where they are from (red sea, reef, open ocean). I've heard about some people tracking 16 different water parameters. I currently track 8. Agree with Wayne that you should read up on this and develop your own working theory of what is best. If you're new or don't understand water chemistry, then definitely rely on frequent water changes. Also, investigate the environment where your species are from. --Kurt > There seems to be good consensus that ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, > phosphates, and silicates should all be near-zero, but then things seem [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > > --Kurt 16 Parameters? Jeez. 16?!?! lesse - alk, ph, nitrate, nitrate ,ammonia, calcium, phosphate, silicates, specific gravity (incorrectly called slainity most often), and temp are the most common. I am guessing these all include the 8 you track? I track all those except phosphate and silicate. heh - never realized i was tracking 8 different thigs - of course some of them I don't check all that often - I have never amonia reading bove zero since my tank cyled, so I only check that once in a blue moon... Same for nitrate and nitrite. But mostly I just keep tracking alk and calcium and PH - lotsa clams crammed into a 20 gal kinda forces ya to have to do that ;-) anyway - that's 10 things to track...lesee if I can think of another 6... So what else is there? ORP for those with ozonizers... Some track magnesium... lesse.. what else can one track? - dissolved oxygen of course... total dissolved solids (not of much use in a marine system - more usefull as a check for your RO/DI water BEFORE you mix it with salt). Copper? (assuming one does not put copper in, why check for it?) Some do sepreate tests for salinity AND specific gravity... One can do more detailed tetsing in place of "alkalinity" and check borate and carbonate hardness... Are there tests for organic load? Yeah - I guess I can think of 16 things. > 16 Parameters? Jeez. 16?!?! I saw it an advert for a consultant that comes out and gives your tank some testing and advice to the owner. --Kurt >> 16 Parameters? Jeez. 16?!?! > > I saw it an advert for a consultant that comes out and gives your tank > some testing and advice to the owner. > > --Kurt it's not really that many..... not when ya divide pH into 3 or 4 things and throw in things like o2 and temp or even chlorine that sed tho..... lot more than I can be bothered with cheers guys, just looking for the benchmarks thanks > cheers guys, > > just looking for the benchmarks I'd get a starter kit that has a bunch of the tests, and keep a "lab" notebook for changes, etc. I put mine into a spreadsheet thinking that someday I'll create all sorts of fancy graphs to thrill my friends. :-) If you get bad results, don't assume that your test is accurate. Take appropriate and *slow* action, but get a test kit from a different manufacturer. If you can afford it, buy two starter kits from different manufacturers and compare results. They are usually different. --Kurt > cheers guys, > > just looking for the benchmarks > > thanks I like mine with zero ammonia or nitrite and prob under 20ppm nitrate I like the water clear and if theres any smell I like it to be a faintly earthy one. the other main bit is that fish have to look happy in it. |
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