What do you keep your Alkalinity, Calcium, Salinity and Magnesium at?

[Zeal]

Keeping the big 4 is extremely important to having a thriving reef aquarium.

Here we could get a general idea of where everyone keeps there Alkalinity, Calcium, Salinity and Magnesium.

If your range isn't on the poll please post it.

For me:
Alkalinity 8.3
Calcium 450
Salinity 1.025
Magnesium 1350

 

[ZoWhat]

Youre forgetting the 5th most important element: POTASSIUM.

Calcium usually kept at min 412ppm BUT Potassium should be at min 399ppm making it, by its ppm#, pretty dang as impottant as Calcium

Even the best new SW mixes have low potassium of low 300s

When i 1st tested for potassium it was 310, terribbly low. I now have it at 420 and seeing deeper richer colors.

I dose potassium chloride that can be found on most sites like BRS

In fact, all that expensive Triton dosing makes up for fairly important elements like Potassium and Strontium....which i buy and dose myself at 1/5th the cost

Natural seawater:
chloride (19 000 ppm)
sodium (10 561 ppm),
magnesium (1 272 ppm),
sulphur (884 ppm),
calcium (412 ppm),
potassium (399 ppm),
bicarbonite (110 ppm)
bromine (65 ppm),
inorganic carbonate (28 ppm)
strontium (13 ppm).


.

 

[PDR]

I keep my alk at 9.0, calcium sits at over 500 and magnesium over 1500 due to my crappy salt mix (LiveAquaria ie fritz)

I only dose alk daily.

Youre forgetting the 5th most important element: POTASSIUM.

Calcium usually kept at min 412ppm BUT Potassium should be at min 399ppm making it, by its ppm#, pretty dang as impottant as Calcium

Even the best new SW mixes have low potassium of low 300s

When i 1st tested for potassium it was 310, terribbly low. I now have it at 420 and seeing deeper richer colors.

I dose potassium chloride that can be found on most sites like BRS

In fact, all that expensive Triton dosing makes up for fairly important elements like Potassium and Strontium....which i buy and dose myself at 1/5th the cost

Natural seawater:
chloride (19 000 ppm)
sodium (10 561 ppm),
magnesium (1 272 ppm),
sulphur (884 ppm),
calcium (412 ppm),
potassium (399 ppm),
bicarbonite (110 ppm)
bromine (65 ppm),
inorganic carbonate (28 ppm)
strontium (13 ppm).


.

Care to share your Alk, Ca and Mg numbers?

Also do you have a source to verify your claim that “even the best new SW mixes have low potassium of low 300s”?

Here is the screenshot from an icp test run on several common brands.

 

[saltyhog]

Alk....8.5
Ca.....440
Mag...1440 I can't keep it any lower unless I just quit doing water changes due to the high Mg in my salt.
Salinity....35ppt I never look at the left side of the refractometer

 

[Zeal]

Interesting to see what everyone likes there parameters at

 

[madweazl]

Acropora dominant tank:

Sg - 1.026
Alk - 7.0 dKh
Ca - 400-425
Mg - 1290-1325

20% weekly water changes with Instant Ocean

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Even the best new SW mixes have low potassium of low 300s

.

Where did you read that? I do not believe it is correct. nearly all salt mixes have natural levels of potassium.

I never added any potassium to my tank and it was always near 400 ppm based on ICP testing.

That said, if you keep salinity below 35 ppt (sg = 1.0264) you should expect potassium to be below 400 ppm.

 

[TX_Punisher]

Acropora dominant tank:

Sg - 1.026
Alk - 7.0 dKh
Ca - 400-425
Mg - 1290-1325

20% weekly water changes with Instant Ocean

Regular IO? I just mixed a batch and showed 10.9 dkh. Do you dose muriatic to bring it down?

 

[madweazl]

Regular IO? I just mixed a batch and showed 10.9 dkh. Do you dose muriatic to bring it down?

Yes

 

[TX_Punisher]

Yes

Thanks. What’s your calcium in the newly mixed IO?

Thanks

 

[madweazl]

Thanks. What’s your calcium in the newly mixed IO?

Thanks

That first range I posted is what IO has mixed up for me (with the exception of alkalinity) for a couple years now.