Water Parameters Qeustion For A Reef Tank

[GoTakeANap]

Hello all! I am just starting my reef tank and would like to know what the water parameters should be? I plan on only having LPS and softies.

 

[therealman1]

as far as parameters go stability is better than attempting to hunt a number. For my tank for parameters I am around 1.025 salinity, 78F temp, 9 Alk, 475 cal, and 1440 mag. Your major elements could be a bit lower than mine because I have a few SPS in my tank.

 

[Tastee]

as far as parameters go stability is better than attempting to hunt a number. For my tank for parameters I am around 1.025 salinity, 78F temp, 9 Alk, 475 cal, and 1440 mag. Your major elements could be a bit lower than mine because I have a few SPS in my tank.

Agree with the above. ‘Don’t chase a number’ when I was worried about high nutrients and algae/Dino/cyano growth was the single best bit of advice I got from the forums. Stability and getting your tank in balance is key.

I would also suggest you look at the parameters of your salt. At every WC that is the Alk/Ca/Mg etc levels you are going to introduce so if you are aiming for something else WCs will simply take you away from that. In my case I use Aquaforest Reef Salt so use their parameters as a guide for what I am looking for (not chasing). I figure they are an experienced company and target levels that work for their customers so should be a good starting point for me.

But every tank will be different. In my case I have high Mg (curr 1560 ppm). For a while I was fiddling with the 3 part dosing to try and get this down - didn’t work. I have now gone back to their recommended = dosing for Ca and Mg and the tank looks better (a little anyway, wasn’t terrible to start with), certainly water clarity is better. Mg is still high. So what. I figure it will either drop over time due to WCs or it won’t. In either case my fish and corals are happy which is all I want.