water chemical levels

[cmhadden]

Maybe its just me but it seems that I can't get a straight answer from anyone. My questin this time is this: from all the water tests that one must do to set up a marine tank what exactly do the levels need to be at. ph, salinity, gravity, nitrites, nitrates, amninonia, alkalinity, etc. If someone could give me the exact numbers measurements for each of these it would be most appreciated and maybe I could measure the water in my tank.

[darb2]

ph 8.1 to 8.3
salinity sg 1.024 to 1.025
ammonia and nitrite 0 ppm
nitrate below 10 ppm (more important when keeping corals)
temp 80
Ca 400 to 425 (more impt with corals)
dKH 7 to 10 (higher is more stable for pH)

[indy]

I'm a little more lenient.

ph 8.1 to 8.4
ammonia 0 - nothing else is acceptable
nitrite at 0 - see above
nitrates below 40, but for reef much lower
temp 78 -84 although some fish like it around 74'ish
I don't currently test for calcium or alk. My Ph is very stable, so haven't felt the need.

I notice Darb2 made no mention of either henweigh or butfor.

[malkore]

nice try indy, but I'm on to your game

[Brisc0]

I'm a little more lenient.

ph 8.1 to 8.4
ammonia 0 - nothing else is acceptable
nitrite at 0 - see above
nitrates below 40, but for reef much lower
temp 78 -84 although some fish like it around 74'ish

Thats the ticket. I personally have had success with keeping temp at 80, SG at 1.026 for reef or invert tank, 1.024-1.025 for everything else. Nitrate less than 10ppm, ideally undetectable for reef, up to 50 - 60ppm for FOWLR. ALK should be 8 - 14 dKH with a CA between 400 - 500ppm. To calculate if you ALK and CA are in Ionic balance, visit: http://www.andy-hipkiss.co.uk/index..../caalkcalc.htm

best of luck